The cardboard drones that attacked the Russian military airfield on August 27 were designed and manufactured in Ukraine.

Such a statement was made by journalist Yurii Butusov.

On August 27, during an attack on a Russian military facility in Khalino, SSU counterintelligence officers used attack drones made of cardboard.

Suspicions fell on the aircraft of the only known manufacturer of such systems, the Australian company SYPAQ. It has been officially supplying ultra-cheap disposable drones made of cardboard to the Ukrainian Armed Forces since March 2023.

However, a few days later, on September 1, Butusov said, citing his own sources, that drones of a similar design developed by a Ukrainian company in cooperation with the SSU were used to carry out the strikes.

“The UAVs have nothing to do with Australia, although, like the PPDS drone, they do have a special ‘aviation’ cardboard among other radio-transparent materials,” Butusov said.

According to him, the fuselage of the unknown Ukrainian drones is made of cardboard, which significantly reduces their visibility to Russian radars. The drones have an alternative targeting system that does not use a GPS signal.

The warhead of a directed-attack drone is a fragmentation warhead with ready-made tungsten carbide warheads in the amount that exceeds 1,000 pieces. It can hit lightly armored vehicles, aircraft, and technical equipment. This solution has reportedly made it possible to effectively hit targets hidden in protective aircraft shelters and protected by anti-drone nets.

The latter may explain the lack of visible damage to Russian combat aircraft on satellite images of the airfield. One of them shows two visually intact fighters being towed in an unknown direction, which may indicate that they were damaged by debris.

It is worth noting that similar attack drones, made on the basis of Australian cardboard drones from SYPAQ, have been previously seen in use by the Defense Forces of Ukraine.

On June 26, the Russian invaders published a photo capturing a downed cargo UAV, which the Ukrainians modified to strike enemy targets.

A MON-50 directional fragmentation anti-personnel mine was placed in the drone’s fuselage, while a VP-2a radio detonator was installed on the wing. It is unknown whether the modified UAV has a camera or other targeting systems.