The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine showed footage of a test of a UAV that fires at enemy positions from a machine gun. At the same time, experts in the production of drones explained the problem of such innovations.
Ukrainian developers attached a machine gun to the drone and conducted tests on a simulated battlefield. On the footage from the scene of the events, you can see the moment of the shots and how the UAV reacts to the small arms striking the enemy. The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine showed a video of the tests of a drone with a weapon in a post on the X social network (Twitter).
In the post, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine showed a video of the operation of the UAV, which is a machine gun carrier. The tests were conducted with the participation of the 10th Territorial Defense Brigade, the post states. In the video, you can see a device firing at enemy positions. It is noticeable how the device releases the queue and at the same time barely sways from the “return”.
“Innovations win wars”, — reads the post of the Ministry of Defense.
Innovations win wars.
A drone with an installed machine gun is designed to destroy Russian positions.: 102nd @TDF_UA Brigade pic.twitter.com/bKmIXzuG5H
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 20, 2024
Drones with weapons — what models are there
Formerly Focus talked about the development of drones, to which Western and Ukrainian designers adapted various types of weapons.
The company Feloni Aero created two models of drones — Felon 1.0 and Felon X. The devices look like Mavic UAVs, have encrypted communication channels, and can fly up to 20 km away. Felon 1.0 is armed with a 5.56 caliber shooting system, Felon X — by a Spike missile weighing 450 g.
The company DronesVision offers another development — UAV Assault Rotor Weaponized Drone (AR-1), armed with a 5.56 mm assault rifle or a 9 mm submachine gun.
Reconnaissance battalion “Sonechko” was redesigned by commercial drones — a machine gun and a grenade launcher were hung from below. The cost of improvement — up to UAH 80,000.
Based on an agricultural drone, Ukrainian volunteers created an unmanned aerial vehicle with a machine gun that could hunt Russian Shahed-136 kamikaze drones.
The Russian Armed Forces have their own development of an unmanned platform with weapons. In particular, it is known about the existence of the Perun-F UAV, which is capable of firing the 9K111 Fagot anti-tank missile.
What experts think about UAVs with machine guns and missiles
Experts on the production of drones with whom Focus spoke, believe that drones with weapons are unlikely to be effective on the battlefield, instead, developers need to solve a number of problems to make the idea work.
Viktor Lokotkov of Airlogix, the company that produces Gor drones, named a number of problems that he sees in drones with weapons:
- innovative UAVs that, like all others, are easily shot down by small arms;
- artificial intelligence drones could fire at the enemy and avoid being hit in answer, but it requires time to develop the program;
- a drone with a machine gun costs about 18,000 dollars, and several FPV drones that are used to perform similar tasks — up to $2,000;
- UAVs with suspended weapons should solve the recoil problem, so it is better to focus on unmanned ground platforms.
Valery Yakovenko from DroneUA appealed attention to the problem of accuracy: in his opinion, it is better to focus on drones equipped with homing missiles or explosives.
Ihor Krynychka from Skyassist touched on the issue of the weight of the drone and the weapons that are attached to it. The Ukrainian military offers to pay more attention to devices that aim downward — their effectiveness should be greater than that of other types of weapons. Another option for future developments — UAVs with Javelin or Stugna missile systems, which have homing systems. However, Krynychka believes that it is better to focus on the creation of new means of destruction, adapted specifically for launching from the air from the air from UAVs.
“Each means of destruction must be developed for the appropriate carriers,” — the interlocutor explained to Focus.