BANGUI /CAR/, December 10. /TASS/. Militants in the Central African Republic have begun using drones for reconnaissance and dropping munitions on Russian instructors, Dmitry Podolsky, call sign Salem, who serves as the security advisor to the country’s leader, Fostin-Archange Touadera, told TASS.
Russian instructors were providing assistance to the Central African Armed Forces during an attempted coup by the Coalition of Patriots for Change in the run-up to the December 2020 elections, repelling the militants' attacks. Russian instructors will also be providing security for the upcoming elections on December 28. "There have been drone attacks on our bases [where Russian instructors are located] with munitions drops. In some cases, militants are trained by foreign instructors, as well as by those taking part in combat operations—for example, in Sudan. The UAV threat currently persists, especially in the border areas with Sudan and Chad," he said.
The advisor explained that the use of FPV drones by the militants has not yet been recorded, and that they primarily conduct reconnaissance and munitions drops using Mavic quadcopters. In addition, there have been reports of militants possessing man-portable air defense systems. Russian military specialists are dealing with the threat using small arms, including 12-gauge shotguns, as well as electronic warfare systems.