Russian media on Jul. 30, 2023, reported that a giant drone crashed in the Neklinovsky district of Russia’s Rostov region on Sunday evening.
“Fortunately, there were no injuries or deaths. The roof of the house, the car and outbuildings were damaged,” the head of the local administration, Vasily Danilenko, said on Telegram later on Sunday.
Danilenko specified that the drone crashed at around 21:00 on Sunday (18:00 GMT).
According to the OSINTdefender open source intelligence group, a drone had crashed into a road near the Daraganovka farm with it being put out relatively quickly by civilians.
An Explosion and Fire was reported earlier today in the City of Taganrog in the Rostov Region of Southwestern Russia after it is claimed a Drone had Crashed into a Road near the Daraganovka Farm with it being put out relatively quickly by Civilians. pic.twitter.com/oDnfkwSF1g
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 31, 2023
“Both Russian and Ukrainian Sources have claimed that this was the Crash of a Kronshtadt “Orion” Attack Drone which is in Operation with the Russian Ground Forces and has conducted Strike Missions during the Invasion of Ukraine, the Wreckage at the Site of the Crash also suggests that this was a “Orion” with the Wings looking like an Exact Match,” the message added.
The OSINTdefender Twitter post states that the Taganrog-Central air force base, which is only 2 miles to the East of the crash site, has been used for launching “Orion” drone for combat missions in Ukraine, as is suggested by satellite imagery from July 9th.
The new Orion unmanned aerial vehicle, also known by the project name Inokhodets, has a wingspan of 16 meters and a length of 8 meters. It has a maximum takeoff weight of 1 tonne and a maximum payload of 200 kg. Its service ceiling is 7.5 km and a maximum flight endurance of 24 hours with the standard payload. It develops a level flight speed of up to 200 km/hr.
The huge Russian drone is equivalent to the U.S made Predator multi-mission, medium-altitude, long-endurance remotely piloted aircraft developed by General Atomics. The Orion design concept is pretty similar to the American Predator.