Ukrainian Military Intercepts Russian Zala Drone Camouflaged as Ukrainian

The Russians have begun to put Ukrainian insignia on their Zala reconnaissance drones.

Volunteer Serhiy Sternenko published footage showing such a drone being shot down.

“They painted Zala black and applied Ukrainian yellow and blue liveries, believing it would help,” Sternenko added.

The Russian drone also had the so-called Balkenkreuz insignia, which were the insignia of the German armed forces used during World War II.

In this way, the invaders tried to mislead Ukrainian drone operators who are hunting for Russian scouts with FPV drones.

Such attempts by the Russians are ineffective, as it is difficult to confuse ZALA 421 with other UAVs due to its distinctive shape.

ZALA drones are designed to conduct reconnaissance at any time of the day at a distance of up to 35 km with real-time video transmission.

According to the manufacturer, the ZALA 421-16E2 unmanned reconnaissance and surveillance system has a silent flight mode.

However, the Ukrainian military is still able to detect these drones and effectively target them with FPV drones.

Intercepting reconnaissance drones with the help of other types of drones is a relatively new and promising direction in the development of air defense.

In Ukraine, downing reconnaissance drones using FPVs has become quite common, and it’s likely that the Ukrainian defense industry is currently developing a comprehensive FPV-based anti-drone system.

As Militarnyi reported recently, the Ukrainian reconnaissance drone Furia withstood a hit from an invaders’ FPV drone.