The Minister of Defense of the russian federation Andrey Belousov stated that the production of FPV-drones has increased dramatically and amounts to 4000 drones per day. He said this during his visit to the 45th Special Purpose Detached Brigade of russian Airborne Troops, which suffered significant losses during a failed attempt to capture Gostomel in 2022.
As Defense Express, we note that the figure of 4,000 per day is only at first glance perceived as huge, although it is significant in any case. We are talking about the production of 120 thousand FPV-drones per month or 1.46 million units per year in russia.
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The last figure can be compared to the once fantastic goal for Ukraine - 1 million drones in 2024. This was actively discussed in December 2023. At the time, it was believed to be unrealistic. There were talks about increasing production by 67%.
At the same time, at the end of February 2024, Deputy Minister for Strategic Industries of Ukraine Anna Gvozdiar reported that 200,000 FPV-drones had been manufactured in the first two months of the year. So, the average rate was 100,000 units per month at the beginning of the year. If this rate has been remained the same, it means about 1.2 million FPV drones per year.
In March 2024, the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov, stated that the country's current production capabilities allow for the production of up to 2 million FPV-drones per year, or almost 5,500 units per day. But the problem is to find the appropriate funding to contract such amount.
At the same time, not only manufacturers, but also the Ukrainian government and the Defense Forces of Ukraine have repeatedly drawn attention to this. It is not a good idea to chase a purely numerical indicator. The real combat effectiveness of each FPV-drone that can be equipped with a thermal imager and/or machine vision should come first. This increases its price and reduces its quantity, but it can be equivalent in efficiency to dozens of conventional drones.
But returning to the figures announced by the russian federation, the enemy reaching the parameter of 4,000 FPV-drones per day is quite expected. This was evidenced by the huge amount of money that Moscow invested in this field, the emergence of a huge number of small industries in russia, as well as FPV-drones manufacturing at enterprises such as bread factory in Tambov.
Earlier Defense Express reported about Gerbera new russian foam plastic killer drone.
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