Ukrainian soldiers discovered on their territory the remains of a modernized Chinese commercial drone that was used by Russia reports CNN.
The drone was shot down at an undisclosed location in a Ukrainian forest, and the Ukrainian military claimed to have hit it with their Ak-47 assault rifles.
It is a Mugin-5 drone manufactured by a Chinese company based in the port city of Xiamen, on the east coast of the Asian country.
Tech bloggers point out that the devices are known as “Alibaba drones” because they are available for sale for around $15,000 on the Chinese online market, including from Alibaba and Taobao retailers.
Mugin Limited confirmed that the wreckage shown was indeed the fuselage of a device manufactured by it, and described the incident as “extremely unpleasant”.
According to CNN, this is yet another example of a civilian drone being retrofitted with weapons to be used by Russian forces in Ukraine – a sign that Moscow’s war model is changing rapidly.
The Ukrainian military explained that the drone was flying very low when it was spotted and was close enough to be shot down with automatic weapons. According to them, the drone was modified to carry a bomb.
The armed commercial drone did not have a camera installed. That means it can’t be used for surveillance and is essentially a “dumb bomb,” according to Chris Lincoln-Jones, a reservist in the British Army and drone expert.
According to him, the drone in question would be much more effective if it had a decent camera.
He added that this commercial drone incident is further evidence to support the theory that Russia is not a military superpower.
