From $45 Million to Scrap: How Russia’s Elite Air Defenses Are Falling to Ukr Drones

Inside Ukraine’s new playbook of coordinated strikes using loitering munitions and real-time battlefield intelligence.

On May 13th, 2025, a Russian position sat exposed along a dirt road, flanked by a thin treeline offering little real cover. A BM-27 Uragan, its launch tubes angled and empty, stood abandoned after its last barrage. Designed for saturation fire with 220mm rockets, the Uragan was built for a different era—one where massed artillery mattered more than survivability.

The first strike came from Ukrainian artillery—specifically a HIMARS firing GMLRS rockets—landing close enough to disable but not destroy. Flames licked at the vehicle’s base as its systems failed. But this wasn’t just a lucky shot. Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) were watching the strike unfold in real time, their surveillance drones quietly circling above. And they weren’t just observers—they were already moving their kamikaze drones into position.

Look closely at how this played out.

The SSO first spotted the Uragan using likely one of their high-end surveillance drones. Orders went out immediately. Kamikaze drones were scrambled but told to hold back—close enough to act, far enough to avoid detection. Coordinates were passed to a nearby HIMARS battery, which fired off a GMLRS strike. The rocket hit the Uragan, but the SSO wasn’t satisfied.

Disabled is not destroyed.

The final order went out. A kamikaze drone pilot—probably sitting in a concealed position kilometers away—took over. He guided his drone straight into the damaged system and finished the job. And I have no doubt there were at least two kamikaze drones circling at a safe distance, waiting for that final order. Had the GMLRS strike finished the Uragan completely, those drones would have been saved for the next target.

Jesus Christ—these people. That was my only reaction after watching the strike and piecing the weapons systems together. They weren’t just hunting targets—they were trying to save the kamikaze drones.

Yes, the Uragan costs just around half a million dollars, but that’s not where our focus should be. A system like the Uragan, with its 35-kilometer range, is not going to sit exposed just ten kilometers from the front—it’s meant to fire from deep behind. And yet, Ukraine’s FPV drones are now reaching those rear areas, probably closing in on 20 kilometers or more. How this is happening in a frontline saturated with Russian drones still beats me. But it’s happening. And it’s bad news for an infantry-heavy Russian army that relies on these artillery systems for support and area denial.

Russia’s Buk 3 air-defense system

Elsewhere, a more valuable target came under attack—a Buk-M3 air defense system, one of Russia’s most advanced medium-range SAM platforms. Designed to counter aircraft and missiles at ranges up to 70 kilometers, it’s a critical part of Russia’s layered air defense. But its systems were never meant to counter what came next.

A loitering munition—likely a US-made Switchblade—locked onto the Buk’s exposed radar mast. The strike was precise, a direct hit that blinded the system before it ever had a chance to respond.

In under a minute of recorded combat footage, two battlefield assets—one a relic of Soviet firepower, the other a symbol of modern Russian air defense—were reduced to burning scrap. The assault combined artillery with cheap, precise drones. The kind of layered attack Russia’s heavy systems still can’t survive.

Russian forces are increasingly accepting higher risks by keeping systems like the Uragan and Buk-M3 closer to active fronts. The goal is clear: maintain constant pressure and keep air defense coverage tight over contested areas. But the cost of this exposure is growing, and the battlefield is no longer forgiving of such risks.

Ukraine, on the other hand, is rewriting the rulebook on precision warfare. The use of Switchblade 600s is forcing a hard rethink of what even qualifies as a “safe rear area.” Positions once considered secure are now within range of kamikaze drones and long-range FPV systems that operate with deadly efficiency.

Can’t believe I’m starting to use long-range and FPV drones in the same sentence. Welcome to Ukraine.

The fact that HIMARS, Switchblade 600s, and FPV drones were deployed within the same operational window is no accident. And behind these attacks is a system that’s quietly becoming one of Ukraine’s most lethal assets—the Switchblade 600.

• It carries an anti-armor warhead, capable of taking out moving vehicles and fortified positions—exactly the kind of targets Russia believed were safe behind their lines.

• With a range pushing 40 kilometers, and up to 90 kilometers using advanced handoff controls, it strikes well beyond what Russian commanders still consider “rear areas.”

• The system is fully man-portable and can be launched in under 10 minutes—fast enough to hit targets before they even realize they’ve been spotted.

• Controlled through a touchscreen tablet, operators guide it in real time, loiter over targets, and commit the strike with a simple tap—no guesswork, no delay.

• And perhaps most telling—it’s combat-proven and actively used by the U.S. Army, a clear sign of just how effective and reliable this system really is.

And Ukraine isn’t just using them—they’re turning the Switchblade into a precision tool for battlefield disruption, the clearest sign yet that they’re refining a highly coordinated, multi-domain strike capability.

This is network-centric warfare in action—real-time intelligence flowing directly from ISR assets like surveillance drones and Special Operations teams to frontline artillery and drone strike operators.

Ukraine isn’t just improvising anymore. It’s executing complex strike packages with the kind of coordination you’d expect from a NATO military.

And the message is unmistakable: In this war, heavy armor and long-range artillery alone won’t save you. If Russia doesn’t adapt quickly, it’s going to keep losing million-dollar systems to drones that cost a fraction of that price—and can find them wherever they try to hide.