Also, the use of a “queen” drone

16.12.2024

Ukraine has a laser weapon called the Trident, which is capable of shooting down enemy aerial targets, including aircraft. In addition, a “queen” drone is being tested, which can carry two light FPV drones.

This was stated by the Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Vadym Sukharevsky. On December 16, he spoke at the conference “European Defense Industry: Prospects for Cooperation with the Ukrainian Defense Industry” (organized by the We Build Ukraine think tank).

“We can state that today Ukraine is, if I’m not mistaken, the fifth country that can say that it has a laser. Today, we can already shoot down planes with this laser at an altitude of over 2 km,” the colonel said.

The project will be scaled and strengthened. Sukharevskiy emphasized: “It really works, it really exists.”

In addition, so-called drone-mothers, FPV carriers, have been developed and are already in use. They fly over distances of more than 70 kilometers.

“They carry two FPVs under them and actually act as a repeater and hit deep enemy targets. In my opinion, this is a real breakthrough,” the SBS commander noted.

He called this development one of the most promising. In general, according to Sukharevskiy, the SBS is “less than six months old” , and at this stage there are already combat and scientific units that “cover the air, land and water components”. Combat units operate along the entire front line.

Let us remind you:

– In April 2022, Israel became the first in the world to successfully test a laser-based anti-missile weapon. The system was named “Light Shield.”

– In the spring of the same year, Russia announced that they were using a laser weapon against Ukraine – the Zadyr complex , capable of hitting a target at a distance of up to 5 kilometers.

– In early 2024, Britain announced the successful testing of the DragonFire laser air defense weapon . It hits targets at the speed of light and has extraordinary accuracy.

– A few months later, the British Army conducted the first test of a laser weapon against Raytheon drones .

As OBOZ.UA reported, Ukraine continues to increase the production of its own weapons. This year, more than 2.5 million mortar rounds and artillery shells of various calibers have already been produced. The production of Ukrainian UAVs, including long-range ones, is also developing rapidly: in 2025, at least 30 thousand of them will be produced, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier.

https://war.obozrevatel.com/ukr/vono-spravdi-pratsyue-tse-proriv-suharevskij-zayaviv-pro-nayavnist-v-ukraini-lazernoi-zbroi-ta-vikoristannya-drona-matki.htm