Britain's £4.99 Million Nyan Contract Is Now Striking Russian Refineries

Callen-Lenz has moved from a rapid UK procurement award to supplying a mass-produced deep-strike drone for the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine has used British-made drones for strikes inside Russia over the past six months, The Sunday Times reported, citing sources in Ukraine's Armed Forces. It is the first reported sustained use of UK-built drones inside Russia proper. The strikes hit oil refineries in Volgograd, Yaroslavl and near Moscow.

Two British companies supplied the aircraft. One is Callen-Lenz of Wiltshire, part of BAE Systems' FalconWorks division, whose Nyan One Way Effector was also used against Belgorod. The second manufacturer was withheld for security reasons. A well-placed military source confirmed the drones' use to the BBC, which cited estimates of more than £35 billion in economic damage from the strikes.

Nyan has a 2.9-meter wingspan and a maximum takeoff weight above 75 kilograms, according to Militarnyi. A pneumatic catapult launches it, a single gas turbine holds a cruise speed near 222 kilometers per hour, and the modular airframe carries up to 20 kilograms to a stated range beyond 250 kilometers.