Training footage of Russian personnel dropping and controlling FPV UAVs from a helicopter was released on Russian social media.
The Russo-Ukrainian War continues to be a scene of FPV UAVs being utilised in different ways, from attacking infantry or vehicles to intercepting other UAVs. This time, Russia has come up with a new way of conducting FPV UAV attacks: using helicopters as carriers and mobile command platforms.
The footage shows racks holding multiple UAVs inside the helicopter hovering above the sea. The operator controls the UAV from a portable controller, like in the field.
While helicopters provide the luxury of launching multiple attacks from a non-static position, they might also allow for using stronger antennas to increase the range and resistance to jamming depending on onboard power generation.
Russia has previously hit a Ukrainian USV with an FPV UAV, which brings us to the question of whether Russia wants to build on this experience to form an equally unconventional countermeasure against the USV threats against the Black Sea Fleet. The fleet has suffered significant losses against Ukrainian USVs, which are capable of sinking small to medium-sized ships thanks to heavy explosive payload and the difficulty of interception by guns/autocannons.
