The Russian Army has made a spectacular capture of a pretty-much-intact British/French "Storm Shadow" Cruise Missile, and a fully intact British "Black Hornet" Micro Drone. The devices are being analyzed and reverse-engineered by Russia technology firms.
This is a dramatic find for Russia. The "Storm Shadow" has been doing very significant damage against the Russians in Ukraine.
Below, video of the missile and its parts being delivered to a Russian technology company:
By analyzing the missile components, and reverse-compiling its software, Russia will gain almost complete knowledge of how the system operates and therefore how to thwart it.
Russian electronic warfare capabilities are world renowned and it is now expected the practical life for the other Storm Shadow missiles gifted to Ukraine is very short. Likely less than a month until the Russians identify vulnerabilities and make adjustments to Russian electronic warfare to defeat the missiles.
In another important capture, Russia recovered a fully intact British "Black Hornet" micro drone.
At least 850 Black Hornet micro-drones, which can easily fit into the palm of a human hand, were given to Ukraine in August, 2022.
Designed for scouting and spying, the micro-drones are particularly useful for urban combat where they can check which buildings enemies are in before soldiers advance. The drones were gifted as part of a joint U.K.-Norway program, with Norway contributing $9 million.
Black Hornet micro-drones, which resemble a helicopter shrunk to the size of a tennis ball, have a maximum range of about 1.2 miles and can fly for up to 25 minutes, reaching top speeds of 11 miles per hour. They have three high-definition cameras fitted, which can send footage back to a command post, and are fitted with night vision equipment.
The drones are manufactured in Norway by United States-based company Teledyne FLIR. They were originally designed by Norwegian firm Prox Dynamics, which has since been taken over by the American company.
They are designed to be quiet enough to enter buildings without being heard by those inside, making them perfect for reconnaissance. The micro-drones, which at the time cost about £80,000 ($94,274) per unit, were first used by British troops in Afghanistan in 2013.
