The Morrigan is being used to bombard Russia's R280 logistics highway, the Nemesis Brigade said.
412 Nemesis Brigade
Ukrainian troops released new details of the secretive mid-range drone they're using to batter Russia's R-280 logistics highway far behind the southern front lines.The 412th Nemesis Brigade, of the Unmanned Systems Forces, published close-up and pre-launch footage on Saturday of the strike aircraft, dubbed the Morrigan.The fixed-wing drone, sporting a single-propeller engine on its nose, is locally produced and "designed to operate behind enemy lines," the brigade said in a statement."With the permission of the manufacturer, we are lifting the curtain: What kind of secret drone is this?" it wrote, calling the Morrigan its "secret weapon" at mid-range.A clip of the Morrigan being readied for flight shows it to be roughly 4 to 5 feet long, with swept wings and two tail fins. The drone appears to be launched from a rail or slingshot platform, allowing it to take off without a runway.The Morrigan is one entry in an emerging drone class that Ukraine is using more frequently this year to attack Russian forces and logistics about 20 to 300 kilometers, or 12 to 186 miles, behind the front lines.They're usually lighter than the long-range drones that strike Russia's defense and oil industries. But they use a fixed-wing design instead of the first-person-view quadcopters dominating the battlefield.
