Ukraine downs $300,000 Russian Merlin drone in Donetsk
- 10 April, 09:49
Ukrainian forces have struck a rare Russian “Merlin-VR” drone in Lyman direction in eastern Donetsk region, Ukrainian military reported on Thursday. The operation to down the expensive Russian UAV was carried by the 63rd Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. “This wasn’t just any target—it was the most expensive Russian reconnaissance UAV, Merlin. Valued at over $300,000, it can stay in the air for 10 hours, covering 600 km! But this one didn’t make it far,” the 63rd Brigade wrote on their official Telegram channel.
Designed for reconnaissance in both automatic and semi-automatic modes, Merlin-VR has been developed by the Research Institute of Modern Telecommunications Technologies in Smolensk. Its first prototype was presented in 2021. The drone features a hybrid engine, which makes it “low acoustic detectability.” The downing of this valuable Russian drone came after reports of destruction of Russian Tu-22M3 bomber worth $100 million. Commander-in-Chief of Ukrainian Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi revealed on Wednesday that Tu-22M3 bomber, which is a key component of Russian long-range air raids on Ukrainian territory, was downed two days ago in eastern Donetsk region. Russia has not issued any official statements about the destruction of its bombers in April. However, it acknowledged last week that a Tu-22M3 crashed due to a technical malfunction and the pilot died. It’s worth noting that Ukraine destroyed the first Tu-22M3 bomber in April last year.
