All posts tagged: drone warfare

Exclusive: British drones destroy Russian-controlled bridge

Exclusive: British drones destroy Russian-controlled bridge

Ukrainian forces used British drones to destroy a Russian-held bridge over the River Dnipro in a breakthrough operation that will shape the future of warfare. A two-month campaign involving repeated sorties by the Malloy T-150 heavy-lift drone played a central role in an operation that degraded Russia’s ability to strike the battered city of Kherson on the river’s right bank. Ukrainian officers say it marks the first known case of a drone-led operation bringing down a bridge in combat history. The mission – carried out early last year but not previously reported – was initially deemed impossible. Yet the bridge, which crossed a distributary of the Dnipro called the Konka, was a critical target. Its destruction would severely complicate Russian resupply efforts to river islands used to launch attacks on residential districts and Ukrainian positions in Kherson. For months, Ukrainian forces tried to destroy it with air strikes and US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) rockets without success. Commanders in Kyiv eventually handed the task to the 426th Unmanned Systems Regiment of the Ukrainian …

Armed forces minister warns Britain will be at war in three years | UK | News

Armed forces minister warns Britain will be at war in three years | UK | News

Britain could be drawn into a major conflict within three years (Image: Getty) Britain could be drawn into a major conflict within three years, yet its armed forces remain trapped in a previous era of warfare, according to a government minister delivering one of the most candid threat assessments heard from a serving senior figure in recent memory. Al Carns, minister of state for the armed forces, has broken from the measured language of government to deliver a blunt verdict on the country’s military preparedness. “When it comes to deterring Russia, we have three to five years before we have to fight a significant confrontation with a major state, a geographically constrained conflict in some shape or form,” he is reported to have said. “And the reality is, whether we like it or not our military in a lot of cases hasn’t changed from the Eighties and Nineties. We’ve got to move faster, and on everything.” From special forces to the front bench Carns cuts a different figure from most of those who hold ministerial …