Ukrainian defenders shot down a modernized Mugin-5 drone manufactured in China in the Donetsk region on the night of March 11.
This is reported by CNN.
On the night of March 11, the SBU told CNN that their agents, based in Russian-controlled territory, had warned about the launch of a drone that was headed for a Ukrainian target.
Then the SBU alerted the military units based near Sloviansk. At around 2:00 a.m., soldiers of the 111th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine heard a drone overhead and even saw a light flashing on the plane. The defenders opened fire on him with AK-47 assault rifles.
The Ukrainian military showed the wreckage of the drone to journalists. It was reportedly a Mugin-5 drone made by a Chinese manufacturer in the port city of Xiamen.
Some tech bloggers call the Mugin-5 the "Alibaba drone" because they can be bought for $15,000 on Chinese sites including Alibaba and Taobao.
Mugin Limited confirmed to CNN that it was their drone, calling the incident "very sad."
According to retired British Army officer and drone expert Chris Lincoln-Jones, the armed commercial drone had no camera, meaning it could not be used for surveillance and was essentially like a "dumb bomb".
"This particular drone we were looking at would be much more effective if it had a decent camera," he said.
According to him, from a military point of view, the drone is too cheap, and its use by the aggressor country once again proves that "the Russian Federation is not a superpower, as the world thought about it."
Experts believe that the drone was modernized. This is evidenced by the bomb trigger made of 3D printed components.
