According to reports, a commercial drone that was retrofitted and weaponised has been shot down in Ukraine. The drone was transporting a bomb weighing around 20 kilograms, which Ukrainian soldiers detonated later.
The drone model, Mugin-5, manufactured by Mugin Limited, a Chinese company located in Xiamen, was shot down by AK-47s in the wartorn country over the weekend.
These unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) are also known as “Alibaba drones” because they can be purchased for up to US$15,000 on the Chinese online platforms Alibaba and Taobao.
Mugin Limited, the company which makes the drone, confirmed that it was their airframe, calling the incident “deeply unfortunate.” Mugin Limited confirmed that the craft was discovered near the city of Sloviansk, eastern Ukraine, and was one of its own.
The drone carried a bomb of about 20 kilograms, which the Ukrainian soldiers later detonated.
The incident is the latest example of a civilian drone being retrofitted and weaponised since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a sign of the rapidly shifting patterns of warfare.
Late Saturday night, the fighters from the 111th Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of Ukraine heard a drone overhead and saw a flashing light at around 2 am
The weaponized commercial drone did not have a camera fitted, meaning it was not used for surveillance. Experts suggested it could have been used as a “dumb bomb”, according to specialist in drone warfare, Chris Lincoln-Jones.
“This particular drone that we’ve been looking at would be much more effective if it had a decent camera in it,” Chris Lincoln-Jones, a retired British Army officer, said.
“This seems to be a very crude, unsophisticated, not very technologically advanced way of conducting operations,” he added.
Both Russia and Ukraine have been using drones in the war ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a military invasion in Ukraine. Drones are used for surveillance purposes and to locate enemy targets and guide artillery targets towards them.