So, there is satellite imagery of ancient Russian planes at the airbase in Seshcha (150km from the Ukr border). For example, the An-2, introduced in 1947. You may wonder what they're doing there - it's quite simple: the Russian army is turning old planes into unmanned drones.
Modified unmanned An-2s were already deployed in the last 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. Being a slow-moving, sufficiently large aircraft, well visible with the eye and on radar screens, the unmanned An-2s can both uncover enemy AA & distract them from more important targets.
Around ten to twenty Azeri An-2s were shot down this way in the Nagorno-Karabakh war. I wonder if the use of modified unmanned planes is part of the explanation for unproven Ukrainian claims of shooting down a ton of Russian aircraft.
Apparently the Chinese Air Force started turning Y-5Bs (the An-2 under Chinese license) into UAVs called Feihong 98 back in 2018.
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