Ukraine forces strike Russian target with FPV kamikaze drone

Video footage has appeared online of what is described as a Ukraine military unit using what appears to be a racing drone to stage a pinpoint FPV kamikaze strike into a house used by invading Russian soldiers.

Much attention has rightfully been turned to the astonishing diversity and effectiveness of both military-grade and commercial UAVs in the conflict. But the video uploaded to social media networks takes that activity to another level with a pilot identified as a member of Ukraine’s 93^rd Brigade flying a grenade-loaded FPV drone into structure housing Russian soldiers, where it immediately explodes.

Read: Ukraine drone drops grenade on Russian doing ‘number two’ 

In addition to picturing the goggle strapped FPV Ukraine pilot at work, the video cuts between footage of an accompanying UAV providing situational scenes of the area, and images of the attacking drone as it races toward the open door it is targeting. The feed from the latter cuts as it zooms home, but reactions from troops monitoring the trailing craft’s continued observation of the area leaves little doubt of the strike’s effectiveness.

In a tweet of the video by Ukraine Weapons Tracker doesn’t provide additional details of the kind of FPV gear used – or if, indeed, a specialized racing drone was involved as rumored. Stitching on the band of the goggles, however, indicate they made have come from NewBee. 

“The 93rd Brigade of Ukraine showed the use of a very interesting cheap commercial drone converted to kamikaze role,” accompanying text reads. “Such drones carry a very small payload and are used mostly against personnel. Note that the operator is receiving video output via special FPV goggles.”

Read: Ukraine videos mock foreign tech in Russia’s Orlov-10 recon drones 

Given the speed of the craft as it departs, and the FPV mission objective of striking the target before the UAV can be spotted or shot down, it isn’t unreasonable to suspect a racing drone – some of which can exceed 120 mph – was indeed deployed in the attack.