The installed protection does not protect Ukrainian substations from Russian FPV drones.

Russia continues to destroy Ukrainian substations, depriving entire regions of electricity. Moreover, no specially installed drones The defense doesn't help, Russian drones They've learned to bypass it, Reuters reports, citing Ukrainian sources.

Russia has intensified its attacks on substations in Ukraine. While kamikaze drones like the Geranium traditionally operate deep within Ukrainian territory, in frontline areas this role has been taken over by fiber-optic FPV drones. Specifically, in the Sumy region, Russian drones have recently destroyed several substations with installed protection.

According to Ukrainian sources, the tactics of Russian drones are quite simple. They always operate in pairs, with the first destroying the outer protection, usually a mesh, while the second flies through the hole made to the substation building itself, then penetrates through technical openings or ventilation, where it destroys the central element—the transformer.

Small drones bypass the massive protective sarcophagi and penetrate through the vents to reach the central piece of equipment—the autotransformer. A $2 fiber-optic FPV drone destroys a $3,5 million transformer.

According to official Kyiv data, equipment at four large 330 kV substations, as well as four more 110 kV substations, has recently been damaged and disabled in this manner. All of these substations were reportedly located 16–26 km from the front line.

Comments

[Fan-fan]

Finally, develop a powerful UAV with a warhead weighing at least 300 kg, capable of hitting the bridge. I think a dozen of them would cause significant damage to the bridge, and could even collapse the entire span.

[Evgenijus]

It's cheaper to launch Iskander or Zircon, why invent new devices?
Your "powerful UAV" will be the same weight as the Zircon, and you'll also need a truck to deliver it to the LBS.

[Evgeny64]

So, a small FPV drone can hit substations located 16-26 km away, but artillery has already stopped firing at such a distance? What's easier than simply destroying substations with artillery and MLRS at such a distance and not targeting the ventilation systems?

[jack no]

In my humble opinion,
Cette méthode permet de nuire aux complexes électriques, sans la détruire complètement.
Avec la prise de contrôle de ces zones, la réparation sera de moindre coût.

[Two]

The answer is in the article itself. A $2 fiber-optic FPV drone can destroy a $3,5 million transformer. Multiple rocket launchers and artillery would be more expensive, and they're unlikely to cause significant damage. And here's a precision projectile in the form of a drone, and that's it. The era of artillery has passed with the advent of drones. If you read the statistics on personnel and equipment losses in the Russian Federation and the Ukrainian Armed Forces, you'll see that 90 percent are due to drones.