Russia Expands Its Drone Arsenal: Ukrainian Military Downs Shtorm UAV

Ukrainian forces have downed a Russian Shtorm reconnaissance UAV using an interceptor drone. Very little is publicly known about this relatively new Russian reconnaissance platform.

The General Cherry company published the interception video.

According to the report, the Russian drone was shot down by the POSIPAKY unit of the 39th anti-aircraft missile regiment using a General Chereshnya AIR interceptor drone.

The downed aircraft was initially misidentified as a Sarych-2 UAV, but video analysis showed a distinctive airframe shape characteristic of the Shtorm UAV.

Little information is available about the UAV itself. It features a flying-wing aerodynamic design and is reported to be capable of carrying a camera with 30x or 40x optical zoom. The drones are believed to be supplied to Russian military groupings known as “North” and “East.”

The UAV is also said to be resistant to electronic warfare due to the use of non-standard radio frequencies and is capable of flying a pre-programmed route without satellite navigation.

It has also been reported that the drone is equipped with a “return home” function that, in the event of a communication loss, reverses course, follows a preset route, and deploys a parachute at a designated point.

The first reports of the use of this type of drone date back to December 2024, with Russian sources claiming its “active use” started in March 2025.