WATCH Russian soldier shoot down huge Ukrainian drone with his rifle

Unmanned aerial vehicles are extremely difficult to shoot down with small arms

A Russian paratrooper has managed to down a large Ukrainian drone carrying an explosive payload with small arms, a video that has appeared on the internet, has shown. Footage published by one of the Telegram channels linked to the military demonstrated the serviceman firing at the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) until it fell to the ground an exploded.

A 30-seconds black-and-white clip recorded with night vision equipment shows what appears to be a quadcopter, which a soldier is trying to center in his cross hairs. The serviceman can also be heard firing single rounds at the UAV. Another Telegram channel linked to the military stated that the soldier fired a flak cannon at the drone.

At some point, the sniper hits the mark and the drone catches fire before falling to the ground. A loud blast can be heard in the background, with one soldier shouting: “it exploded” and another one saying that he hit his target.

Although the UAV on the video appeared to look like a regular small quadcopter hovering in the sky, a caption to the video suggested that it was a “Baba Yaga” class drone. Originally designed as agricultural equipment, those drones are known for their large size and ability to carry heavy payloads of up to 50 kilograms.

Named after a witch-like character from Slavic folklore, the ‘Baba Yaga’ drone can come in quadcopter, hexacopter or even octocopter variants. According to the Russian military, it can carry up to four mortar shells that it can drop on its targets. Some of the modifications reportedly have a wingspan of up to three meters.

The drones are still rather slow as their speed at full load amounts to around 40 kilometers per hour. Their rotors also emit a loud sound. The UAVs have the maximum altitude of 400 meters and a flight range of some 10 kilometers. Kiev’s forces often use such drones in nighttime raids against Russian positions.

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Low altitude and noise make those drones easier to detect but they are still considered uneasy targets by the Russian military since they are controlled with the Starlink satellite system and are capable of autonomous flight. That makes them highly resistant to electronic warfare systems often used to combat drones.

In April, soldiers and officers serving with one of the Russian volunteer units told the Russian media that the troops detect them at a range of up to six kilometers using thermal cameras before trying to “blind” them and shoot them down. The caption to the video published on Tuesday also said that the soldier, who shot down the drone, had a thermal scope mounted on his weapon.