Belarusian aircraft shoots down Russian drone in surprise twist

According to the Belarusian Hajun group on Telegram, which tracks military activity in Belarus, on August 29, a historic first military object was shot down by Belarusian military aviation.

The target turned out to be a Russian Shahed-136 drone, which most likely got lost, possibly due to the impact of Ukrainian electronic warfare systems. After about 20 minutes of tracking, the Shahed-136 drone was finally shot down by a Belarusian aircraft near Yelsk in the Homel region.

The Shahed-136 is the most popular drone model used by the Russian Armed Forces. It features a delta-wing design with a wingspan of 8 feet, two vertical stabilizers at the wing tips, and a total length of 11.5 feet. Additionally, commercial components available on the market are used in its production. There have even been instances of using parts from Poland in the Shahed units.

The drone weighs 440 pounds, of which 110 pounds is the warhead. The remaining weight includes, among other things, a fuel tank for the Chinese boxer-type engine with 50 horsepower, which is a copy of the German LIMBACH L550 E engine, popular among modellers. The onboard fuel supply is estimated to be sufficient to cover up to 1,550 miles.

The Shahed-136's guidance technology is quite primitive and only allows for flight along a pre-planned route. This only allows for striking stationary targets, and the precision of these drones is low. For this reason, Shaheds are not suitable for attacking military targets and, in practice, serve mainly to intimidate civilians in cities or as support for other attack means, such as cruise missiles.

When properly synchronized, the mass use of cheap Shahed drones can pose a significant problem for the target's air defence, as the risk of penetration by, for example, Kh-101 cruise missiles increases. The air defence might not shoot down all the objects in time.

The Belarusian Air Force's core consists of several dozen Soviet-era MiG-29 and Su-25 aircraft, accompanied by a few much newer Su-30 and Yak-130 training aircraft. A MiG-29, Su-30, or Yak-130 most likely shot down the Shahed.

The MiG-29 aircraft was designed in the 1970s and was introduced into service in 1983. The main goal of designing the MiG-29 was to create a competitor to the American F-16s.

The MiG-29 is a twin-engine design much smaller and lighter than the Su-27, as seen by its weight of 24,200 pounds and a payload of only four weapons carried on seven pylons. The armament mainly includes short-range air-to-air missiles R-73 or outdated medium-range R-27 missiles, aerial bombs weighing up to 1,100 pounds, or unguided rocket launchers.

A much more dangerous opponent is the recently acquired Su-30 from Russia, an evolution of the air superiority fighter Su-27. The novelty in relation to the original design is that it is a fully multi-purpose construction capable of performing both fighter missions and ground attack missions.

For this reason, the Su-30 is a much heavier construction, weighing 39,700 pounds and capable of carrying up to 17,600 pounds of armament on 12 pylons. The arsenal includes many types of the latest Russian air-to-air guided missiles, such as R-77, various air-to-ground missiles, and the fearsome FAB-guided bombs with UMPK modules in Ukraine.

The last machine that could have participated in shooting down the Shahed was the Yak-130 aircraft. This training design was developed by the Russian Yakovlev company and introduced into service in 2010.

Interestingly, the aircraft was initially developed in cooperation with Italy, but two similar machines were eventually created. The Italians designed the M-346 Master, while the Russians created the Yak-130.

In addition to pilot training, the aircraft can also be used to bomb targets with light bombs or to patrol the airspace. In the second case, it is much cheaper than using a larger machine, and the Yak-130 is entirely sufficient to check what is happening or to shoot down a drone with a cannon or R-73 missiles.