German Smetanin assures that the Ukrainian Defense Forces have already ordered domestic unmanned aerial vehicles, which are superior to Iranian counterparts in terms of flight range.
State concern Ukroboronprom has started mass production of new long-range attack drones with better technical and functional characteristics than the Iranian Shahed kamikaze drones. The company’s general director, German Smetanin, talked about this in an interview with Evropeyskaya Pravda, published on Monday, November 6.
According to him, analogues of Shahed drones are already produced in Ukraine, but there are better models that fly even further. In particular, Ukroboronprom, with the help of foreign partners, mass produces UAVs that can travel up to 1000 kilometers and are in demand by the Ukrainian army.
“For security reasons, I will not tell you exactly where. The main thing is that they fly and explode, and the Defense Forces give orders to them,” the general director of Ukroboronprom answered journalists’ questions.
Smetanin did not give Iranian Shahed more detailed information about his new drone rival. He added that only Ukroboronprom specialists focus on the assembly of more complex and expensive devices with advanced features.
But we note that the Ukroboronprom concern in October 2022 announced the development of a domestic attack aircraft capable of hitting targets at a distance of a thousand kilometers. And in early December, the drone passed its first tests.
Then Oleg Boldyrev, the then project manager of the Ukrainian concern Ukroboronprom, told journalists about the new internal development.
“It (drone – ed.) already exists. I would call it “patient zero”. The car flies, by attack drone we mean the kamikaze version. But we Ukrainians are very greedy people. Then, Boldyrev said, “We will have kamikazes that ensure the return of talents.” , said.
According to him, the flight range of the UAV is a thousand kilometers and the weight of the warhead is 75 kg. The fallback function will allow him to attack the enemy again if he fails to hit the target the first time.
Let us remind you that Ukroboronprom started producing new Ukrainian UAVs in the summer of 2022 by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny. The device is designed for different tasks – hitting targets and adjusting fire. UAVs were also tested using electronic warfare systems.
And at the beginning of 2023, the concern successfully tested the drone analogue of Shahed. The development of the UAV took 6 to 10 years. The device is partly made from foreign components that are not available in Ukraine.
Source: Focus
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