New Ukr Bomber Drone Flies 1,200 Miles, Drops 550 Lb Bomb, Returns To Base

This is another strategic breakthrough for Ukraine as the new bomber drone is reusable, lowering the cost and frequency with which Ukrainian forces can target significant Russian assets like military factories and oil refineries.

Such attacks have already impacted Russia's energy exports - its primary source of foreign currency. JL 

David Axe reports in Forbes:

Ukraine’s latest aerial drone can fly 1,200 miles, drop a 550-pound bomb and return to base, making it the most powerful reusable drone in the war. Evidence points to a modified  propeller-driven Aeroprakt A-22 civilian sport plane fitted with remote controls and an underbelly bomb rack. In making its longest-range drones reusable, Ukraine could multiply the number and pace of deep strikes it conducts against targets inside Russia. The strikes have raised the cost of Russian bomber sorties targeting Ukrainian cities, and depressed oil production in a country that utterly relies on energy exports for state revenue.

Ukraine’s latest unmanned aerial vehicle can fly 1,200 miles, drop a 550-pound bomb and return to base, making it potentially the most powerful reusable drone in the Russia-Ukraine war.

 

The Ukrainian military’s unmanned systems branch confirmed the rumored development on Friday. “We see that the actions of the Unmanned Systems Forces are attracting attention from both domestic and international media,” the branch stated.

The branch command “confirms the use of a long-range UAV, capable of carrying a 250-kilogram air bomb and reaching up to 2,000 kilometers with the possibility of return. This is a unique development that changes the rules of the game on the battlefield.”

It’s unclear what airframe the Unmanned Systems Forces uses as basis for the far-flying, multi-use drone, but the scant photographic evidence points to a modified civilian sport plane. Ukrainian drone regiments have long operated propeller-driven Aeroprakt A-22 sport planes fitted with remote controls and an underbelly bomb rack.

But the A-22s have only ever been caught on video conducting one-way missions, slamming into their targets like slow cruise missiles. The new Ukrainian drone can drop its bomb and then fly back to base, meaning it can fly a few or many missions until it wears out, crashes or gets shot down.

In making its longest-range drones reusable, the drone branch could multiply the number and pace of deep strikes it conducts against targets inside Russia, which have lately included bomber bases and oil facilities. The strikes have raised the cost of Russian bomber sorties targeting Ukrainian cities, and depressed oil production in a country that utterly relies on energy exports for state revenue.

In the three years since Russia widened its war on Ukraine, Kyiv’s engineers have developed a startling array of increasingly far-flying drones. Recent strikes on Russian targets more than 1,000 miles from the front line may have hinted at the emergence of the reusable bomber drone that the Unmanned Systems Forces announced on Friday.

 

Controlling a drone in mid air, usually through a combination of pre-set GPS-based navigation and direct human control via satellite radio, is fairly straightforward. Landing a drone is hard, however. Smaller models can cut their engines, pop a parachute and float down to the ground. Bigger models must be eased onto a runway.

The world’s leading drone militaries have developed sophisticated automatic landing systems. It’s not clear the Ukrainians are investing the time and money to install these boutique systems in their own relatively inexpensive strike drones, which might cost just a few hundred thousand dollars apiece.

The alternative, long ago mastered by the U.S. Air Force’s Predator and Reaper drone crews, is for a human pilot to take control of an incoming drone in the last few minutes before it reaches its base—and, peering through the drone’s forward-facing camera, guide the machine to a landing. Just like playing a flight simulator.