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Class

Tactical drones (FPV, Molniya, Lancet)

Tactical attack drones (FPV, Molniya and Lancet): small, operator-guided, active within tens of kilometres of the front. What they are and where they appear.

What it is

Small attack drones steered in real time by an operator over a video link, unlike Shaheds, which fly a preset route:

  • FPV: quadcopters with a camera. The fibre-optic variant is controlled over a cable, so electronic warfare cannot jam it.
  • Molniya: HUR describes the Molniya-2R as a fixed-wing FPV drone. Inside, it found a Raspberry Pi microcomputer and a SpeedyBee flight controller.
  • Lancet: a loitering munition that circles over an area and dives onto a target it has spotted.

Where they appear

Tactical drones operate near the front line and the border. On our map they show up mostly in the Sumy, Kharkiv and Kherson regions. The operator is hunting for targets, including people and vehicles, so if you hear a warning, take shelter.

What to do

  1. 1When you hear the “Air raid alert!” signal, go to the nearest shelter at once. Find out in advance where it is near your home and work.
  2. 2If you cannot reach a shelter, move to a room without windows and follow the “two walls” rule.
  3. 3Agree with your family on what to do and where to meet if the phone network or the power goes down.

A marker on our map may appear late or not at all. Go by the siren, not by the map.

State Emergency Service of Ukraine. What to do when the “Air raid alert!” signal sounds (in Ukrainian)checked 2 Oct 2026

How it looks on our map

Movement

No course

Marker lives

3–8 min

  • The marker does not rotate: for this type the map shows no course.
  • If there are no new reports about the target, the marker closes after 3–8 min.

Variants

Sources

  1. 1

    HUR (Defence Intelligence of Ukraine), War&Sanctions

    “Molniya-2R” fixed-wing FPV dronechecked 2 Oct 2026
  2. 2

    HUR (Defence Intelligence of Ukraine), War&Sanctions

    “Lancet” loitering munition (Izdeliye-51)checked 2 Oct 2026
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