Fiber Optic "FPV" Multirotor Drones Used To Target Petrol/Gas Station Across Dnieper River In Kherson Region
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Viewing so-called “First Person Video” (“FPV”) drone footage from the Russia-Ukraine War is often a quite sordid affair. There are, however, several “genres” of “FPV” drone footage that are not only more palatable to non-sadistic audiences by virtue of not (directly) depicting the injuring or killing of any human beings but by offering a window into the new options—and new threats—enabled by technological change. One such “genre” is the employment of armed “FPV” drones, typically of the multirotor as opposed to the fixed-wing variety, against fixed—stationary—structures of various types. This dynamic is best characterized as the highly surgical micro-level targeting of fixed—stationary—sites, including critical infrastructure. While severely limited in terms of both range and destructive effects, technological change in the form of low-cost and plentiful armed “FPV” multirotor drones weighing just several kilograms allows militaries to attack an incredibly and unprecedentedly large and diverse (potential) target bank that was previously not possible due to the qualitative and/or quantitative limitations of strike capabilities broadly conceived.1
As armed “first person video” (“FPV”) multirotor drones, including those of the fiber optic (FO) uplink/downlink variety, become available in increasingly large numbers, the scope for using these inexpensive and plentiful uncrewed aircraft-turned-munitions against a broader range of targets increases. In a recent post, I covered the use of armed “FPV” multirotor drones to target petrol/gas stations and similar local energy storage and distribution infrastructure in northeastern Ukraine, as well as one incident in which Ukrainian forces attacked a Russian gas/petrol station in Russia’s Belgorod province.
In another recent post, I covered the use of armed “FPV” multirotor drones against energy transmission infrastructure in the Kherson metropolitan area by a different Russian Army drone group.
This second Russian drone group, “FOBOS,” which is associated with the Russian Army’s 18th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, has since released several videos in which armed “FPV” multirotor drones, including those of the FO uplink/downlink variety, are used to attack petrol/gas stations and related energy storage and distribution facilities in the Kherson metropolitan area.
The above video is notable in that an armed “FPV” multirotor drone, which may be that of the FO uplink/downlink variety, maneuvers and undertakes its final attack run at an extremely low altitude.
The above video offers a similar view of another attack with additional footage of the aftermath, which was recorded by someone on the ground. Note the presence of a small bus, which was not attacked, at this petrol/gas station.
The above video also offers a view of the aftermath as recorded by the occupant of a passing vehicle. While such fires can be extinguished and the damage resulting from the small and light warhead is typically limited to a single fuel pump, the entire petrol/gas station may be offline for some time. Leaving aside the largest metropolitan areas in economically developed countries with car-centric transportation infrastructure, there tends to be a limited number of petrol/gas stations available in most urban areas. The capacity to even render a subset of such local energy storage and distribution facilities offline can be of great importance, particularly in the context of an ongoing or impending siege-type dynamic.
The above video is particularly interesting for several reasons. First, the petrol/gas station in question has been geolocated to 46°39'34.3"N 32°35'37.9"E by X/Twitter user @99Dominik_. This petrol/gas station is located some eight kilometers from the nearest Russian-occupied settlement on the left/eastern bank of the Dnieper River. The “FPV” multirotor drone in question, which may have been of the FO uplink/downlink variety, likely flew over many buildings and other structures to reach this petrol/gas station.
Second, the target was an above-ground fuel tank, one that was subject to a modest attempt at hardening, given the presence of multiple large “sandbags” around the fuel tank.
Third, the target was likely a large fuel tank containing not petrol/gasoline but diesel fuel, which is particularly important because most military vehicles, including otherwise civilian trucks, buses, vans, and pickup trucks pressed into military use, run on diesel fuel. While diesel may be available at one or more fuel pumps under the roof of a gas/petrol station, those pumps are subject to height restrictions, unlike the large above-ground fuel tank seen in the above video.