The strike on Omsk, about 1,700 miles away, is Ukraine's longest-range attack on Russia since the war began.

Ukraine struck Russia’s largest oil refinery, located in the city of Omsk, on Monday, marking what its forces say was its furthest-ever drone attack in the war.

The Omsk facility, which processes about 21 million tons of oil a year, is in Western Siberia and about 1,700 miles from Ukrainian territory — roughly the distance between Los Angeles and Houston.

  • ramble81@lemmy.zipEnglish
    5·
    5 hours ago

    In this case, no, they were on jets. But some drones can. The MQ-9 “Reaper” drone has a 1200 mile range. That’s not just a short run.

    • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.todayEnglish
      2·
      4 hours ago

      they were on jets

      Is that confirmed? Their FP-5 drone has a 1900 mile range, so it wouldn’t exactly need the assistance of being fired from a jet for extended range capability. I don’t really know what the benefit would be considering the north and eastern border is being controlled by Russia atm. I guess it may just be safer to fire it from a jet than doing a shoot and scoot.

      • ramble81@lemmy.zipEnglish
        7·
        4 hours ago

        From the article:

        Denys Shtilierman, the chief designer of Ukrainian munitions firm Fire Point, wrote on X on Monday that a new variant of his company’s FP-1 drone was involved in the strike.

        The FP-1 is one of Ukraine’s most prominent long-range one-way attack drones. The fixed-wing platform typically carries a payload of up to 60 kg, with an initial range of 1,000 miles, later extended to 1,600 miles.

        Shtilierman, however, said on Monday that the jet-launched drone’s latest version can fly 2,110 miles, easily eclipsing the distance between Ukraine and Omsk.

        The last paragraph was what I was getting at, given that the FP-1 range is just a tad short.

        • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.todayEnglish
          2·
          3 hours ago

          Ahh, that makes more sense. I figured they were using the fp-5 just for the range. Makes sense firing the fp-1 from the air would add a bit of range though, guess you wouldn’t have to fight to gain altitude.