File image.
Russia’s elite Center for Advanced Unmanned Technologies “Rubicon” on May 11 released video footage documenting how its operators were able to discover and destroy a well-hidden self-propelled howitzer of Kiev forces.
The howitzer was first discovered by Rubicon’s operators on May 6. It was hidden under a railway bridge somewhere in the region of Kharkiv, along the border with the Russian region of Belegorod. Kiev forces closed both sides of the narrow space with camouflage doors that doubled as defense against first-person view (PFV) suicide quadcopters and more sophisticated loitering munitions.
It is unclear how the howitzer made its way this close to the Russian border, but it is very possible that it was camouflaged as a civilian truck during deployment.
Despite all the efforts to hide it, the howitzer was discovered by a Rubicon FPV suicide quadcopter. The center may have sent the drone to scan the border area after detecting artillery firings with a counter-battery radar, or picking up some Ukrainian communications.
Rubicon identified the howitzer as a Ukrainian-made Bohdana 5.0 mounted on a Czech-made Tatra Force 8×8 chassis. Nevertheless, it looked more like a Bohdana 3.0, which is mounted on a Tatra 815-7 8×8 chassis.
Both versions are armed with the NATO standard L52 155 mm gun. It has an effective range of 42 kilometers with conventional shells and 60 kilometers with rocket-assisted projectiles. The howitzer can also fire the American-made M982 Excalibur guided shell.
It is also possible that the howitzer was a Slovak-made EVA, which uses the same chassis as the Bohdana 3.0. It is also armed with an L52 gun with capabilities similar to the Ukrainian howitzer.
Although Slovakia announced a plan to jointly develop a version of the EVA with Ukraine, no deliveries of howitzers of this type to Kiev forces have been announced.
Whatever the howitzer was, Rubicon operators went to work quickly after discovering it. Two FPV quadcopters were used to breach the camouflaged doors, then at least five more targeted the howitzer over the next 24 hours. The howitzer’s armored cabinet, tires, and gun were all hit individually. As a result, it was completely destroyed.
While the use of so many quadcopters may appear excessive, with a price tag under $1,000 for each drone, the cost is still way less than a single modern anti-tank guided missile.
It’s worth noting that all the quadcopters used were guided via fiber optic cables, as evident by the clear video feed. This does not just allow for better control by the operators, but also makes the drone very much completely immune to electronic warfare.
The attack on the howitzer is an example of some of the more complex drone warfare tactics developed by Rubicon and other Russian units in the course of the special military operation in Ukraine. Similar attacks are taking place every day. In practice, Kiev forces can no longer hide anything from Russian drone operators, no matter how hard they try.
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