ByDavid Hambling,
Senior Contributor.
A video posted May 12th by Russian forces shows a Ukrainian Fire Point FP-1 long range strike drone firing a rocket at a mobile anti-drone group. This is the first attack of this type, and is both a logical evolution of the attack drone and a significant ratcheting up of the air war.
The FP-1 is one of the most common types, and the rocket used has a very long history. Putting the two together could increase the number of drones getting through, as well as seriously degrading Russian air defense.
Long range strike drones, like the Russian Shahed and the Ukrainian Fire Point FP-1, have the same sort of performance as aircraft from WW1. Shooting them down with surface-to-air missiles is impractical as there as far too many and the supply of million-dollar missiles gets exhausted quickly against $50,000 drones.
