Ukrainian firm unveils loitering kamikaze drone

Ukraine’s Yuzhnoye State Design Office is developing a loitering kamikaze drone, the state-owned defense manufacturer revealed.

According to the Ukrainian defense outlet Military, a prototype of the unnamed weapon will be launched from a range of manned and unmanned platforms, with testing reportedly planned for spring.

Once built, the drone will add to the growing list of unmanned aerial platforms the country’s defense industry has been developing in the last few years. In November 2020, the Kyiv-based Luch Design Bureau unveiled the country’s first combat drone, the Sokil-300 (Falcon-300).

Luch Design has proposed developing three versions of the drone according to the engines they will use, yielding a variance in range and performance. The basic version will have a maximum range of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) with a cruising speed of 335 kilometers (208 miles) per hour.

A second version will allow a 1,300-kilometer (808-mile) range with a lower cruising speed of 275 kilometers (170 miles) per hour. The final, long-range version will be able to fly 3,300 kilometers (2,050 miles) at 150 kilometers (93 miles) per hour.