Ivan Franko Group and Zinchenko/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
A Ukrainian drone team said this week that it attacked Russian vehicles with small quadcopters that flew over 37 miles, marking some of the longest-range strikes in the war with such drones.
The Ivan Franko Group, a special forces drone unit under Ukraine’s Security Service, wrote on Monday that it had conducted the strikes with “8-inch and 10-inch FPV drones” that crossed over 60 kilometers “under their own power.”
These are first-person-view drones that use 8-inch or 10-inch propellers to fly, and are the typical hobby quadcopters that have proliferated on Ukraine’s battlefield.
Sixty kilometers, or roughly 37 miles, is far beyond the usual range of an FPV drone, which can often reliably fly only up to 12 miles or so.
On Thursday, the Ivan Franko Group posted a video montage of the strikes, which appears to show at least four different quadcopters cruising high above roads before directly flying into trucks and other ground vehicles.
The group said all of the strikes occurred near the Donetsk airport. Business Insider was able to independently verify the location of two strikes that occurred on a highway near the ruined village of Pisky, which is about 30 miles from Ukrainian lines.
However, it’s unclear from the videos when they were filmed.
The Ivan Franko Group said the drones used in the strike were provided by the Sternenko Foundation, a prominent group of volunteers who raise funds from the public to buy drones for Ukrainian troops.
Pushing $500 drones to their limit
Oleksandr Skarlat, the foundation’s director, told Business Insider that the drones in the clips were equipped with higher-capacity batteries and more powerful video transmitters to extend their flight range.
They also used a relay system, he said. These are a relatively new development on the battlefield, where a drone bounces its signal off another drone to extend its range to the pilot.
Skarlat said each drone costs roughly $475 to $500, but can be sold for up to $600 if equipped with thermal cameras.
“These drones are not available to everyone, but production is scaling up every month,” Skarlat said.
“Previously, only a few units were flying over 40 km. Now, there are already several dozen units doing so,” he added.
Consistent FPV drone strikes at such a range would show how the war is pushing the limits of the humble hobby drone, which is now inspiring militaries around the world to ramp up their own uncrewed aerial system arsenals.
This summer, a drone unit in Zaporizhzhia, known as the Ronins, told Business Insider that it flew quadcopters up to 34 miles to attack Russian air defense systems — a range that was almost unheard of among drone units.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian soldiers told Business Insider’s Jake Epstein that both Kyiv’s and Moscow’s forces were starting to deploy more expensive medium-range drones, previously reserved for reconnaissance, to conduct strikes up to 125 miles from the front line.
Skarlat, whose foundation collaborates with manufacturers to make custom drones for Ukrainian units, expects shorter-range quadcopters to soon fly even further.
“FPV drones are actually only at the beginning of their evolution,” said. “This is a field that’s still in its formative stage. Like the first smartphone in the era of landline phones.”
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