The United Kingdom Intelligence services stated this Sunday that Russia is considering returning a Soviet-era high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, within the framework of the invasion of Ukraine, which was released in February 2022.
“Russia is likely considering returning the Soviet-era M-55 Mystic high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft to service,” they said, before explaining that it can operate at altitudes of up to 21,300 meters, according to a statement published by the Ministry. British Defense through its account on the social network X.
Therefore, they say that this device is used as a “scientific research platform”, although they emphasize that “it is seen that it carries a military reconnaissance device, made for the use of Russian planes .”
“One of the critical gaps in Russia’s supply strategy is its failure to establish adequate intelligence gathering, surveillance, targeting and reconnaissance capabilities,” they explained.
In this sense, they emphasized that these operations “are the key to conducting attacks against the objectives sufficiently and precisely” and advanced that “there is a realistic possibility that the M-55 will return to front line service.” for this “limited capability” of Russia in Ukraine.
“Operating at high altitude allows the sensors to maintain a sufficient range,” they said. “It is almost certain that the device will carry out missions against Ukraine from the relative safety of Russian airspace,” emphasized the British Intelligence services.
