Ukraine warns Russia has built metal-cutting drones to topple its power grid | Tech Radar

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Ukraine warns Russia has built metal-cutting drones to topple its power grid

Russia is shifting focus to low-hanging fruit of the power grid

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A modified drone being used by Ukraine (Image credit: TWZ)

Ukraine's HUR says Russia developed a drone with an explosive charge in its wings

It is designed to cut through metal and bring down existing power infrastructure

The damage needs days to repair, and while it is unlikely to make the grid collapse, it can cause blackouts in many regions close to the front line

Ukraine's military intelligence service says Russia has developed a drone designed specifically to bring down the former's electricity pylons in the coming winter, as the asymmetrical aspect of the conflict between the two continues to take center stage, with the latter copying many of the battlefield tactics used against it.

In an interview with RBC-Ukraine, Major General Vadym Skibitskyi, deputy chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence, was asked what Ukraine should brace for in the fall and winter, and his response included Russian-developed drones that had wings that "contain an explosive element capable of cutting through metal."

Gen. Skibitskyi did not elaborate on the specifics, and reports do not currently list a warhead weight, describe a range, or provide a launch profile.

A conflict that has changed shape multiple times during its course

The conflict has had many twists and turns since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with a frontline that has moved both ways multiple times, even as both sides hunker down for what seems to be a never-ending war.

With the former's hopes of a quick victory dashed and the latter fielding a much larger fighting force, both sides have had to adapt, relying on cost-effective weaponry in large numbers, such as Iran-designed Shahed drones on Russia's end.

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One-way Kamikaze drones like the Shahed's primary deployment are hardly new in the war, but the change in pattern that is being suggested here indicates what reports are already hinting at: both sides are increasingly targeting civilian infrastructure to maximize economic damage.

Russia reportedly targeting Ukraine's power infrastructure with drones is simply yet another example of how both sides are trying to one-up the other in attacks that have targeted a mix of military bases, refineries, and even retail stores of late.

The one technical detail worth dwelling on is the placement of the explosives on the wings of the purported drones that Ukraine's deputy intelligence chief is hinting at: drones targeting a high-voltage tower could do maximum damage by embedding explosive material in their wings.

Even a single hit could, in theory, take out a large swath of the grid in a region with extremely cold winters, and heat and power are crucial for civilians and the military to survive. This is why Russia, which has historically targeted substations and power generation, is changing tactics: most such pylons are poorly defended, if at all, and taking out one would require at least a few days of repairs, especially for more remote locations.

Linear shaped charges, which focus a detonation into a narrow cutting jet, are mature and unglamorous engineering already used in building demolition, aircraft canopy severance systems, and rocket stage separation. The same approach can be integrated into drones, at least on paper, even if Ukraine does not have a specific example to talk about just yet.

Ukraine's intelligence service has, in a nutshell, described a weapon that makes strategic sense, uses no exotic technology, but whether it appears over transmission corridors this winter as a prominent threat remains to be seen.

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