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  • 2018-01-18 (xsd:date)
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  • could all be sourced using relatively local means. No component is particularly advanced (en)
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  • On the night of January 5, a swarm of weaponized Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) attacked the Russian Air Force base in Khmeimim, Syria. Some reports said rockets had also been fired at the base. On January 8, the Russian Defense Ministry publicly acknowledged the UAV attack, claiming that its anti-aircraft shot down several of the drones while others were captured using electronic warfare systems.The Defense Ministry’s post includes photographs of the downed UAVs, which resemble model airplanes with what appear to have light mortar rounds attached to their wings. According to the ministry and independent observers, these drones have GPS guidance and the ability to drop their payload once they reach predetermined coordinates. The ministry also claims that there was no damage as a result of the attack.The Defense Ministry’s post on the attack implies that the rebels who launched the drones must have obtained help from a country which possesses sophisticated technology. Similar implications can be drawn from comments made by the head of the Russian military’s drone division, Major General Alexander Novikov, as well as by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting with Russian newspaper editors.Russian state media also published a claim by a Defense Ministry official who said that forces based at Khmeimim had detected a U.S. Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft in the vicinity of the two bases around the time of the attack. The Pentagon denied the claim. Despite Russian insistence that the drones are too sophisticated for rebel groups to manufacture without foreign help, several investigations have found that the components are readily available to rebel groups via the black market. A report by the open source intelligence group Bellingcat stated in its summary:The Russian MoD claim that whoever launched these drones required nation-state support is dubious. The suggestion that a United States Poseidon aircraft is somehow related to these drones is even more so. The materials and construction of these drones (en)
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