Russia's Hand-Launched Sokol-I Interceptor Drone Adopts Ukraine's FPV Playbook

Russian Ministry of Defense footage released on October 8, 2026 showed the Sokol-I, a hand-launched fixed-wing interceptor drone guided by an operator through a first-person-view camera feed. The foam-bodied aircraft has an estimated wingspan of about 1.5 meters, while Russian authorities claim a maximum speed of 150 kilometers per hour and an operating ceiling of 5,000 meters. Russian accounts had described battlefield use since earlier in 2026, and Ukrainian intelligence reported in July that serial production had begun. Reported interception results, manufacturing capacity and the wider scale of fielding remain independently unconfirmed.