File image.
Russia’s Spektr engineering firm had developed an FPV suicide drone, dubbed “Vorobey”, with a warhead designed to defeat armored vehicles, TASS reported on September 14.
Andrey Bratenkov, executive director of Spektr, told the Russian news agency that the drone had been successfully tested in the special military operation zone.
Vorobey drones will be deployed in combat in the near future, the executive said, adding that the drones will ensure greater efficiency due to their lower mass and heightened effectiveness.
“The round of ordnance weighs about 500 grams and is capable of penetrating armor of up to 200 mm [thick]. As a result, in terms of its properties, the Vorobey drone turns out to be a mini-Lancet. The first batch of drones and ordnance has already been handed over for use in the special [military] operation zone,” Bratenkov said.
The suicide drone weighs 1.3 kilograms and has a maximum operational range of up to five kilometers, according to Vorobey.
The executive also noted that the low cost and small mass were the two main advantages of Spektr’s new FPV suicide drone.
“Vorobey has turned out to have quite a ‘bite,’ because it can break through armored hardware. Its prime cost is much lower than that of the Lancet, about 150,000 rubles [about $1,500 – TASS]. The drone is small and its length is about nine inches. One cannot drag a Lancet to the frontline on foot, while it is possible to carry about 10 Vorobey drones without any particular effort and the effectiveness is much greater this way,” Bratenkov 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.
These systems inflicted heavy material and human losses on Kiev forces since the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive more than three months ago.
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rusom ide karta. zdá sa že švo im poslúži aj pri stavbe nových typov zbraní. a samozrejme nie iba to. môžeme k tomu pripočítať vojnové skúsenosti z ich použitím a skúsenosti pri riadení takýchto operácii- lebo toto je zatiaľ celkom nový druh boja, dá sa povedať.
a game changer for western armor as things will get more costly for their taxpayers a smaller charge may be available for the abrams if americans can find enough mechanics , fuel trucks and tank retrievers .
damn, armor piercing drone bombs for only 1500 bucks. can’t wait to see the videos of these babies blowing up the “game-changer” tanks the west have sent them
actually it should have been the western game changer last spring , as the msm celebrated this loitering munition against russians. so where are the clever studio experts now (with their secret sources) which explained us the wonder ? and where is all this “incredible effective” western loitering munition? sold to the russians by the corrupt kiever nazis?
turns out the western stuff might be good. the only issue is it apparently cannot operate under russian ew conditions. the ukrianians have been complaining since day 1 that the russians have been able to intercepted theyr encryptions, block their communications, and wreak havoc on western weaponry systems and signals to the point it severely hampers they ability to use them meaningfully. the russians have demonstrated that their ew technology far exceeds the west.
that said, the fact remains that russia have found counters to everything the west has thrown at is. the west still figuring out how to counter the russians