|
Russian forces have been increasingly targeting Ukrainian logistics routes and positions in the near rear using mothership unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), particularly motherships based on variants of the Orlan and Molniya fixed-wing drones, since at least August 2025. Ukrainian forces reported on August 22 that they shot down a Russian Orlan reconnaissance UAV that functioned as a mothership and carried two first-person-view UAVs for the first time. A source in the Russian defense industrial base (DIB) later told Kremlin newswire TASS on September 8 that Russian forces are using Orlan-10 UAVs for transporting loitering munitions and that the new use of Orlan mothership carrier drones allows Russia to significantly increase the range of Russian drone strikes in the near rear. One Russian milblogger claimed that Russian forces struck Zaporizhzhia City with UAVs twice as of September 4 and credited Russia’s capability to strike at an extended range to mothership drones that operate using Ukrainian SIM cards. Ukrainian and Russian sources indicated in late September 2025 that Russian forces began actively using cheaply made Molniya-2 fixed-wing first-person view (FPV) drones as mothership UAVs to extend tactical drone ranges beyond 25 kilometers in the Kupyansk, Lyman, Pokrovsk, and Novopavlivka directions. Ukrainian servicemen reported that Russian forces have been using Molniya mothership UAVs as repeater drones for other strike and reconnaissance drones and to interdict Ukrainian ground lines of communication (GLOCs), as these drones allow Russian forces to target Ukrainian logistics up to 20 to 25 kilometers from the frontline. Another Russian milblogger observed Ukraine’s widespread use of mothership drones that are based on heavy multicopters that simultaneously act as repeater UAVs.
Russian developers are integrating fiber-optic cables into cheaper drones to scale Russian forces’ ability to conduct drone strikes at farther ranges. Russian sources published footage on September 13 and 14 showing Russian Molniya-2 UAVs with fiber-optic cables striking claimed Ukrainian targets in the Kherson direction for the first time, indicating that Russian forces have begun to attach the cable to cheaply-made Molniya UAVs, likely to significantly scale the number of fiber-optic UAVs on the battlefield. Ukrainian servicemen have observed Russian forces using Molniya drones with fiber-optic cables, at least in the Lyman direction, as of late September 2025. One Russian milblogger claimed that the Molniya-2 UAVs with fiber-optic cables have a range of up to 20 kilometers, while another claimed that Russian developers were able to attach a 40-kilometer fiber-optic cable onto a Molniya-2 UAV, making the UAV invulnerable to EW and having a high-quality video feed. Ukrainian electronic and radio warfare expert Serhiy “Flash” Beskrestnov observed on September 13 that Russian forces were finishing testing of Molniya UAVs with fiber-optic cables, but noted that adding the cable would decrease the UAV’s warhead size and range. Beskrestnov added that such an adaptation will allow Russia to strike Ukrainian targets in the kill zone and along the international border up to a 20-kilometer distance. Russian developers recently modified some Molniya UAV variants to operate as motherships and have thermobaric warheads. A Ukrainian brigade operating in the Kharkiv direction observed that Russian forces still largely rely on radio-controlled FPV UAVs as opposed to fiber-optic UAVs due to a lack of trained drone operators.
|
