During German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to Ukraine, not only the Ukrainian equivalent of the Shahed drone was presented. The official photos from the event show a new kamikaze drone with cruciform wings.
It should be noted that there were no specifics on the capabilities and characteristics of any of the presented developments.
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Moreover, the Office of the President of Ukraine published only a few photos of this new UAV. These photos suggest that this kamikaze drone is a loitering munition designed to hit targets in the frontline area. That is, it is analogous to the American Switchblade or the russian Lancet UAVs.
The difference in development lies in the creation of a system rather than a single kamikaze drone. It is likely that this is a system called or sloganed the Killer Duo.
It is known that it consists of a Shark reconnaissance drone by Ukrspecsystems (part of NAUDI) and a loitering munition called RAM-2X.
Apparently, the RAM-2X is a modernized version of one of the first Ukrainian loitering munitions, the well-known RAM II drone, which was developed based on the Leleka-100 by DeViRo.
The use of the cruciform wing makes the drone more maneuverable compared to the conventional scheme. As for the name, the manufacturer had to switch from Roman to Arabic numerals and avoid the name RAM IIX, which could have been confusing.
Given that this is a system, it is worth noting that the Shark reconnaissance UAV's task will obviously not be limited to searching for targets and guiding the RAM-2X. In this role, the Ukrainian reconnaissance UAV can work with any other loitering munition, even with Switchblade 600, as it was during the hunt for the russian Tor anti-aircraft missile system.
It is known that the drone by Ukrspecsystems has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to operate in a very difficult interference environment caused by russian electronic warfare systems, for example, right over occupied Donetsk. Therefore, it is quite logical to assume that the reconnaissance UAV's task will also be to work as a repeater for RAM-2X, which will significantly increase both the range and effectiveness of the loitering munition.
Earlier Defense Express reported that Germany had revealed the HX-2 drone for Ukraine.
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