Click to see full-size image. (Telegram)
The Russian military is testing a new version of the Molniya-2 fixed-wing drone equipped with a fiber-optic guidance cable that is completely immune to jamming.
Video footage showing the new version of the Molniya-2 being successfully launched during a test was posted to social networks on September 13, along with a photo of the large fiber-optic cable spool that was installed in the rear of the drone’s fuselage.
The Molniya-2 is made out of cheap materials like plywood, aluminum tubing and plastic. Due to its simplicity, affordability, and battlefield effectiveness, it has been nicknamed “the AK-47 Kalashnikov of drones.”
The drone, which is powered by two electric engines, has a range of 40 kilometers and can carry a payload weighing ten kilograms. The new version will reportedly be able to maintain that range. Fiber-optic cable spools produced by Russia have already achieved a range of 15-20 kilometers. Work on larger spools with a range up to 30-50 kilometers was reported earlier this year.
While it was possible to use the original Molniya-2, which relied on a radio datalink, for reconnaissance, the use of the new version will likely be restricted to one-way, or so-called suicide, attacks.
The new version of the Molniya-2 will also retain the ability to carry a payload weighing up to ten kilograms, meaning it will be still able to use a TM-62 blast mine, a KZ-6 shaped charge or a RPO-A thermobaric weapon as a warhead.
The new fiber-optic guidance cable will make the Molniya-2 completely immune to electronic warfare means and signal interference, all while providing the operators with high definition video feed from the drone’s first-person view (FPV) camera allowing for much better guidance.
It’s worth noting that the production of the Molniya-2 saw a surge this year, with Ukrainian media reporting more than 850 strikes with the drone just during last month.
The Russian military pioneered the concept of fiber-optic-guided FPV quadcopters during the special military operation in Ukraine. Thus, it is not surprising to see this technology being implemented in fixed-wing drones used for attacks along the front.
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silent genocide: ethnic cleansing taking place right now in syria
by michael welch, vanessa beeley, and drago bosnic
global research, may 03, 2025
region: asia, middle east & north africa, usa
theme: crimes against humanity, global research news hour, media disinformation, us nato war agenda
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“the only thing that stood between the mass killings that we’re seeing now and the terrorists was, of course, the government of president assad and the army of syria. and right now …we’re seeing, you know, lawlessness, lack of security, starvation, poverty, and sectarian ethnic cleansing programs against particularly alawites, shia, christians, but also an attempted attack on the druze populations.” – vanessa beeley, from this week’s interview
there was once an old tale of a frog walking along a river bank. he met a scorpion who asked him to take him across the waters on his back.
“how do i know you won’t sting me?” asked the frog.
“i wouldn’t want to sting you, for then both you and i would both drown!” answered the scorpion.
convinced, the frog took him on his back and headed off to the other side of the river. however, when he was halfway across, the scorpion stung the frog.
and as both started to sink beneath the waves the scorpion said: “i couldn’t help it! it’s my nature!” the moral of this story is when you engineer a group of fundamentalist extremists, re-brand them “freedom fighters” and then send them after the next figure on america’s most wanted list of figures standing in the way imperial conquest, don’t be surprised if those same fighters return to their old head chopping ways when your backs are turned.
the scorpion survived for 48 hours but as it cant swim it has that time to crawl to the edge of the river -some make it.( taken from natural science ) .
the world may have witnessed an escalation of slaughter of alawites and christians in early march, and amnesty international may have played a role in setting about investigating who was responsible and why it happened. but the side that gets little attention is how far western nations are willing to go to ignore the guilt of the new “post-assad” regime and giving them the responsibility to look into the situation.
until muslims join together and not fight each other there is only one winner —israel.
on this week’s global research news hour, we take a special look at this unrepentant flood of bloodshed to which even the western mainstream media considers unfit for public broadcast, and the hell some people have to suffer to satisfy the longings of america’s “opulent minority.”
on the show, we feature long-time syrian reporter and friend vanessa beeley who talks about the people currently fleeing syria into lebanon and the stories they are relaying that are ignored by the western mainstream media. she as well talks about her own story of fleeing syria when it was clear that the hts fighters would soon be descending on new home of damascus.
after that, we talk to military and geopolitical analyst drago bosnic about the bigger picture, including what the foreign powers supporting this new regime get as a dividend for their investment.vanessa beeley is an independent journalist and photographer who has worked extensively in the middle east – on the ground in syria, egypt, iraq and palestine, while also covering the conflict in yemen since 2015
in 2017 vanessa was a finalist for the prestigious martha gellhorn prize for journalism which was won by the much-acclaimed robert parry that year. in 2019, vanessa was among recipients of the serena shim award for uncompromised integrity in journalism.
drago bosnic is a military and geopolitical analyst, regular author on global research and a frequent guest on the global research news hour radio program.
in december 2024, he received an award for his writings on geopolitical analysis and on nuclear war from the mexican press club.
transcript of vanessa beeley, april 14, 2025
global research: the western press actually reported on the violence in syria perpetrated by government-aligned forces, but that was about a month ago and there have been no new reports except for instance a report from amnesty international talking about investigating the attacks
against alawites, but from a month ago in baniyas. from what you can tell from the people fleeing into lebanon from syria that you’ve spoken to, has that violence actually subsided?
vanessa beeley: no, not at all. in fact, we’ve been hearing in the last four or five days that there are convoys of so-called hts, which i would still explain to people they are al-qaeda.
they were formerly al-nusra front in syria, which was al-qaeda in syria. they were then re-branded as hayat tahrir al-sham or hts, as you rightly said, to try and distance themselves from the atrocities and crimes committed by al-qaeda or nusra front, but in reality the ideology remains the same, so i still perceive them as being al-qaeda. and basically we’ve heard stories from aleppo, from hama, homs, from contacts that i still have there, that
there have been huge convoys of hts forces heading towards the coastal region and the belief is that they’re going to be increasing the ethnic cleansing campaigns there.
you’re right to say that i was in northern lebanon a few weeks ago, shortly after the kind of ramping up of the ethnic cleansing, because of course it began immediately after the takeover of damascus by hts and jolani. now he’s of course known as ahmed al-shara, but his real name or his former name
, which still has a bounty on his head, by the way, from the us, is in charge of operations. and so when i went to northern lebanon, to akkar, which is the region on the border with syria in the far north, people, then syrians, were crossing from the smuggling routes at that point there were already 10,000, so this is about two, three weeks ago. now i’m told there are around 30,000 to 40,000 refugees in northern lebanon fleeing the danger of ethnic cleansing and the
slaughter that’s been ongoing on the coast, not only of the alawite sect but also ofchristians, of sunni muslims that are objecting to the extremist actions or the atrocities being committed by hts and the foreign mercenaries that came also under the hts umbrella, which include of course uyghurs from china, chechens, tajikstans, afghanis, a huge number of foreign salafists that are operating now in syria and have been since 2011. and the atrocities that we were
hearing being talked about in akkar, in lebanon, and the fact that when they fled their homes and villages, they were being hunted down in the mountains and in the forest by drones and assassinated even after they had fled.
the forests were being set on fire to try and smoke the refugees out. recently i think hts has threatened to establish checkpoints close to the smuggling routes to prevent the refugees even reaching
lebanon safely by shooting them when they see them crossing. and so, you know, the atrocities have continued. they haven’t stopped. and even they are now taking place also in damascus. there have been attacks particularly on alawites and shia muslims in damascus itself and also attacks on the holy shrines, the shia holy shrines like sayyidah zaynab, but also other shrines across syria have been decimated.
vb: i think the last number that i had that was, let’s say, reliable from a perspective of people on the ground letting me know what the numbers were, the syrian observatory for human rights, to be honest, always downplays the figures, although it’s widely used for its reporting by the un and so on. but i think the realistic number is around 20,000 to 25,000 dead. and then on top of that, of course, the 30,000 to 40,000 refugees in lebanon.
gr: do you have any insights into why exactly even the mainstream media were reporting on the violence around march 6th and 7th and 8th and 9th, and now it’s subsided? i mean, what kind of factors entered into it? i mean, why would they report it out in the first place? and now why are they dumbing down the activities that have been taking place?
vb: well, i mean, i think what’s interesting is that there was an alleged un investigation committee that went to syria. there was a lot of controversy over that, whether they did actually send a committee or not. but i know that hts were effectively threatening people if they came forward to speak to either the media or the un, that if they did so, their families would be punished as a result.
and of course, that means they would be killed. and so i think very few people actually came forward to speak to whatever media was available, or were enabled to actually go and report on the atrocities. and i think, you know, the other thing is, michael, of course, these media outlets, they supported for the last 14 years, the rise of hts to power. and so the last thing that western media wants to do is to report honestly, on the nature of the creature that they have put in power in syria,
because they didn’t do that in the last 14 years. all of the crimes, as you well know, were apportioned to president assad personally, and secondarily to the syrian arab army and its allies, which of course included russia, iran and hezbollah in syria that were fighting the multiple terrorist proxies that were basically being used by the west and by israel, turkey and the gulf states to overthrow the syrian government.
and so the last thing that the western media wants to do, and that reflects upon western regimes also that supported this regime change war, the last thing they want to do is to portray hts as the criminal terrorist entity that it really is.
so since december the 8th, i mean, we had jeremy bowen from the bbc, literally running with excitement at the idea that hts supporters might be actually about to extra judicially execute someone who was deemed to be a regime remnant or a regime supporter
. no condemnation for the fact that this summary execution without any legal process was about to be carried out, but actual enthusiasm for it. i mean, this is quite shocking.
so for me, it’s really not surprising that we’re seeing western media largely trying to play it down and to reduce the numbers to basically put the ball back in hts’s court by saying they should investigate. in other words, trying to separate the crimes that are being committed in their view by disparate groups
that are not necessarily under the control of hts and therefore bringing hts in to investigate the crimes. but the reality is it’s hts militia, it’s hts mercenaries or affiliated mercenaries that are carrying out these crimes.
and when people have gone to hts security to make a complaint or to start an investigation, it’s been quashed completely. so, you know, i’m not surprised by the western media reaction. and i’m not surprised that they perhaps highlighted it.