Overview
- Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov reported on January 4 that a recovered Russian Shahed-type loitering munition carried a man-portable air defense system in the first such documented case.
- He said the drone was outfitted with a camera and a radio modem, enabling an operator inside Russia to fire the missile, and he advised Ukrainian army aviation to avoid head-on approaches.
- The report has not been independently verified, the Russian military has not commented, and details on the launcher type or the number of modified drones were not provided.
- On January 2, Beskrestnov reported that an infrared spotlight had been found on a Shahed, a feature he assessed was intended to counter Ukrainian interceptor drones operating at night.
- Previous Ukrainian reporting described radio modems networking Shahed and Gerbera drones for near–real-time control from Russian territory, along with increasing use of rear-facing cameras on Shahed and Orlan UAVs as countermeasures.