According to the Dutch warfare research group Oryx report, In seven weeks of fighting in Ukraine, Russia has lost an estimated three dozen unmanned aircraft.
According to the report, Russia has lost somewhere in the region of 30 unmanned aircraft, of which 20 have been destroyed and some 10 have been captured.
However, Ukrainian officials said that Kremlin’s troops have lost 134 unmanned aerial vehicles of all types.
Ukrainian Soldiers have shot down both the latest Russian drones of the Inokhodets/Orion and Forpost types, as well as the already “classic” Orion-10 and Eleron-3 unmanned aerial vehicles.
Among the many weapons being used by the Ukrainian military to inflict losses on the Russian invasion forces, the Bayraktar TB-2 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has gained a symbolic place in the Ukrainian defensive arsenal.
The TB-2 is a relatively small medium-altitude long-endurance class drone. It weighs around half a ton, cruises at 70 knots (80 mph), and can carry up to four small laser-guided bombs with a practical engagement range of around 8km.
Despite its unassuming size and payload, the TB-2 has risen to prominence by destroying significant numbers of armored vehicles and short-range air defense systems in Syria, Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh, and now most recently in Ukraine.
After almost three weeks of high-intensity fighting, the Ukrainian air force has been effective at detecting and rapidly exploiting the gaps in Russian forces’ air defence and electronic warfare coverage with its TB-2 drones
