Drone operators from Ukraine's Presidential Brigade mounted a captured AK with a 45-round magazine on a heavy drone using a neodymium magnet from a hard drive, rope, and tape. They connected the trigger to a remote electronic mechanism and fired the weapon at Russian positions. The soldiers on the receiving end fled, according to a video the brigade published on Facebook on 11 August 2026.
Ukrainian units have been turning whatever they capture or are given into weapons throughout Russia's ongoing full-scale invasion.
The pilot behind the idea, callsign Joker, said it came after his unit received a heavy drone called Queen of Hornets from volunteers and started looking for a way to attach a weapon beneath it.
"I once took apart a hard drive and remembered the neodymium magnet inside. A fellow soldier said, 'I have a small one, but it's very powerful.' We tried lifting the rifle, and it worked," he said in the video.
In the brigade's account, the first flights were rough: the rifle swung beneath the drone like a pendulum, making the aircraft nearly uncontrollable. The pilots eventually adapted.
The weapon scared more than it hit, Joker said.
"When a drone flies up to you and starts shooting an assault rifle at close range, it really hits your nerves. They ran pretty fast," he said.
The crew then began experimenting with heavier weapons, including grenade launchers. According to the pilot, during one combat deployment, the crew confirmed at least one Russian soldier killed.
The brigade said its units continue looking for unconventional ways to strengthen their drones' combat capabilities at the front.
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