The airplane-type drone with a 3-meter wingspan flew 420 kilometers from the border, experts say.
In the Saratov region of Russia, a drone allegedly flying toward the military airfield in Engels exploded. This was reported on September 27 by the Russian media outlet Shot.
According to media reports, Russian air defense forces shot down the drone near the village of Klenovi Vershiny in the Kalinin district, located about 420 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. The aircraft crashed into a field, where it exploded and formed a rather large crater.
The UAV crash site was discovered by an employee of a local agricultural enterprise who filmed a video from the scene. He noticed that the explosion left little of the drone intact – the wreckage had literally melted. There were no casualties or damage as a result of the incident.
According to Shot, the drone, or rather what’s left of it, is already being studied by Russian experts. According to preliminary findings, it was an airplane-type drone with a wingspan of about three meters.
It is worth noting that the Engels military airfield in Saratov region is home to the Russian strategic aviation base, which deploys Tu-95 bombers capable of carrying and dropping nuclear warheads. In addition, it is from there that the planes that launch missiles at Ukraine take off. The facility is located approximately 600 km from the border with the Kharkiv region of Ukraine.
At the end of 2022, explosions first occurred at the Engels airfield. On December 5, the Russian Defense Ministry announced a strike on the bases by jet drones, and at the same time, information appeared about the damage to two strategic bombers. The Russians suggested that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had attacked the Engels base with modernized Soviet Tu-141 Strizh UAVs capable of flying up to 1,000 kilometers.
On the night of December 25-26, the air base in Engels was attacked again. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, air defense shot down a Ukrainian drone, but three people from the technical staff were killed by falling debris, while the aircraft were not damaged.
