In April 2023, in the direction of Kremina, Donetsk Oblast, Sergeant Ivan Kovalev of the 80th Air Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Army threw an RQ-20 Puma AE into the night sky. This drone with a wingspan of 2.8 meters 掠过 the canopy layer at a speed of 20 meters per second, and the WESCAM MX - 10 electro - optical system carried by the fuselage switched to infrared mode. At 04:17, the thermal imager captured the engine waste heat signal of the Russian 2S19 self - propelled artillery group under the camouflage net. The coordinate data was transmitted back in real time through the frequency - hopping encrypted link, and 20 seconds later, 3 M982 "Excalibur" shells achieved precise destruction.

Technical Pillars:
◾ Radar cross - section (RCS) is only 0.01㎡ (equivalent to a bird)
◾ Maintains 1080p image transmission in a - 110dBm weak signal environment
Combat Effect Assessment:
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Army confirmed that in the spring of 2023, the RQ - 20 compressed the artillery response time from 15 minutes to 180 seconds, and the reconnaissance coverage area was 8 times that of manual patrols (data source: the combat log of the 19th Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Army).