In the Mykolaiv region, the air defense of Ukraine shot down a unique Russian UAV.

This was reported by the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

With the help of this UAV, the Russian military tried to conduct air reconnaissance in order to disrupt counter-offensive attacks of Ukrainian forces.

The Russian drone shot down by the Ukrainian air defence detachment is considered classified and doesn’t have an official name.

This unique UAV is often confused with Orlan-10, another Russian drone. Externally, the UAV is really similar to the Orlan, but there are a number of differences.

The UAV is equipped with a 12-lense camera for panoramic aerial and video shooting with the ability to transfer the collected data to the control post in real time.

Some components of the UAVs, in particular the optical and electronic system, are manufactured by the Russian company, which is under US sanctions and works together with the manufacturer of UAV “Orlan.”

Such a UAVl is not used by the Russian Ministry of Defense, probably by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.

It is known that in 2013, the Russian Federal Security Service tested unmanned aerial vehicles with 80-megapixel cameras and thermal imagers to quickly create terrain plans during special operations. Then the FSB used “Ptero-SM” of the “AFM-Servis” company.

It is likely that the shot down UAV is the same “classified model” for the FSB from the “AFM-Servis” company

Assumptions are based on the following facts:

• Since 2013, the company “AFM-Servers” has been working closely with the FSB.
• design features of the Ptero-line UAVs copy the features of downed drones in Ukraine and Turkey.
• geography of losses of aircraft corresponds to the geography of war crimes committed by Russia (Ukraine, Syria)
• UAVs use Russian satellite navigation system
• Information about this UAV is not publicly available, which makes it possible to use it in “sensitive” operations and not to worry about identification of belonging in case of loss.

The first case of the use and shooting down of the Russian drone of this model was recorded in 2014.