Russia has been able to keep its most effective drone flying over Ukraine thanks to Western-made parts

• Ukraine and Russia have employed an array of drones since Moscow attacked in February 2022.
• Russia's Orlan-10 has been one of its most effective for gathering intelligence and finding targets.

Drone aircraft have had a key role in the war in Ukraine.

Both sides are using drones, known as unmanned aerial systems, of all sizes and types in a variety of roles, from hand-launched quadcopters that drop grenades in enemy trenches to plane-size drones capable of loitering over the battlefield for hours to gather intelligence and launch missiles.

For Russia, the Orlan-10 has proved to be one of its most effective drones. Russian troops have used it widely, deploying it to gather intelligence, jam Ukrainian electronics, and find targets for other Russian weapons.

"The hardest UAS to defeat on the battlefield is the Orlans," Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said at a conference in Washington DC in October.

"It's not because it's sophisticated. It's because it cruises at an altitude that is above the MANPAD ceiling but it's a terrible idea to go after that with proper air-defense, just from an economic point of view" because the Orlan is cheap, Watling said, referring to man-portable air-defense systems like Stinger missiles and their heavier-duty counterparts.

The Orlan's value stems in part from an unexpected resource: Western technology. Despite sanctions imposed by the US and its allies, Russia has been able to keep its most effective drone flying over Ukraine thanks to Western-made parts.

The Orlan-10

A medium-range multirole drone, the Orlan-10 can conduct several different missions, including electronic warfare, target acquisition, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, known as ISR.

The Orlan-10 sports a modular design that allows the operator to switch sensors in and out depending on the mission. Its fuselage is a little over 6 feet long and it has a wingspan of nearly 10 feet. Its maximum weight at takeoff is about 36 pounds. Its operators use a collapsible catapult to launch it and a parachute landing system to recover it.

The Orlan can carry daylight, thermal, and video cameras that provide real-time intelligence to ground units through a data link that uses a 3G/4G cellular network, which could be vulnerable to interception or interference by an adversary.

The Orlan-10 also carries a radio transmitter mounted on a gyro-pod, allowing for 360-degree movement. The transmitter allows the Orlan-10 to conduct electronic warfare by differentiating between friendly and enemy transmissions and jamming the latter.

It can operate both independently on pre-determined grids and by remote control. It can transmit its data back to its controllers from as far as 373 miles from its command-and-control station. It can also remain on station for about 18 hours and sustain speeds of 70 mph.

Each Orlan-10 costs between $87,000 and $120,000, according to the Worldwide Equipment Guide compiled by the US Army.

Russian forces have used the Orlan-10 drone mainly for reconnaissance and target acquisition. Russian artillery can rain down accurate fire within three minutes of an Orlan-10 being overhead a Ukrainian position, which takes about 20 minutes when Russian drones aren't on scene, according to a Royal United Services Institute report on the Orlan.

Artillery remains the deadliest weapon in Ukraine, and both sides are using drones to acquire targets and adjust their fire. In a recent statement, British military intelligence said the majority of the Russian casualties have been inflicted by Ukrainian artillery.

'Made' in Russia

The Royal United Studies Institute's in-depth report on the Orlan-10, released in December, details how Russia relies on Western-made parts and other foreign components to keep the Orlan in the air.

By inspecting Orlan-10s during fieldwork in Ukraine and by working with open-source data — including financial records, customs data, court records, Russian company filings, and other information gathered by Reuters and iStories — RUSI found that the Russian firm that builds the Orlan-10 continues to use Western technology and parts despite severe sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its attack on Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022.

Indeed, the report found that companies that are closely associated with the Russian firm, the Special Technology Centre Limited Liability Company, have been importing more Western-made technology since Russia began its invasion.

To acquire the technology, the company relies on distributors based in several countries, including the US, China, and South Korea. Russian intelligence services are likely involved in sourcing this technology through contacts and front companies around the world.

In one case, according to the report, a Russian-American citizen was accused of shipping large quantities of restricted technology necessary for the Orlan-10's operation to Russia.

The report said "sub-systems" of the Orlan-10 "are heavily reliant on foreign-made microelectronics," especially the microcontrollers, global navigation satellite system receivers, and pressure sensors that allow it "to collect and transmit relevant data" to an operator who can be more than 60 miles away.

The RUSI report assessed that the imports would likely enable the Russian military "to maintain and expand production of the country's most successful" drone, describing the Orlan-10 as "a platform that sits at the heart of the country's warfighting capabilities" and enables Russia's military "to rain accurate fire down on Ukrainian formations."

"Networks such as those profiled in this report are core to Russia's ability to procure advanced microelectronics for its weapons programs," the report says.

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. He is working toward a master's degree in strategy and cybersecurity at Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies.