Booby-Trapped FPV Goggles Blinded 8 Russian Drone Operators

On Feb. 9 Kyiv Post reported that a batch of “Skyzone Cobra X v4” goggles, used to control first-person view (FPV) drones, that had been sent to Russian military units contained improvised explosive device (IEDs) designed to function when the equipment was in use. At the time it was uncertain how the booby-traps had been discovered because they were concealed deep in the devices. There was speculation that at least one of the IEDs must have functioned.

A claim by the pro-Kremlin milblogger “Dosye Shpion (Dossier Spy)” on his Telegram channel on Tuesday confirmed that the unearthing of the plot was because the bomb had gone off – not once but eight times!

He said that during January and early February around 80 sets of the FPV goggles had been sent by several different Russian volunteer groups to various Russian armed forces drone units.

On Feb. 4 a drone operator belonging to an unnamed Russian unit in the Belgorod region received serious injuries to his face and eyes while wearing a pair of the goggles when the IED was initiated as the cooling fan started up. Over the next three days seven more drone operators were reportedly injured in the same way. It is believed that they all lost their sight.

The Ukrainian milblogger “Special Kherson Cat” published a video on X on Feb. 7 that showed the dismantling of the goggles to reveal the IED:

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Immediately following the incidents, the suspect goggles were seized and dismantled. It was found that the devices contained about 15 grams (half an ounce) of plastic explosive, a detonator and a battery positioned under the casing near the goggle’s cooling fan right by the wearer’s temple.

The Cobra X goggles are produced by the Chinese Skyzone company, which specializes in the production of electronic equipment needed to control FPV drones. The Cobra X v4 consists of a wraparound headset containing a 5.8 gigahertz 48 channel “Steadyview” receiver-transmitter that displays drone-generated images on an integral high-resolution LCD screen. It has become a favorite among both military and civilian users because of the quality and stability of its images and signal control.

Investigations into the source of the booby-trapped items revealed that although they had been provided to the Russian military by several “well-meaning” volunteer groups, they had all originated from a single source in Moscow who, according to social media, had flown to Istanbul on Feb. 3.