The other day, a closed demonstration of Ukrainian unmanned reconnaissance copters was held at one of the training grounds under the auspices of the Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine. The products presented are positioned as domestic analogs of Mavic from Chinese DJI, however, it would not be correct to call them just that. Rather, they're drones created specifically for the battlefield, and it makes them even better.
There are about 10 private companies in Ukraine that develop and can mass-produce drones in this class, and most of them participated in the event.
Read more: Indigenous Shmavic Drone is About to Hit Ukrainian Forces, Except It's Nothing Like Mavic At All
All presented samples have quite comparable dimensions, battery endurance of 40 to 60 minutes, payload of 1 to 3 kg, etc. All of them are intended for surveillance but can also be used as bombers for so-called "drops" — improvised explosives or grenades adjusted to be carried and dropped on enemy positions.
Surely, there are some distinctions, i.e. according to the announced specs, one quadcopter could fly 40 minutes, another one for 60 mins; one can lift up to 4.8 kg, while another one only 2.4 kg. But regardless of those details, conceptually they belong to the same class.
Each one has its own solutions to ensure operation under electronic warfare suppression and utilities to complete missions on the battlefield.
The design decisions illustrate how each developer chose its own approach to achieve the best efficiency and convenience for the operator based on their vision and experience.
The Ministry of Strategic Industries noted that their colleagues from the Defense Ministry set requirements for unification and maintainability, and so the developers are trying to fulfill them.
"The task of the Ministry of Strategic Industries is to ensure that a drone series has high performance characteristics that meet the requirements of the military. The General Staff has to decide on the products that are the best and will be purchased, determine the quantity. And the Ministry of Defense [has to] plan finances and proceed with the purchase," explained Herman Smetanin, the Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine.
Authorities also revealed that in addition to the Shmavik, which we took a closer look at earlier, there is one more drone that's already been codified by the defense ministry named Ptakh-S. Codification means it's allowed to be officially purchased for equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' units.
The Ptakh-S is somewhat more powerful than its peer and has almost twice the take-off weight: 4.8 kg; a flight range of 10 km, and can stay up in the air for 40 minutes.
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