Russia is reportedly enhancing its attack drones to pose a greater challenge to Ukrainian air defenses, as per British intelligence. Since mid-2023, Russia has been augmenting Iran’s Shahed one-way attack UAVs with domestically manufactured components, seeking design improvements based on operational experience. Intelligence reveals that a downed Russian UAV in late November 2023 had a Ukrainian SIM card and a 4G modem, suggesting a makeshift modification to enhance real-time navigation and potentially disrupt Ukraine’s electronic warfare efforts. Some Russian-made UAVs are painted black for nocturnal stealth. Despite Russia’s increased use of one-way attack UAVs in mass strikes, Ukraine continues to intercept most of them successfully, the report concludes.

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