“The air defense turned out to be weak”: the expert explained what kind of drones the Russian Federation can attack Kiev with

On January 14, Russia could have hit Kiev not with missiles, but with Iranian Shahed-131 kamikaze drones. This assumption was made by the Ukrainian soldier and founder of the A.Drones project Yuriy Kasyanov on the Telegram channel.

The expert pointed out that the explosions in Kiev began without warning of air raids. As he suggested, instead of the missile, Russian troops launched Shahed-131 (Geran-1) UAVs, almost half the size of Shahed-136. They carry 10 to 15 kilos of explosives and are very inconspicuous.

Due to its small size, most radars do not see the Shahed-131 approaching, and if they do, it is only at close range. Also in Ukraine it is not heard, unlike the Shahed-136, which is nicknamed “mopeds” due to the characteristic loud noise. The thing is, the smaller model has “special” low-power engines.

“The conditionally pistonless Wankel engine is an analogue of the British AR731 engine, cloned in China under the designation MDR-208 and re-cloned in Iran under the designation Shahed-783,” said Yury Kasyanov.

He added that Shahed-131 gained notoriety thanks to the successful attack on the world’s largest primary oil refinery in Abqaiq and the Khurais oil refinery in eastern Saudi Arabia in September 2019, after which oil production in the country fell by half. In addition, such drones have already flown to Kiev.

“The Abqaiq factory was defended by three Skyguard air defense batteries, and the entire area was occupied by Patriot and Shahie, who turned out to be powerless against a group of low-flying small drones with a small effective dispersion area,” said the expert. .

Yuri Kasyanov reminded that the Ukrainian intelligence reported that the production of Shahed-131 was started in Togliatti, Russia. He criticized experts, who called for the production of attack aircraft with heavy warheads weighing at least 50 kg.

“The greater the mass of the warhead, the larger the drone, the easier it is to spot it. It is not the mass of the explosives that matters, but the accuracy and handling tactics,” the Army summarized.

Earlier, they wrote down the details of the rocket attack on Kiev on January 14. Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko reported an explosion in the Dniprovskyi district and falling debris in Goloseevsky, KGVA reported damage to a car in Darnitsky. It was also reported that a missile hit infrastructure facilities.

In December, Yuri Kasyanov talked about which drones will help the Ukrainian Armed Forces win the war. He argues that the military needs inexpensive UAVs that can be produced quickly on a large scale.