Defense Express has obtained photos of the wreckage of russian VM-V unmanned helicopter from its own sources. The wreckages were found at the bottom of the Kyiv reservoir. Apparently, this russian UAV has been there since the end of February 2022, when the russian troops launched a large-scale landing operation near Hostomel.
The fact that VM-V drones were used during this episode of russia's full-scale invasion has been previously reported by russian resources. They claimed that the Defenders of Ukraine shot down 22 of 25 drones of launched. Accordingly, it makes sense to tell what is currently known about the use of russian VM-V drone.
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VM-V stands for "airborne target - helicopter simulator." The original purpose of this UAV was to simulate a helicopter-type airborne threat during air defense exercises.
For the first time russians used their VM-V during joint exercises with Serbia in November 2021. These drones served as targets for Pantsir surface-to-air missile systems. According to russian occupiers, these exercises made it possible to test the declared characteristics of VM-V drones.
The declared flight lenght of VM-V is no less then 2 hours, the flight altitude is up to 2.5 kilometers, and the maximum distance to control this drone is up to 100 kilometers.
We can assume that the experience of these exercises could have suggested the idea of using VM-V drones as a tool to overload Ukraine's air defense during the landing operation near Hostomel in February 2022. But it is necessary to record the fact that occupiers used VM-V UAVs, the wreckage of one of which was found at the bottom of Kyiv reservoir.
There is no answer to the question of whether occupiers used VM-V in other episodes of the full-scale war against Ukraine. There is no publicly available information of other known cases of VM-Vs usage after February 2022. However, there were reports about usage of cheap Eniks E95M target drones to weaken Ukrainian air defense.
Apparently, two factors could have influenced the rarity of the appearance of VM-Vs in russian war against Ukraine. The first is the difficulties of manufacturing new drones of this type under Western sanctions, as the engines for the VM-V were manufactured at the facilities of Rotax Austrian company.
The second is that since April 2022, russians have been trying to use their helicopters outside the range of Ukrainian air defense. This is why the production and use of new VM-V drones by occupiers could be irrelevant.
At the same time, it is worth recalling that in November 2023, Moscow boasted of the mass production of Termit attack unmanned helicopters.
Although there is no publicly available information on how it is going with these unmanned helicopters, we should pay attention to this as a possible attempt to revive VM-V drones.
Earlier Defense Express reported that Latvia would invest €40 million in Ukrainian and domestic drone production.
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