One Drone, $50 Million Gone: Ukraine Destroys Russian Buk-M3 on the Move, Video

Ukraine’s Phoenix unmanned systems unit destroyed a Russian Buk-M3 air defense system with a single low-cost drone while the launcher was moving through the Donetsk region, Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service reported on July 23.

Footage released by the service shows the Russian system being struck while traveling toward the front. Ukrainian officials said one drone costing only several thousand dollars was enough to eliminate an air defense asset valued at roughly $50 million.

“The new economy of war, illustrated by a very simple example,” the Border Guard Service said, noting that Phoenix operators used one inexpensive drone to inflict tens of millions of dollars in losses.

Russian forces apparently did not expect an attack and were moving the system closer to the front without attempting to conceal it.

“The occupiers did not expect such a ‘warm’ welcome,” the service said, adding that the Buk-M3 “definitely no longer poses a threat.”

Introduced into Russian service in 2016, the Buk-M3 is a modern component of Moscow’s layered air defense network. It is designed to engage aircraft, cruise missiles, drones, and other aerial targets at ranges of up to 70 kilometers, or roughly 43 miles, and altitudes reaching 35 kilometers.

Unlike earlier versions of the Buk, the M3 stores its missiles in sealed launch canisters. A launcher can carry as many as six ready-to-fire missiles and operate alongside separate transport and reload vehicles.

Open-source estimates place the cost of a Buk-M3 launcher at between $40 million and $50 million.

Previously, Ukraine’s Phoenix border guard unit destroyed three Russian artillery systems, a concentration of FPV drones, and other military equipment in the Dobropillia direction.

The targets included two Russian 152mm towed artillery pieces—an Msta-B howitzer and a Giatsint-B field gun—as well as a BM-21 Grad multiple-launch rocket system.

Help Ukrainian Units Hold the Drone Line

Download APP