According to OSINT analysts, since the beginning of the invasion, the Russian army has lost more than 700 drones in Ukraine. Most often, fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shoot down Orlan-10 drones. In the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, this is the most common drone. They were released about 2,000 units.
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According to American expert S. Bendett, until February of this year, Orlan-10 accounted for about 50% of the Russian drone fleet. The first such UAF drone was “landed” on March 5. During the 70 days of the armed conflict, Russia lost 25 Orlanov-10s in Ukraine. Over the next 17 days, the Ukrainian military shot down 25 more such UAVs. Thus, the rate of loss of Orlanov-10 has quadrupled over the past few weeks.
UAV “Orlan-10”
According to Forbes, this dynamics is explained by the transfer of mobile “jammers” to the Armed Forces of Ukraine by the Pentagon. In one of the videos posted on the global network, the EM45 Sky Wiper anti-drone installation “lit up”. In other videos you can see the DroneShield and KVS systems. Officially, nothing is reported about the supply of such equipment to Ukraine. Meanwhile, it is actively used by the fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Bendett noted that the Russians are positioning Orlan-10 as a drone with protection from electronic warfare. This information is not true. The reason for this state of affairs may be corruption. Last year, criminal proceedings were opened in Russia on the fact of embezzlement of 446 million rubles. during the public procurement of Orlan-10 drones. At a cost of 80,000 USD, the drones were sold to a government customer for 300,000 USD.
Another reason for the “fall” of Russian drones is the use of cheap Chinese components in their production. There are other military drones in service with the RF Armed Forces. In particular, we are talking about the Eleron-3 apparatus. Such UAVs are shot down by the Armed Forces of Ukraine much less frequently than Orlanov-10. This suggests that they are much better protected from portable jammers.