On Feb. 25, an elite Russian drone group—the Rubicon Center of Advanced Unmanned Systems—launched a devastating wave of attacks on the main supply line supporting the Ukrainian garrison in Sudzha, the center of the Ukrainian-held salient in western Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
Two weeks later on March 10 or 11, the Ukrainians evacuated Kursk and repositioned on the Ukrainian side of the border. They weren’t surrounded, as U.S. President Donald Trump falsely claimed—but they were beaten and forced out of Kursk after occupying part of the oblast for six months.
The Rubicon drone group was key to the Russian victory. And the group’s “advanced drone tactics,” as analyst Andrew Perpetua described them, were central to Rubicon’s efforts. Now we have video evidence of those tactics.
On or before March 12, a Russian first-person-view drone—clutching a warhead and feeding video back to its operators, likely via radio but possibly via fiber-optic cable—flew over a road frequently traveled by Ukrainian supply trucks. That the road was dangerous was obvious: the wrecks of several vehicles dotted the road.
Rather than hovering over the road, its operator hoping a viable target passed by before the drone drained its battery, the drone settled onto the ground near the road—and waited. Resting rather than flying, the unmanned aerial vehicle preserved its precious battery life.
Patiently waiting
In time, a Ukrainian convoy passed by. The drone lifted off, chased down the convoy—and barreled toward a pickup truck whose bed was heavy with supplies. The drone’s video feed cut out, so it’s unclear whether it struck the target. In any event, it at least got very close.
It’s not a new tactic. The best Ukrainians operators have been landing their drones in the target zone for months now. But it’s a tactic that requires skill and careful planning. Land a radio-controlled drone in the wrong spot and the operator might lose their connection. Land a fiber-optic drone in the wrong spot and its millimeters-thick, through which the drone sends and receives signals, could get tangled.
Rubicon’s operators clearly possess the skill and experience necessary to land a drone as part of a complex aerial ambush. And that’s not all. “They also set traps by landing drones on roads and detonating them under passing vehicles, functioning like anti-tank mines—likely using upward-facing shaped charges,” Perpetua noted.
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