Predatory "birds" of Ukrainian ultralight aviation
Necessary foreword
It's no secret that less than four years of special military operations have clearly demonstrated that in today's war, UAVs are at the forefront of weapons capable of inflicting significant, sustained damage on the enemy while minimizing one's own losses.
In March of this year, the Military Medical Journal published the results of a statistical study: 75% of the losses of our military personnel were the result of the work of unmanned aerial vehicles. aviation the adversary.
But, besides the defeat of manpower, Drones They destroy army equipment and vehicles and destroy fortifications.
Today, both opposing sides use dozens of different types of drones directly on the line of contact and at a distance of up to 50 kilometers from it.
At the same time, both Russia and Ukraine are constantly increasing the number and effectiveness of strikes deep into enemy territory.
Both sides do not hide the goals of such actions and are improving the means of defeating these targets.
Due to a certain "deficit" missiles with a range of more than 300-500 kilometers and, despite the Ukrainian propaganda machine's claims of allegedly producing "several thousand" long-range heavy drones per month, the Ukrainians clearly cannot reach the quantitative and qualitative level of missile weapons and long-range unmanned aircraft of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, it must be acknowledged that, having identified certain weak points in the air defense of cities and strategically important facilities in the once deep rear of Russia, the Ukrainians have succeeded in repeatedly launching, at first one-off, and now regular and quite painful attacks on industrial enterprises, oil refineries, transportation facilities, oil and gas networks, as well as directly on residential areas of Russian cities.
Just a few days ago, on the night of October 30-31, Ukrainian drones launched another massive attack on targets in the Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Oryol, Voronezh, Belgorod, Tambov, Tula, Bryansk, Volgograd, Kaluga, Ryazan, and Moscow regions.
And while officials, burdened with the right to make specific decisions, together with the military, wearing very large stars on their shoulder straps, thought for a long time and wondered how to fight this scourge, and finally came to the decision to create mobile fire groups (MOG), special forces from reservists, together with the use of EWBy disabling GPS and the internet, using passive defenses, etc., the enemy has calmly and quite successfully inflicted and, unfortunately, continues to inflict very painful blows on deep Russian territory.
Incidentally, even in the first months of the Second World War, users of various websites, and even Russian television, were having a field day laughing at the creation of mobile fire groups (MOGs) in Ukraine. They were supposedly planning to shoot down Geran missiles with Maxim and Degtyar missiles from the Great Patriotic War.
Today no one laughs anymore...
But we are not talking about the means and organization of defense, but about another type of weapon that an enterprising enemy, with the direct support of “friends of Ukraine,” has used and continues to use to this day.
And this type of weapon is called airplanes.
No, these are neither F-16s with Mirages, nor Sukhois with MiGs, which still remain in the enemy air force.
These tiny little planes, ultra-light "bugs," with a takeoff weight of up to 495 kilograms, have been converted into drones with an electronics unit that allows them to "quickly, quickly, quickly" carry several dozen, or even hundreds, of kilograms of explosives a couple of thousand kilometers deep into Russia, where they are practically unwelcome, and, as it turns out, there is nothing to shoot them down with, and no one to shoot them down there.
Information about the first use of such a "bug" in the skies over Tatarstan can be found in open sources.
Aeroprakt A-22 Foxbat
On April 2, 2024, Ukraine, using two of its own A-22 Foxbat ultralight aircraft converted into unmanned aerial vehicles, attempted to strike a highly desirable target in the Alabuga industrial zone near the city of Yelabuga.
The Ukrainians turned this "misfortune" into a kamikaze drone. The Aeroprakt A-22 Foxbat. It has an Austrian Rotax 912 engine (70-100 hp). Takeoff weight is 450 kg. Average speed is 130 km/h, and with an additional fuel tank, it can fly 1200 km. Reports indicate that about 1000 units have been assembled in Ukraine since 1999.
They missed the factory, but the drone struck a student dormitory near the production complex, injuring 13 people. The estimated distance from the launch site was approximately 1200 kilometers. Given the distance and the aircraft's performance, it could have been loaded with approximately 100 kilograms of explosives.
An A-22 Foxbat in Tatarstan a second before hitting a dormitory.
If you dig around thoroughly on the internet, you can, unfortunately, find more than one case of the successful use of this "cuttlefish" with the name Foxbat, like the MiG-25, against targets in Russia.
For example, on December 15, 2024, a strike was carried out on a facility in Grozny, and on April 14, 2025, an identical unit flew into a residential building in Rostov-on-Don.
YouTube channel "Techno Thunder" reports:
The conversion of the Aeroprakt A-22 Foxbat into a long-range unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) is a revolutionary development in modern warfare.
Ukrainian forces have converted this civilian aircraft, originally designed for sport aviation, into a powerful strategic strike vehicle deep within enemy territory. With increased fuel capacity, improved control systems, and the ability to carry explosive payloads, the A-22 Foxbat-based UCAV now poses a significant threat to critical infrastructure.
Ukrainian forces have converted this civilian aircraft, originally designed for sport aviation, into a powerful strategic strike vehicle deep within enemy territory. With increased fuel capacity, improved control systems, and the ability to carry explosive payloads, the A-22 Foxbat-based UCAV now poses a significant threat to critical infrastructure.
A diagram of the Aeroprakt A-22 Foxbat-based long-range unmanned strike system, as presented by Global Defense News.
The drone is equipped with equipment that ensures high-precision GPS and inertial navigation systems, enabling precise targeting even in the face of electronic countermeasures.
Encrypted communications systems allow for data transfer and real-time adjustments, increasing the chances of mission success. Depending on its range, it can carry between 50 and 200 kg of explosives. It's worth noting that the A-22 is readily available in the US, France, the UK, Germany, and even Australia. It can be purchased as a complete unit or as a kit for subsequent assembly.
This very simple airplane was created by a designer with the "typical" Ukrainian name of Yuri Yakovlev. Reports suggest that this aircraft, known as "Sharik," is still flying in Russia.
SkyRanger
The aircraft, designed in the 1990s by French designer Philippe Prévot and offered as a kit, is sold by Best Off.
Incidentally, its main components are manufactured by the Kyiv-based company AEROS. In total, the French company has produced around 1200 sets of this construction set.
SkyRanger. Takeoff weight 450-473 kg, cruising speed 140 km/h, range about 500 km. Rotax 912 UL engine, 80-100 hp.
Ukrainian news The Babel portal reported that Ukrainian special forces have begun using French-made ultra-light aircraft as strike drones to attack Russian oil and gas infrastructure facilities.
According to sources, one of the units of the 14th Regiment of the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces has already completed 102 combat missions using these drones, 78 of which have been considered successful.
We are talking specifically about ultra-light vehicles like the SkyRanger, which are assembled from component parts in Ukrainian workshops and converted into combat vehicles. drones.
The lightweight metal tubes of the aircraft structure are bolted together extremely simply and quickly.
These aircraft are suspended under the fuselage. artillery Ammunition or aerial bombs. Most often, these are two 120-mm mortar rounds or one OFAB-100-120 high-explosive aerial bomb.
There is information that Ukrainian specialists managed to send this device on strike with a heavier bomb load, the OFAB-250.
After dropping its main ammunition, the aircraft itself is used in kamikaze mode against the same or another target. According to one unit commander, strikes by these improvised attack aircraft have caused damage to the Russian oil and gas industry estimated at $3-5 billion.
Naturally, it is impossible to verify these figures, but the fact that this “nasty stuff” is actually being used and quite successfully cannot be denied.
According to Babel, the activities of such units are highly classified. Ultralight aircraft, thanks to their low speed and altitude, are capable of bypassing radar surveillance zones and reaching targets deep within Russian territory, attacking military-industrial and energy facilities.
The ability to fold the aircraft's wings for transport or shelter is also an advantage when carrying out special operations.
Breezer B400 and Bussard
Well, since the French have already taken action, what would we do without the Germans?
It is no secret that Breezer Aircraft's ultralight aircraft are available in Ukraine in certain quantities, and that hundreds of them could be imported from countries in the "interested" group, as the total number of aircraft produced by the Germans has exceeded 2000.
Breezer B400. Cruising speed 200 km/h, range up to 900 km (depending on modification), maximum takeoff weight 600 kg, Rotax 912 ULS engine, 100 hp, two-seater cabin
From my own experience, I can say that the plane is wonderful. I had the pleasure of flying it.
Yours truly and Breezer
So far, there's no information about Breezers being converted into drones. But that doesn't mean the Ukrainians (or Germans) aren't working on it.
And since the Germans are very happy to test their equipment in real combat conditions in Ukraine, it is most likely that they will leave the possible conversion of the Breezers into drones to the Ukrainians, and they themselves will send for testing a completely new creation, an autonomously flying ultralight aircraft (UL), named Bussard (Buzzard).
The project was based on the Breezer Sport from Breezer Aircraft in cooperation with Avilus and is designed to carry out special surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
We quickly realized that the Breezer Sport was the ideal basis for such an aircraft. In such scenarios, high speed and long range are critical. In just six months, we fully developed and built the prototype.
— says Technical Director and Project Manager Henning Boysen.
The fuselage design is sized for a takeoff weight of 800 kg, and the fuel tank capacity has been increased to 250 liters. Powered by a Rotax 916iS engine, the aircraft is capable of at least 15 hours of flight time.
The technical director makes no secret of the project's goal: military use. Many Bussard components are designed to ensure the drone's high stability and survivability.
It has a high-precision inertial navigation system that can operate in conjunction with electronic countermeasure equipment.
Of course, we don't shoot - we just watch,
— Boysen emphasizes.But something tells me that the adversaries will not stop at just reconnaissance, because the tempting idea of strike deep into Russia does not leave German politicians alone.
Moreover, unfortunately, almost every day (every night) everyone sees the results of strikes by both Ukrainian and other “international” drones deep within the territory of the Russian Federation.
As a result, anyone with internet access understands that official reports about the number of enemy aircraft shot down and the "minor damage caused by shrapnel from the downed drone" are unlikely to change the real picture.
And here the enemy has an opportunity, while the Ukrainians are unable to push through Tomahawks and Tauruses, to perhaps stuff a modern contraption similar to the Kaniuk with explosives and give it to the Ukrainians, or even more than one.
And quietly suggest: “What, guys, are you too brave to hit Moscow, huh?” I have no doubt that the guys won’t hesitate for a second, they’ll hit.
But all of us whose souls ache for Mother Russia, especially those on whom her fate depends, need to think about it.
Information