Overnight on March 9th, Ukrainian drones flew into russian territory, more than 40 explosive aerial vehicles attacked multiple cities across the country, russian media report. One of the targets could be the Beriev Aircraft Company in the city of Taganrog, the drone was shot down before reaching its presumed destination.
This company produces a variety of aircraft under three projects: Be-200 amphibious aircraft, A-50E early radar warning aircraft, and development of the A-100 Premier airborne radar which evolves from the A-50 and serves as the next phase in its advancement.
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The russians assume that the Ukrainian drone used for a strike on this enterprise was the Liutyi (Fierce in Ukr.) unmanned aerial vehicle from the Ukrainian Defense Industry JSC, a state-owned concern encompassing over a hundred of manufacturers. Based on previous statements of UDI officials, the drone is believed to have a warhead of 75 kg and an operational range of over 1,000 kilometers.
The russians also claim the same type of drone was used a bit earlier for the attack on a strategically important steelworks in Lipetsk on February 24th.
The design of Liutyi UAV was first revealed in an unusual way: after a few teaser photos from UDI, a scale model of this drone appeared in a photograph from Anna Hvozdiar, one of the deputies to the Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine. The works on an attack drone with a range of 1,000 km were initially announced back in October 2022.
The project's details are kept secret, no information is available besides its flight range. Back in 2022, it was positioned as a multirole platform for various payloads, be it reconnaissance equipment or an explosive warhead, a decision Defense Express was very skeptical about. The actual looks of the drone implemented "in metal" could also slightly differ from the scale model.
Earlier Defense Express also quoted Herman Smetanin, Head of UDI, as saying that Ukraine's main state arms conglomerate was focusing on "more complex and expensive projects with high performance" drone projects rather than making cheap and expendable loitering munitions when talking about the 1,000+ km UAV specifically.
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