The Privet-82 suicide drone. Source: the Oko design bureau.
A new type of Russian suicide drones, dubbed Privet-82, have successfully completed tests in the special military operation zone in Ukraine and are now being prepared for their combat employment, the Oko design bureau told TASS on June 2.
“The Privet-82 has passed flight tests on the territory of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics in the area of the special military operation. The tests checked the flight range, the radio channel and the drone’s resistance to local electronic warfare systems,” the Russian news agency quoted the design bureau as saying.
According to Oko, the Privet-82 has been already demonstrated to the Cascade and East operational/tactical combat formations, the Russian Guard and the Wagner private military company.
“Work is underway to outfit the drones with payloads and prepare them for their first combat employment that will take place already in the coming days,” the design bureau said.
The small fixed-wing suicide drone, which features a man-in-the-loop optical guidance system, has an operational range of 30 kilometers, can accelerate to 140 kilometers per hour and carry a 5.5 kg payload.
As of now, at least a dozen Privet-82 suicide drones are present in the special military operation zone in Ukraine, Oko revealed.
“We are in constant contact with the units that have received our UAVs,” it said.
Last March, Oko released footage showing a successful live-fire test of the Privet-82. During the test, the suicide drone hit a static target with pinpoint accuracy.
The design bureau is now working on a reconnaissance version of the drone that will boast extended flight duration of 1.5 hours.
“In the zone of the special military operation, we showed and tested our drone in our reconnaissance configuration. We received good input and recommendations for the drone’s fine-tuning. It is necessary to slightly modify the camera installed on the recon drone, following which it will go into mass production,” the bureau said.
The Russian military has been using suicide drones, also known as loitering munitions, since the start of the special operation in Ukraine last year. In recent months, these systems inflicted heavy material and human losses on Kiev forces. The introduction of new, cheap to make suicide drones like the Privet-82 will add to Kiev’s problems.
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in bahkmut alone wagner killed more ukro separatists and foreign mercenaries than the size of the entire uk army. no wonder the ukro goblins are coping and seething 🤣🤣🤣. such is the life(or lack thereof) of natostan cannonfodder.
the video shows a fixed target, without any defensive firearms, did they at least try to shoot on that drone with assault rifles and cannons 20, 30, 40 mm at least, and for the purpose of a successful drone strike?
90% [of the time, you don’t see or hear the drone until it is too close to react. in many instance even if you do spot it, small arms might not be effective until it is close. even then, you risk the drone detonating and getting hit with shrapnel. most the time the ukrainians just flee when they hear a drone
make stroller against tank, replay to my mail
now go there and destroy those nazees sitting in kiev
1,5 hours is still not very much flight time. isn’t it possible to install photovoltaic cells on the wings and the upper part of the body to load the batteriest hrough a controller?
more tha enough, because the most targets are between only a few km and up to some 30-40km away.
stroller dont believe to fly alike a drone
1.5 hours is to little for reconnaissance and monitor advancements of enemy troops. why not create a glider with solar cells or a small hidrogen engine extracting its fuel from air? or just quad copters in massive numbers monitor every inch? when battery or fuel is low, let it fly autonomously back to base and recharge, meanwhile let it be replaced by a fully charged. not rocket science… air time is crucial to monitor everything.
i’m curious why a drone that has a limited glide ability isn’t designed. once the controller locks on to the target, they could cut the motor and silently glide it to the target instead of announcing it was coming with its motor.