• Russia has equipped its cheap "Molniya" strike drones with more battery power and better cameras.
• The modifications allow Russia to use these drones for a new purpose — battlefield reconnaissance.
• Moscow doesn't need to rely too heavily on its more expensive reconnaissance drones.

Russia has boosted the range and vision of its fixed-wing Molniya drones, turning cheap, crude aircraft into more capable platforms that can now scout as well as strike in Ukraine.

The upgrades let Moscow lean more on the Molniya ("lightning" in Russian) for battlefield reconnaissance, replacing the pricier surveillance drones like the Supercam and Orlan-10.

Russia has been equipping some of its Molniyas with additional batteries to extend their range, a high-definition camera, and a mesh modem for better communications, Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, an advisor to Ukraine's defense ministry, told Business Insider.

The Molniyas have historically been considered one-way attack drones that carry a warhead and explode on impact. They have been adapted for other missions, though, including carrying smaller first-person-view (FPV) quadcopters, resembling a mothership.

Beskrestnov, a prominent Ukrainian drone warfare expert, said Russia began operating newly modified Molniyas around two months ago and has increasingly used them for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) purposes since then.

The Molniya ISR variant lacks a warhead and is instead equipped with advanced surveillance electronics, including a microcomputer and a rotating camera with a 10-fold optical zoom, according to a US military weapons information portal.

The modified Molniyas are significantly cheaper than the more traditional fixed-wing Supercam S-350 or the Zala Z-16, well-known Russian reconnaissance drones estimated to cost up to $100,000 apiece. The inexpensive Molniyas are made of light materials such as plywood, foam, and aluminum.

Beskrestnov said that Russia can obtain 10-15 Molniyas for the same price. The saturation of Ukrainian interceptor drones over the battlefield has pushed Moscow to opt for cheaper, more expendable assets for reconnaissance and targeting.

He speculated that this shift is driven by increased Ukrainian interceptor activity.

Dimko Zhluktenko, a soldier in Ukraine's 413th Unmanned Systems Regiment, said the modified Molniya drones are relatively easy to manufacture, giving Russia an ideal price for reconnaissance missions. He called these efforts "the war of scale" in a social media post earlier this month.

Neither Russia's defense ministry nor its US embassy responded to a request for comment on the Molniya ISR developments.

Russia and Ukraine have been constantly modifying their drones during the war to try to gain an advantage before the other side either catches up with the technology or develops a defensive countermeasure.

One of the biggest changes is a shift from radio links — easily jammed — to fiber-optic cables that are largely immune to the electronic warfare saturating the battlefield.

These fiber-optic cables have primarily been used to operate smaller FPV drones. However, Russia has begun using them with larger, fixed-wing platforms such as the Molniya.

Russia and Ukraine have taken their innovations a step further with unusual armaments, in some cases equipping drones with air-to-air or surface-to-air missiles to hunt down aircraft.

• The US military has stepped up its efforts to target Iran's mines, drone boats, and torpedoes.
• This comes after US officials said American strikes destroyed dozens of Iranian ships.
• These tactical efforts reflect an effort to curb Iran's ability to attack the Strait of Hormuz.

The US military is broadly targeting Iran's naval combat capabilities, expanding strikes beyond just warships to mines, drone boats, and torpedoes, the admiral overseeing the Middle East operations said on Monday.

Adm. Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, reiterated in a video statement that eliminating Iran's "naval threats" is one of three military objectives of the American strike campaign, which just surpassed the two-week mark.

Cooper shared imagery showing the aftermath of recent US airstrikes on military sites, among which were a naval drone storage facility and buildings used to produce light- and heavy-weight torpedoes.

The US also hit more than 90 military targets on Kharg Island off the coast of Iran over the weekend, destroying storage bunkers for naval mines, among other targets, Cooper said.

Kharg Island is located roughly 300 miles from the strategic Strait of Hormuz and is the centerpiece of Iran's vast oil sector, handling 90% of its crude exports.

President Donald Trump said last week that the US military operation spared Iranian oil infrastructure at Kharg Island, although he threatened to reconsider if Iran decides to interfere with shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a small body of water between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman that serves as one of the world's most important naval choke points.

"We're also zeroed in on dismantling Iran's decades-old threat to the free flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz," Cooper said Monday. "Through a combination of air, land, and maritime capabilities, we have successfully destroyed over 100 Iranian naval vessels, and we aren't done."

The US military said last week that it had damaged or destroyed more than 60 Iranian ships and 30 minelayers since the start of Operation Epic Fury on February 28. Satellite imagery obtained by Business Insider shows several destroyed vessels in Iran's ports in the early days of the war.

US forces have used MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to sink multiple Iranian ships, including a submarine, Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Friday.

The expansion of airstrikes beyond warships reflects the Trump administration's efforts to restrict Iran's ability to threaten the Strait of Hormuz and other waterways, where the Iranians are more likely to fight with covert, asymmetrical capabilities than traditional surface combatants.

American and Israeli strikes have killed hundreds of people and wounded thousands more in Iran, while Tehran's missile and drone attacks have killed dozens in Israel and the Gulf states, according to local health ministries, officials, and media reports.

Meanwhile, at least 13 US service members have been killed, with at least 140 wounded, since the start of combat operations against Iran. The most recent losses were the six crew members who died after their KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in Iraq on Thursday.

• A US Navy destroyer used an SM-3 interceptor to down an Iranian ballistic missile on Friday.
• It's the third time in two weeks that a Navy destroyer used the SM-3 to defend NATO airspace.
• SM-3s are among are top missile interceptors, but they come with a hefty price tag.

US Navy destroyers operating in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea have been launching SM-3s — among America's most high-end interceptors — to defend NATO airspace against incoming Iranian ballistic missiles.

On Friday, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Oscar Austin fired at least one SM-3, or Standard Missile-3, interceptor to bring down an Iranian ballistic missile in Turkish airspace, a defense official told Business Insider.

It marked the third time since February 28, when the US and Israel started striking Iran, that a Navy destroyer has used an SM-3 to down an Iranian missile in Turkish airspace, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss military developments.

Turkey's national defense ministry said earlier that NATO air and missile defense assets deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean intercepted the Iranian missile. There were no casualties or injuries, although debris fell in the southern city of Gaziantep.

Turkey hosts several important bases for American and NATO forces, including Incirlik and Konya air bases, and an Iranian strike against those facilities could trigger a significant escalation in a war that has already spread across the Middle East.

The Oscar Austin is one of three American destroyers currently positioned in the Eastern Mediterranean. The use of SM-3 interceptors comes amid broader air defense operations across the Middle East. The US and its allies in the region have shot down thousands of Iranian missiles and drones since the start of Operation Epic Fury less than two weeks ago.

The SM-3 uses a kinetic kill vehicle to destroy short- to intermediate-range missiles during the midcourse phase of flight. It can engage targets in space, unlike the Navy's other interceptors, and is outfitted on Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruisers.

There are multiple variants of the SM-3, manufactured by US defense giant RTX and, for the latest variant, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

US destroyers first used their SM-3s in combat in April 2024 to defend Israel from an Iranian missile attack, and the US Navy fired them again several months later in October after another barrage from Tehran.

These interceptor missiles don't come cheap, though. The SM-3 Block IB variant, for instance, is estimated to cost roughly $10 million on the low end, while the newer Block IIA costs around $28 million.

It's unclear how many SM-3s the Navy has expended during combat in the Middle East. Air defense doctrine can call for firing at least two interceptors for each incoming missile, so the bill for the latest engagements above Turkey could already be substantial.

Navy leadership has warned in recent years that the US has been firing its SM-3s at an alarming rate. Service officials have warned that they need a lot more of these interceptors to counter threats in the Pacific, such as China and its theater ballistic missiles.

• A KC-135 refueling aircraft "went down" in Iraq, the US military announced Thursday evening.
• A second unidentified aircraft was involved but landed safely.
• All six crew members were killed in the crash, the military said Friday.

The US military said on Friday that all six crew members were killed after their KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in Iraq on Thursday.

The deaths mark the US Air Force's first losses since the start of Operation Epic Fury on February 28.

Seven other US service members have been killed in action during the war, with at least 140 others injured. Many of them have returned to duty; some, however, were more seriously wounded.

CENTCOM said it is investigating the KC-135 incident, which occurred at roughly 2 p.m. ET on Thursday in western Iraq. It said that the "loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire."

"The identities of the service members are being withheld until 24 hours after next of kin have been notified," the military said.

The US first acknowledged on Thursday that it had lost a KC-135 refueling aircraft supporting the combat operations against Iran. A second aircraft involved in the incident landed safely.

This crash marks the fourth American aircraft loss since the start of Epic Fury, the Pentagon's name for US operations against Iran, nearly two weeks ago.

Just days into the war, CENTCOM announced that three US F-15E Strike Eagles were downed by friendly fire over Kuwait. The aircraft were lost, but all six aircrew members ejected safely.

The KC-135 Stratotanker is an Air Force asset that supports the broader joint force by refueling other aircraft — including fighter jets, bombers, and cargo aircraft — in notoriously complex midair refueling operations.

It is essentially a flying gas station that executes fuel transfers at high speed with aircraft in proximity.

March 13, 2026 — This story has been updated with the latest information from US Central Command, which has revealed the loss of all crew members.