Russia fields fully autonomous Molniya strike drone — no radio link, invisible to jamming.
Russia deployed a fully autonomous variant of the Molniya (Lightning) strike drone with no radio control link at all, according to Ukrainian MoD advisor and electronic-warfare expert Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov.
The recovered drone carried only a camera/optical module for computer vision and an onboard AI flight computer (identified as a FlyCore FC-202 board) — no control antenna, no video downlink, no radio emissions of any kind.
After launch, the drone navigates autonomously via pre-programmed waypoints, then uses its onboard neural network to search for, lock onto, and strike the target with no operator in the loop.
This makes the drone effectively invisible to most Ukrainian RF-based drone detectors, which hunt for control signals, and completely immune to electronic warfare jamming — there is simply no radio link to jam.
The autonomous variant has reportedly been used extensively in the Zaporizhzhia region, where it bypasses the EW and detection systems Ukraine relies on to counter drone threats.