From Business Insider · Jake Epstein · · 1m 50s
Russia's new attack drone blurs the line with cruise missiles
Ukraine says Russia has deployed a faster, higher-flying variant of its Geran-5 drone that functions as a small cruise missile, equipped with thermobaric warheads.
In brief
Ukraine says Russia has deployed a faster, higher-flying variant of its Geran-5 drone that functions as a small cruise missile, equipped with thermobaric warheads. Ukraine's military intelligence says Russia has begun using a new K5-K drone variant that flies faster and higher than predecessors, straining Ukrainian…
Ukraine reports new Russian drone variant
Russia has begun using a K5-K variant of its Geran-5 drone that more closely resembles a missile and can fly faster and higher than predecessors, Ukraine's GUR military intelligence agency said Monday.
How Ukraine found the new weapon
Several weeks ago Russia began using the K5-K to attack Ukrainian cities. The GUR's experts recently found a nearly intact munition in the middle of a field.
The K5-K qualifies as a cruise missile
Considering the K5-K's aerodynamic and technical characteristics, it can already be classified as a small-sized cruise missile, the GUR said. Ukraine discovered hundreds of foreign-made electronic components inside.
“can already be classified as a small-sized cruise missile”
The K5-K's improved performance specs
The K5-K can reach an altitude of nearly twenty thousand feet, up from sixteen thousand feet, and cruise at speeds over two hundred eighty miles per hour.
Armed with thermobaric warheads
The K5-K found by GUR experts was armed with a TBCH-90 thermobaric warhead. These vacuum bombs disperse an aerosol cloud of explosive material, then ignite it, causing blasts hotter than four thousand degrees Fahrenheit.
Russia's shift to cheaper cruise-missile weapons
Russia is increasingly using quasi-cruise missiles, weapons between cheap attack drones and expensive cruise missiles.
Ukraine's air defenses face new strain
Russian forces likely aim to use quasi-cruise missiles to augment devastating effects of ballistic missile and jet-powered drone strikes, which have been exploiting Ukrainian interceptor missile shortages, according to the Institute for the Study of…
The one thing
Ukraine's military intelligence says Russia has begun using a new K5-K drone variant that flies faster and higher than predecessors, straining Ukrainian air defenses with cheaper cruise-missile-like weapons.
