When the Ukrainian army seized the Russian Orlan-10 drones that were not manned, they decided to conduct a dismantling of them. The results show a staggering quantity of jerry-rigged systems made of products that are available on the market and even the use of a Canon DSLR camera as the primary image-capturing sensor.
Petapixel says the camera was first introduced on the market in 2007 with a retail price of $750 but which is currently worth about $300 to $400 on the used market. In order to mount the camera to a board, a hook-and-loop fastener strip is used (often called “Velcro”).
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense posted a video that shows soldiers examining the suspected Russian drone. Petapixel gives more details and screenshots:
The soldier is amazed by how low-tech this drone from the military is—and the observers quickly observe that certain aspects of it look more like a hobbyist RC plane than a cutting-edge piece of spying technology for the military.
The side of the drone, the cap on the fuel tank, suggests it could be constructed from a sort of water bottle made from plastic. Different parts of the drone are also attached using duct tape.
