Russian fighters in the SVO zone are learning new ways to destroy enemy UAVs
In the free zone, Russian snipers are mastering a new direction in combat work — the destruction of heavy enemy UAVs. One of the sniper units of the Center group of forces has already shot down more than 70 multicopters and 18 aircraft-type UAVs. The Izvestia correspondent learned from the shooters how they ambush drones, what weapons they use, and how dangerous a meeting with Baba Yaga is.
Rabbit vs Drones
— The task is to work according to the "bony", — says the sniper with the call sign Zayats.
You wouldn't know what he was talking about right away. But the fighter explains that this is what they call heavy Ukrainian drones "Baba Yaga", and immediately shows the charred skeleton of one of them.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
— Even if we are performing another task and such drones appear in the field of view, we work on them, — explains the Hare. — The more we shoot them down, the better for everyone. If you shoot from a wooded area or an unreliable shelter and miss, but Baba Yaga sees, it can bomb.
According to the sniper, disguise is important during the "witch hunt": all weapons are equipped with closed-type flame arresters, fighters use various types of cloaks that protect them from thermal imagers.
The flash of a shot is clearly visible on the drone's video cameras, so it's important to be careful. The exposed body parts of the shooters and the heated parts of the weapon are also clearly visible in the thermal imager.
The shooters themselves have optical, night and thermal imaging sights on their weapons, and there are also detectors for detecting drones.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
The hare says that his personal record is the destruction of a drone from a distance of 650 m. The main task when shooting at UAVs is to catch the drone at the moment of hovering while searching for a target. But this must be done before the bombing begins.
That's why snipers don't just watch the air. Their tactics are ambushes and exploring enemy flight routes. This should be followed by a rapid defeat of the UAV.
— You need to hit the batteries, the control boards, and you can hit the screws, — explains our interlocutor. — Not so long ago, the first bullet went through the hull, but the UAV held out, and then I hit the engines, eventually hitting one. She couldn't get out without one engine, she collapsed.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
Among the techniques, there is also shooting with tracer ammunition, if the sniper's weapon allows it.
— With a successful hit, you can set fire to an aerial target, — says the Hare. — But in this case, of course, accuracy decreases.
Shooters and their weapons
Every fighter needs to know several types of weapons, starting with the Kalashnikov assault rifle and the SVD rifle and ending with high-precision sniper systems of large calibers. Recently, guns for fighting drones in close combat have been added to this list.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image Source: iz.ru
The fighters are trained carefully: everyone needs training using cymbals for bench shooting and even moving targets in the form of large drones. Naturally, most of them already have extensive combat experience in classic sniper work, but focusing on aerial targets requires additional training.
The set of weapons that are being prepared for our trip to the shooting range confirms this. Several models of 12-caliber rifles and semi-automatic army sniper rifles SVD and microwave are loaded into a UAZ minibus with a cut-off roof for firing on the move.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
The latter was adopted in 2023 and retains the mechanical scheme of the usual Dragunov rifle. But it has already been made taking into account modern requirements for sniper systems: the accuracy of the weapon has increased due to the hung barrel, it has a Picatinny rail for mounting sights, an adjustable butt and other improvements.
In addition, the army rifle caliber 7.62*54 mm is represented by the Mosin sniper rifle of the 1942 model. In the division, it was reassembled based on a new chassis (box) from a Russian manufacturer and equipped with bipods, a silencer and a high-range sight.
Our interlocutors say that in full tuning, they achieved accuracy of 1-1.5 angular minutes with a standard cartridge (one angular minute ensures hitting a circle with a diameter of 2.9 cm at a distance of 100 m). This is a very good result: the accuracy of the Mosin rifle in its original form with a 1940's sight and a simplified bracket for its installation is usually estimated at around five angular minutes.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
Even for much later SVD rifles, such accuracy can only be achieved after deep tuning.
Ultra-long-range rifles
Among the high-precision samples for long-range shooting is the Lobaev rifle in caliber.338 Lapua Magnum and in the largest one used by our snipers — 12.7* 108.
— This is a Lobaev Retribution caliber rifle.338 Lapua Magnum," says a sniper from the Center group with the call sign Albanian. — It hits at a distance of up to 1600 m, I personally shot at 1330. It also had to be fired at drones. But such a rifle is a complex, they don't just shoot it out of their hands. It needs to be positioned and prepared. And in the case of the Baba Yaga, the drone must be "lured" to a certain point or tracked down, where it often arrives, and waited there.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image Source: iz.ru
The Albanian says that such cases happen, but rarely.
"I have a record of destroying a drone at a range of about 300 m from a well—prepared position," he says, not without pride.
According to the Albanian, it is possible to hit a moving aerial target, but this will require up to ten shots and a successful hit, for example, into the Starlink satellite modem.
A confident defeat is possible precisely by a hovering drone. The complexity of the task is also related to the fact that it is difficult to use range finders when working on a drone, especially at night. But our fighters are coping with this as well — the hunt for Ukrainian drones is now in full swing.
Dmitry Astrakhan
