Russia claimed to have electronically brought down three of the 13 drones that swarmed its military bases in Syria.

A drone expert told Business Insider that the US military doesn't have the technology to bring down a swarm of drones.

Either Russia is lying — or it has technology that the US doesn't have.



Russia said its military brought down three of the 13 drones that swarmed and attacked its Navy and air bases in Syria last week.

Russia's claim should worry the US because its military doesn't currently have the capability to electronically bring down swarming drones, according to Brett Velicovich, a leading expert in drones and author of "Drone Warrior."

"What I think is the most concerning here quite frankly is that the Russians were able to electronically bring them down," Velicovich told Business Insider in an email.

"Even the US Government doesn't have this all encompassing capability yet, most of the counter-drone defense systems that the US uses are incapable of being effective like this for multiple drone threats."

"So either the Russians are completely lying about bringing multiple drones down at the same time or if true, then the US needs to figure out how they got the technology to do so despite us usually being on the forefront of this stuff and replicate it for our forces," he added.

A drone used in an attempted strike on Russian military bases in Syria. Russian Ministry of Defense

Russia may be less than forthright

Moscow has dubiously claimed that the US helped the rebels target its bases in with a US Navy spy plane, despite the fact that the rebels could have easily constructed and operated the drones themselves.

Sputnik, a Russian state-owned media outlet, published a story on Friday quoting a retired Turkish Air Force general who said the UAVs used in the swarm attack "don't resemble any drones used by other countries, except for the US."

A recent Daily Beast investigation found similar drones for sale on a social media arms market.

"All of the technology — the styrofoam, wood, lawn mower engines — can probably be bought in Idlib for a couple hundred dollars," Aaron Stein, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, previously told Business Insider.