Video: Ukrainian drone neutralizes modern Russian ZALA 421 UAV with world's oldest weapon

Video: Ukrainian drone neutralizes modern Russian ZALA 421 UAV with world’s oldest weapon

The invasion of Ukraine will go down in the history of military conflicts as the first in which drones were used extensively and decisively influenced the course of the war. Not just sophisticated military drones, but commercial ones that are used well to drop ammunition on targets, such as Kamikaze drones economic or for surveillance and reconnaissance workThere are many ways to use drones on the battlefield, but what we had not seen until now was an aerial drone combat in which the decisive factor is a wooden stick.

This is what can be seen in a video published by the Ukrainian forces that has gone viral on social media. The images show A Ukrainian FPV drone equipped with a simple wooden stick neutralizing a Russian ZALA 421-16E droneThis unconventional technique employed by Ukraine highlights the ingenuity required in an extreme situation such as a highly technological war.

The incident, which took place in the skies of Kherson Oblast, features the Ukrainian drone, the specific model is unknown, repeatedly hitting the Russian device and damaging its engine to render it inoperativeThe ZALA 421-16E is a drone typically used for tasks such as locating Ukrainian units and coordinating attacks using loitering munitions such as the Lancet drone.

The ZALA 421-16E5 is a tactical unmanned aerial vehicle, UAV. specialized in surveillance and reconnaissanceCapable of performing intelligence, surveillance, communications transmission and monitoring missions, this UAV has a flight endurance of 6 to 7 hours. It is equipped with a nose-mounted, gyroscope-stabilized payload capsule, which includes a thermal camera and a high-definition video camera.

This Russian drone can use either an electric propulsion system or an internal combustion engine and offers a flight speed range of 65 to 110 km/hIt is also possible to equip the UAV with a laser designatorallowing it to measure distances, among other functions. The ZALA 421-16E5 features an air cushion landing system and can operate at a distance of up to 150 kmwith an operating ceiling of 3.6 km.

In addition to reconnaissance, the ZALA 421-16E drones are also used for the precise designation of objectives thanks to the aforementioned laser designator. This feature is relevant to be able to coordinate attacks by guiding drones such as the KUB-BLA towards a target. These weapons, capable of loitering around the combat zone, can strike precisely using data provided by reconnaissance UAVs, maximizing the impact on enemy targets and minimizing collateral damage. What Russian forces probably did not expect is that their drones could be neutralized with the oldest weapon in the world.