Ukrainian soldiers shot down a civilian-use drone manufactured by a Chinese company, modernized and armed, which can be purchased on the Alibaba online trading platform for just over 14,000 euros. The rudimentary weapon would have been allegedly used by Russia, as reported on Thursday by CNN, whose reporters inspected the remains of the device.
The drone was shot down in a Ukrainian forest whose location is not specified and its remains were shown to them by Ukrainian soldiers after assuring that they had shot it down with their "Ak-47" automatic weapons. It was a Mugin-5 drone, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) manufactured by a Chinese company based in the port city of Xiamen, on the east coast of the Asian country. The Mugin Limited company confirmed to the American chain that it was the fuselage of one of its products and regretted the military use that is being given to it.
The network quotes some technology bloggers as saying that these devices are known as "Alibaba drones", since they have been available for sale on websites in the Chinese market, including distributors Alibaba and Taobao.
For the network, this is the latest example of the use of a civilian drone being modernized and armed for use in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a sign that the patterns of warfare used by Moscow are changing rapidly. However, it also mentions that pro-Russian officials in the Luhansk region in the east of the country warned that they had shot down a Mugin-5, allegedly used by Ukrainian forces.
Although the Ukrainian sources consulted by CNN did not confirm this particular incident, experts consulted by the chain assure that there is evidence that both sides have used this technology as well as other devices that are available on Chinese online commerce platforms during the conflict, according to said the arms and ammunition intelligence specialist and director of the consultancy Armament Research Services, N.R. Jenzen-Jones.
Ukrainian soldiers told reporters that the drone was flying very low when it was located and close enough to be shot down with automatic weapons, and that the drone had been adapted to carry a bomb.
The armed commercial drone did not have a camera installed, meaning it could not have been used for surveillance, and essentially making it similar to a "dumb bomb," according to Chris Lincoln-Jones, a retired British Army officer and drone specialist. consulted by the American chain. He added that this commercial drone incident adds further evidence to the theory that Russia is not the military superpower the world might have expected.
