France hands over 100 OSKAR kamikaze drones to Ukraine

OSKAR was created by French drone manufacturers Delair and KNDS France, and according to Delair CEO Bastien Mancini, they are already preparing to ship to Ukraine. This reports Breaking Defense.

Mancini declined to share additional information about the new deliveries, but they fit into the time frame announced in October by Sebastien Lecorne, France's minister of the armed forces. Then Lecornu noted that  there were "successful tests" of these munitions, and their delivery to Ukraine will begin "in the coming weeks".

Based on Delair's UX11 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and modified to integrate a 2.3 kilogram warhead by French company KNDS, OSKAR can fly for up to 45 minutes and is designed to engage stationary targets, light vehicles and manpower. Drones are quite compact and can be carried in a backpack.

"We had six months to turn [our] demo sample into operational product… operative with taking into account ammunition restrictions. Now this stage has been completed and [OSKAR] drones are being delivered to Ukraine. They are sent, I don have other details», — Mancini said in an interview with Breaking Defense.

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Earlier, the Delair company already received feedback about its products from the Ukrainian military, after the transfer of reconnaissance drones UX11 and DT26.

Mancini noted that Russian means of electronic warfare (EW) continue to pose a "real danger" for the equipment supplied to Ukraine, and emphasized that the that the platform "works today" does not mean  "it will work in three months".

"Quality, which we need, — is remaining highly adaptive and vigilant… because so far we have solutions that work, but… on the battlefield, everything changes very quickly», — he said.

To counter EW attacks, OSKAR uses satellite navigation capabilities and can operate in fully encrypted mode up to 25 kilometers away.

Mancini also said that  following Delair's acquisition late last month of French swarm and inspection drone maker Squadrone System, the company may decide to test several OSKARs with drone swarm technology.