Ukraine takes down rare Russian Albatros M5 reconnaissance drone

The Ukrainian army successfully shot down the rare Russian reconnaissance drone, the Albatros M5, on April 2. The video of the incident was shared by the 63rd Independent Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Facebook. This marks the first confirmed instance of shooting down this type of unmanned aerial vehicle.

The Albatros M5, unlike the commonly used Shahed drones in Russia, is a technologically advanced reconnaissance drone. It is designed to conduct aerial observations for the Russian army. The UAV tracks enemy movements and transmits the gathered information to allied units, which can then coordinate an attack on the identified target area.

The Albatros M5 is equipped with visual systems developed with the involvement of the Russian company Kaspersky. According to the portals CyberResistance and InformNapalm, Kaspersky provided software that enables automatic detection, selection, and tracking of targets. The drone uses a neural network for real-time identification of individuals and is equipped with night-vision capabilities.

Despite its advanced features, the Albatros M5 drone was downed by Ukrainian air defense units. The 63rd Brigade emphasized that no technology can shield Russian drones from the decisive actions of Ukrainian defenders.

As shown in the video published on social media, the Ukrainian brigade took down the Russian UAV using one of their own drones. This method is commonly employed on the front line, primarily because drones are more cost-effective than missiles for countering aerial threats.