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- Russian unmanned aircraft can be seen destroying Ukraine's night bomber drones in videos from the war.
- Ukraine's Vampire drones have caused headaches for Russia's military, but the Russians are now intercepting them.
- Taking out a drone with another drone is a less expensive solution than some other air-defense options.
Recent footage from the war shows Russia using its own unmanned aerial vehicles to take down Ukraine's night bomber drones.
Russia has struggled to contain Ukraine's Vampire drones, which have caused significant damage to the Russian military at night, but recent combat videos circulating on social media suggest the Russians may have worked out a solution.
The videos show Russia successfully destroying the drones using UAVs of its own as interceptors, war watchers have reported. Business Insider was unable to independently verify the purported details for the footage.
Nicknamed "Baba Yaga" drones by Russian forces, a reference to an evil creature in Slavic folklore, Ukraine's Vampire drones are regularly able to avoid detection and can fly at high speeds, allowing them to wreak havoc on Russia's military.
The Ukrainian drones can find targets during the day with the standard camera and at night using thermal imaging. Their ability to operate during both day and night makes them significantly more useful compared to Ukraine's other drones, but they are not as cheap.
Drone-on-drone combat has been a less common occurrence over the course of the war, but it's starting to happen more often now. To combat Ukraine's significant use of UAVs, Russia has begun targeting them using first-person-view drones, Russian commentators have noticed lately.
They "will mow down the ranks of Baba Yaga drones," one commentator said of FPV drones, per a translation of the remarks by Samuel Bendett, a Russian drone expert. "This clumsy and slow-moving bomber is already shot down by experienced FPV drone crews."
The commentators predict that the FPV drone could evolve into a "super weapon," as powerful as the anti-tank guided missiles that are used to destroy armored military vehicles. In many ways, these systems are already reshaping modern warfare, threatening anything that moves, from top tanks to individual soldiers.