Thread by @sambendett

1/ Russia's Rubicon Center, where most experienced drone operators are using radio-controlled and fiber-optic UAVs with devastating success, is officially a year old. A few observations from TG: "Rubicon's main achievement is not a quantitative or technical improvement, but an organizational one." t.me/VictoryDrones/…

2/ "Previously, a Russian UAV operator was simultaneously an operator, an engineer, a sapper, and a reconnaissance officer (while being some kind of grenade launcher according to the documents), but in Rubicon all these functions are separated."

3/ "The drone operator basically only controls the drone that is being prepared for him. Reconnaissance is separate, and the engineer is separate. Vertical connections are built in parallel, the video also directly mentions that reconnaissance and destruction work..."

4/ "...directly with each other, the operator of the attack drone receives target designation directly from the reconnaissance, can connect to the broadcast himself and has the ability to hit the target without permission from a higher commander."

5/ "In total, there are 12 detachments in Rubicon, probably in the process of being deployed to regiment levels, plus detachments from various Civil Defense Forces are trained at their base, which then return back to their units and are not structurally part of the Center."

6/ "In Rubicon, there are separate detachments that deal with a particular type of UAV: FPV, reconnaissance, Lancets, fixed-wing strike drones, anti-aircraft gunners, a new department for combating and using USVs. Plus they have their own evacuation groups, their own supply service and an analytical center."

7/ "Rubicon USV department was created recently, in April-May 2025. Ground robotic assets (UGVs) are appear in Rubicon videos, but are not mentioned as a separate development yet."

8/ "Statistics show that Rubicon practically does not attack manpower as such supporting Russian infantry - countering Ukrainian UAVs and suppressing resistance at suspected positions."

9/ For more on Rubicon tactics, see this thread

https://x.com/AndrewPerpetua/status/1898098173429907543