Anti-aircraft gunners of the Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed a high-end Russian drone over the Black Sea, the local Air Force command posted to social media. The downed UAV was identified as a Forpost, a Russian-made attack and reconnaissance drone, originally based on Israeli designs for the Searcher, updated to resemble the Turkish-made Bayraktar, and estimated to cost $7 million.
“On 1 April 2024, the soldiers of the Odesa anti-aircraft missile brigade destroyed a Russian Forpost attack and reconnaissance UAV in the Black Sea,” the Air Force wrote.
According to Illia Yevlash, spokesperson for the Air Force Command, as quoted by Ukrainska Pravda, the Forpost drone is one of the most expensive in the world, able to carry two missiles or other air-to-ground weapons.
“The Air Force downed a pretty good target. We don't shoot down targets like that very often, but we managed to hit one of the most expensive attack drones, of the Forpost type,” he said. “This is a Russian UAV, worth about seven million dollars.”
One of the country's most expensive reconnaissance tools, Forpost drones first came to prominence in the 1980s as the default remote surveillance craft of the Israeli army before its export to a number of foreign powers across Asia and Europe.
While typically unarmed, Russia has used armed versions of the drone in combat operations in the past, though the drones are now primarily used for surveilling enemy positions on the battlefield. The weapons have also been deployed in Syria.
The Defense Ministry of Russia reported that Forpost trained interaction with submarines. Black Sea fleet drones detected warships and transmitted coordinates to the Kolpino diesel-electric submarine. It delivered a conditional strike with Kalibr missiles.
earlier, Forpost of the Baltic fleet trained in Kaliningrad region to detect targets and adjust fire of naval artillery. The Defense Ministry said the drones transmitted target and fire information by digital channels in real time from an altitude of several kilometers.
