By Chris Kubecka Author of The Drone Wars OSINT Field Guide to Russian Drone Footage & Verification and How to Hack a Modern Dictatorship with AI: The Digital CIA/OSS Sabotage Book & espionage targetChris Kubecka

Original on Substack

In late 2024, a Russian military manual leaked. Not a questionable Telegram post or shaky, dubious GoPro footage. An official, numbered, General Staff training memo: “ Памятка по применению FPV-дронов” translation “ Memo on the Use of FPV Drones. “

Each copy carried its own distribution number. Several are already circulating. That means one thing: somewhere in Russia, someone is being hunted for letting this slip. In the current climate, it wouldn’t surprise me if one of those people already fell out of a window. Thank you special friend for this copy.

What the Brief Does

This is the first in The Hacktress Intel Brief series, built on a leak that should never have seen the light of day. Somewhere in Moscow, in a smoke-stale briefing room, senior officers of the Russian General Staff gathered to turn battlefield improvisation into written law. Generals, intelligence chiefs, combat and drone trainers putting their seal on a new kind of warfare.

The result was a numbered, classified manual on FPV drones. Copies were stamped, tracked, and distributed under tight control. And yet, here it is, circulating online, with different distribution numbers, a traceable breadcrumb trail that could cost someone their life.

This report translates, annotates, and analyses that doctrine. It is not gossip or battlefield rumour. It is the official Russian 2024 drone playbook.

Inside the manual, FPV drones are assigned roles that read like a grim checklist: swarms and carousel attacks, psychological harassment, deception operations, drone-on-drone combat, and remote mining. Payloads range from RPG warheads, fragmentation charges, and thermobarics to TNT, RDX, and even commercial off-the-shelf drones like DJI and Autel. The kind anyone can order online.

If you want to support further articles and research consider becoming a paid subscriber or Get the Kindle edition here

Background & Provenance

The Russian General Staff issued the official manual. Improvised hacks were absorbed into military doctrine. That is what this leak reveals the institutionalization of drone chaos.

Picture the scene: a closed room deep inside a Moscow compound. Heavy curtains drawn, stale air thick with tobacco, the long oak table surrounded by men in uniform. Folders stamped “For Official Use Only.” A numbered distribution list on the cover page. Each copy traceable, each number a potential death sentence if it slipped outside the chain of command. Somewhere in that room, senior officers signed off on the doctrine that drones would buzz overhead not by chance but by order.

Provenance

So who likely wrote the FPV doctrine manual?

Open-source intelligence (OSINT) analyses attribute the 2024 manual to the General Staff itself, issued for the Joint Grouping of Forces in Ukraine. It was a General Staff product for field commanders and FPV crews, most likely drafted inside the Main Operational Directorate (GOU) with input from the Main Directorate of Combat Training, the office responsible for training circulars and manuals.

Russian leaders in 2024–25 who may have overseen or approved the report included:

Deputy Chief: Col.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoy (GOU) — SanctionedCol.-Gen. Ivan Buvaltsev (Combat Training) WikipediaHead of Military Intelligence (GRU, part of the General Staff) Adm. Igor Kostyukov. Head of the Main Operational Directorate (GOU) WikipediaFirst Deputy Chief: Col.-Gen. Nikolai Bogdanovsky (long-serving first deputy) WikipediaChief of the General Staff: Gen. Valery Gerasimov (still in post through 2024, commander of all Russian forces in Ukraine) WikipediaWhy this matters

It’s one thing to imagine the scene in Moscow. It’s another to read the words which came out of it. When something is written into doctrine, it’s no longer improvisation. It’s policy. In the words of the manual itself:

“Obligation to integrate their (drone) use in planning at all levels.”

FPV drones are no longer tinkered add-ons. They are a first-echelon strike system — swarms, “carousel” attacks, drone-on-drone combat, deception ops, and codified psychological harassment. This is how Russia plans to open battles before its infantry or armour move. As they say, softening up the field first with drones.

And this isn’t limited to Ukraine. Russian drones are already showing up in Africa, Venezuela, and other proxy spaces. When Moscow exports doctrine, not just hardware, it lowers the barrier for mass drone use everywhere. Think of all the terrorist groups, chaos and sabotage they already support, but now with more deadly drones!

Another striking line from the manual makes clear the intent:

“The moral-psychological impact is a mission objective.”

Buzzing overhead. Denial of rest. Single strikes on lone soldiers. Harassment becomes a weapon, not a side effect.

Why you should care

This doctrine marks the moment FPVs went from battlefield improvisation to state-sanctioned warfare. It is a template that other states and groups can copy. And it means that every buzzing drone above a trench, convoy, or village is no longer improvisation, it is evidence of deliberate policy.

That is why I launched The Hacktress Intel Brief. This series will take you inside leaks, investigations, and real-world cases like this one. I will break them down and explain why they matter for wars today and conflicts tomorrow.

This first booklet, FPV Doctrine: From Swarms to Psychological Warfare, is available now on Kindle. It is built from the original Russian text, side-by-side with analysis of how, where, and why this doctrine is being applied.

TechINT Drop — A Taste from the Doctrine

For the enthusiasts who love raw data, here’s a small slice of what surfaced in the leaked FPV manual. Additional research listed in The Hacktress Intel Brief into tech used beyond what’s listed in the manual up-to-date as of 3 September 2025.

Control Bands: FPVs in doctrine rely on three key frequency ranges for control links, and two for video feeds. (Full tables + EW overlap analysis in the booklet.)Payload Menu: Standardized warheads include RPG variants and a controversial thermobaric class. Improvised packages? Let’s just say TNT and friends.Counter-Drone Gear: One portable jammer system weighs in at just 3 kg, small enough to fit in a backpack, powerful enough to ground a DJI.Platforms: Mix of homegrown Russian models and off-the-shelf DJI/Autel. The doctrine literally blurs the line between state arsenal and online shopping cart.

That’s only a taste. Full annexes with platform, payload, and counter-drone system specs, straight from the leaked manual and enriched with current intel — are in the full Hacktress Intel Brief: FPV Doctrine on Kindle. But I’ll keep dropping morsels here for subscribers who love to geek out on TechINT as much as I do.

Psychological harassment is policy

The manual is blunt:

“The moral-psychological impact is a mission objective.”

That makes psychological harassment not a byproduct but a stated goal. Operators are instructed to weaponize buzzing, circling, sleep denial, and visible intimidation as deliberate tactics. That is unusual, even shocking, for a modern military document.

Why it changes warfare doctrine:

It turns soldiers’ basic humanity into a target. Sleep, fear, and the need for rest are weaponized as systematically as artillery fire.It signals state intent. Every buzzing drone overhead is not improvisation but sanctioned harassment ordered from the General Staff.It sets a precedent. If Russia normalizes this, others will adopt it. Doctrine spreads to proxy groups in Africa, Venezuela, or anywhere Moscow exports influence.It changes the laws-of-war conversation. Morale as an official target blurs the line between combat and terror.AI + Chris Kubecka

Reality Check
August 2025 is Detroit-level deadly in Ukraine:

A massive overnight barrage, 600 launch munitions (528 drones + 40+ missiles) struck across Kyiv, killing at least 23 civilians including four children, and injuring dozens; among the targets were homes, EU mission offices, and the British Council. The Washington PostEarlier in the month, a drone attack on a residential building in Kharkiv killed seven, including a toddler and teenager, and wounded over 20. WikipediaShort-range drone attacks have killed nearly 400 civilians and wounded over 2,600 since 2022, per UN monitoring . The Kyiv Independent

Russia’s drone-centric doctrine is inflicting mass casualties, ripping through families and communities across Ukraine.

This is only the beginning. The next article in this series will dig deeper into counter-drone systems, electronic warfare, and psychological operations, and what it all means for NATO, Ukraine, the Arctic, and beyond.

The battlefield hum of drones is not background noise. It is the sound of state policy in action. It is the codification of chaos into doctrine, exported wherever Russia seeks to destabilize.

Implications:For Ukraine, it means drone terror at industrial scale, with civilians directly in the crosshairs.For NATO, it signals a future where battles begin not with artillery, but with swarms.For the world, it sets a precedent: when terror is written into doctrine, others will copy it.

Remember, every leak matters. If you’ve got intelligence, OSINT finds, or fragments that deserve daylight, reach out

Get the Kindle edition here

Coming Next in The Hacktress Intel Brief Article SeriesDoctrine to Deployment: Drones First
Russia’s “drones first” reality on the ground, from mass FPV strikes to new unmanned branches.The Sound of Fear
How buzzing, circling, and sleep denial became mission objectives, and why morale is a primary a target.AI Swarms and Carousels
What swarming really means in practice, and how both sides are scaling automation and semi-autonomy.Counter-Drone Chess
EW, jammers, and layered air defence vs FPVs, with a few TechINT morsels to whet appetites.Export Model
Where Russian drones and doctrine travel next: Ukraine today, Africa and Venezuela, already they buzz across the skies.

#CyberSecurity #Warfare #Russia #NationStateThreats #Hacking #OSINT #Drones #TheHacktress #Ukraine #Leak

📌 More on Me * Chris Kubecka — Wikipedia

Chris Kubecka is the founder and CEO of Hypasec NL an esteemed cyberwarfare expert, advisor to numerous governments, UN groups and freelance journalist. She is the former Aramco Head of Information Protection Group and Joint Intelligence Group, former. Distinguished Chair of the Middle East Institute, veteran USAF aviator and U.S. Space Command. She specializes in critical infrastructure security and unconventional digital threats and risks. When not getting recruited by dodgy nation-states or embroiled in cyber espionage, she hacks dictatorships & Drones ( affiliate link to my books) and drinks espresso.

Originally published at https://secevangelism.substack.com .

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