Since the beginning of the full-scale war against Ukraine, russia has been using the Kub-BLАkamikaze drones, which were first presented in 2019. These drones have a warhead weighing three kilograms, a flight speed of 130 km/h and a flight duration of up to 30 minutes. In fact, these drones occupy the same niche as the Lancet kamikaze drones.
In particular, russians tried to use the Kub-BLА to strike Kyiv in the first weeks of the full-scale invasion and during the fighting in the eastern Ukraine in 2022, but failed. However, it seems that this enemy drone has now received a significant upgrade that involves the use of artificial intelligence.
Read more: Kremlin is Sitting on a Ticking Time Bomb As It Keeps Loaning Money to Itself For the War in Ukraine
According to the authors of the Vodohrai online magazine, the first recorded use of an updated variant of this kamikaze drone, designated as the Kub-2 and equipped with an optoelectronic targeting system, occurred during the fighting in the Pokrovsk sector.
It is claimed that the targeting system of this kamikaze drone has been equipped with artificial intelligence, which is expected to improve the accuracy of hitting moving targets. This is an important difference, as the basic variant of the russian Kub-BLА UAV did not have an optoelectronic targeting system.
At the same time, it should be noted that the Russian Kub-BLA also features a combination of kamikaze drone and reconnaissance UAV, with the Granat-4 serving as the reconnaissance vehicle.
At the same time, the authors of the Vodohrai online magazine claim that russians are allegedly increasing the production of the Kub-BLA UAVs, despite the fact that previous experience with these drones has been unsuccessful.
However, we would like to emphasize that the reported increase in the production of russian Kub-BLA kamikaze drones and their outfitting with an AI-based guidance system do not currently allow us to assess the potential threat level posed by this drone.
It is also worth noting that russians announced that they were working on improving the Kub-BLA UAV in early January 2024. That is, the gap between the announced start of work and the first recorded use of the improved design was at least one year.
Earlier Defense Express reported that russia had deployed 300 of its nearly 1,400 aircraft for the war against Ukraine.
Read more: The UK Defense Intelligence: russia Deploys 1,700 OWA UAS, Marking the First Decline Since Spring 2024