In October 2024, Russia used more than 2,000 drones in attacks on Ukraine, with about half of them being decoy drones aimed at distracting and overwhelming Ukrainian air defenses.
One such drone, the “Parody”, is widely used as a false target in airstrikes, according to the GUR (Main Directorate of Intelligence).
On Nov. 10, two of such drones went down on Moldovan territory. “Parody” carries no warhead and is significantly smaller and cheaper than the Shahed-136/Geran-2. However, thanks to the Luneberg lens, it creates a radar trail similar to larger drones with a combat unit.
Analysis of these drones has shown that Russia cannot produce even such primitive “plywood” models on its own, the intelligence noted.
“Parody’s” flight controller modules contain electronic components made by companies from China (Ebyte, Jiashan Jinchang Electron, Yangzhou Yangjie Electronic Technology), the United States (Texas Instruments, Cypress Semiconductor, InvenSense), Switzerland (STMicroelectronics) and Taiwan (SONiX Technology).