Ukraine announces mass production of suicide UAVs with a range of 1,000km

UAV-Ukraine_UP — Partial image of the long-range UAV that Ukraine revealed earlier (Photo: Ukroboronprom).

Ukroboronprom, a Ukrainian state-owned arms manufacturer, said the country has begun mass production of a new line of suicide drones. The Ukrainian Defense Forces have ordered the UAVs for combat operations.

Ukroboronprom CEO Herman Smetanin revealed that the maximum combat range of this weapon is 1,000km.

"There are many state and private manufacturers in Ukraine. We have UAVs comparable to the Shahed and more powerful models because the Shahed does not fly that far. We are now focused on producing more complex UAV projects with high performance," he said, referring to the Shahed UAV that Kiev suspects Russia bought from Iran and repainted.

Ukroboronprom revealed that it is producing three new lines of first-person view (FPV) UAVs.

“We need a lot of FPV UAVs right now. We help private companies scale up their development. We have signed licensing agreements with three large companies to produce their UAV prototypes,” said Smetanin.

“We have the manpower and the facilities, the parts are delivered and we start manufacturing. We support all parties who want to scale up their development,” he stressed.

Previously, Ukraine revealed that it was developing a UAV with a range of 1,000km and a weight of 75kg. Ukroboronprom claimed that the new UAV they developed could be one of Kiev's most effective weapons ever.

Project director Oleh Boldyrev revealed at the time that this UAV has similar characteristics to the Shahed UAV but has features that make it special.

"The new UAV has a suicide attack feature. But the Ukrainians don't think that's enough. We will have a suicide UAV that can turn back," he said.

This means that Ukraine’s new UAV is capable of hitting an opponent multiple times. Ukrainian officials have not yet explained in more detail what the multiple-strike mechanism is.

Ukroboronprom said it used foreign components to produce this UAV, however, the software, means of communication with ground stations, assembly and maintenance of the UAVs were all undertaken by domestic experts.

Ukrainian media said that this new UAV, if put into service, could be the answer to Russia's large-scale attack campaign over the past several months on key Ukrainian infrastructure, using precision-guided missiles and suicide drones.

The appearance of a new line of UAVs with an attack range of up to 1,000km could become a major threat to Russia and could make the war situation more complicated in the near future.

If Ukraine were to field UAVs with a strike range of 1,000km, this could be a game-changer on the battlefield as Kiev could expand its capabilities to target Russia further in the future without having to rely entirely on Western aid.

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