Russia begins networking its attack drones together mid-flight

Ukraine's Air Force says that chains of Russian drones continue to cross the country's airspace near the border with Belarus. According to the air force, such crossings in this area are recurring rather than an isolated incident.

Networking drones in flight

Alongside the border-crossing reports, Ukrainian officials point to a shift in how Russia is using its drones tactically: Moscow is now able to wire its attack drones into a single network while they are airborne. This means an individual drone within a group can perform several roles at once — scouting out targets, striking a target itself, and acting as a communications relay that passes information to the other drones connected to the same network.

Battlefield implications

This kind of interconnected drone operation points to Russian efforts to make drone strikes harder to detect and more effective, since a group can act in a more coordinated way with less reliance on centralized ground control. The Air Force's report of recurring drone chains near the Belarusian border suggests this is a tactic Russia continues to develop, and one Ukraine is actively tracking.