Russian drones in Belarus ignite military scramble for control

During the night of September 6th to 7th, eight Russian drones entered Belarusian airspace, prompting a significant reaction from Belarusian military aviation. Many aircraft and helicopters were in the air. Here is what happened.

The "Belarusian Hajun" group, which monitors military activity in Belarus, reported on Telegram that on the night of September 6th to 7th, seven Shahed kamikaze drones and one Supercam reconnaissance drone flew over Belarus.

The first Shahed reportedly flew in from the Ukrainian Chernihiv region, then returned to Ukraine after 40 minutes. Subsequently, more Shaheds and the Supercam reconnaissance drone appeared in the Homel region.

Notably, one of the Shaheds reached the Grodno region and headed towards the Belarusian-Lithuanian border, after which it disappeared under unexplained circumstances. It’s possible that it was shot down by a Belarusian aircraft or helicopter, similar to an incident on August 29th, 2024.

According to the Belarusian Gayun channel, Belarusian fighter jets took off from Baranovichy airport four times, and helicopters took off twice from Machulishchy. Aircraft activity was noted not only in the south of the country but also in the far north. It’s possible that the Belarusians, wanting to avoid an international crisis, decided to shoot down the Russian drones to prevent them from flying over Lithuanian territory.

The Shahed-136 is a model of drone widely used by the Russian armed forces. This drone, with a delta-wing design having a wingspan of 8 feet, has two vertical stabilizers at the ends of the wings. Its total length is 11.5 feet, and commercial components available on the market are used in its production. There have even been instances of parts sourced from Poland being used.

The drone weighs 441 pounds, of which the warhead constitutes about 110 pounds. The rest of the mass includes, among other things, the fuel tank, which powers a 50-horsepower Chinese boxer engine, a copy of the German Limbach L550 E engine. It is estimated that the fuel reserve on board allows the Shahed-136 to cover up to 1,550 miles.

The guidance system in the Shahed-136 is quite simple and only allows for flight along a pre-planned route. For this reason, these drones can only attack fixed targets, such as residential areas, because the accuracy of hitting is also low. In practice, they are mainly used to intimidate civilian populations in cities or as support for other attack means, such as cruise missiles.

The Shahed drones, being a relatively inexpensive solution, can pose a significant challenge to air defense when properly synchronized. The defense then has to suddenly combat many targets simultaneously, which increases the chances of, for instance, Kh-101 cruise missiles getting through.

On the other hand, the Supercam S350 reconnaissance drones have a wingspan of 10.5 feet and can fly at an altitude of up to 3.1 miles for up to 4.5 hours. Its payload is an electro-optical head with a daytime camera and/or a photo camera and a thermal camera.

According to the Russians, these drones have a 33x optical zoom, greatly facilitating the detection and identification of targets, whose location is then passed on to artillery or rocket units.