29 April, 2024
A Ukrainian long-range drone manufacturer recently showcased its facility, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The manufacturer also discussed its drone production process with the journalists.
Inside the enterprise, built in the west of Ukraine, dozens of workers in protective clothing make elements of the fuselage of the future drone, the name of which did not fall under the record.
During the report, the workers demonstrated the stage of forming the aircraft skin from fiberglass, as well as the production of mechanical parts.
An employee of a Ukrainian enterprise manufactures the chassis of an attack drone, April 2024. Photo credits: The Wall Street Journal
According to workers, the plant, which produces strike drones with a range of up to 800 kilometers, was launched only six months ago.
“Five months ago, this room was completely empty,” the plant worker said.
Before the Russian invasion, the owner of the enterprise was engaged in the production of plastic containers in the north of the Kharkiv region. However, some time after he had to flee the occupation, and began to work on the project of his own UAV.
He hired several retired specialists who had previously worked on Soviet aviation projects. Two months later, the development team released two tested prototypes.
“At my age, I should have retired a long time ago, but there is a war in my country,” says the 74-year-old former chief specialist of the Kharkiv Aviation Plant.
The next challenge for the developers was to scale up drone production to a level that could meet the needs of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
Currently, 75 people work on the production line, which begins with pressing fiberglass into a matrix in the form of wings, tails, and noses.
After 11 hours of hardening in the furnace, the parts are assembled into a small aircraft with a wingspan of 2 meters. The engine and explosives are installed in the fuselage at another plant.
The plant can currently produce 1-2 fuselages per day. To boost production capacity, the owner recently acquired a second furnace for polymerizing fuselage blanks. Additionally, there are plans to expand the premises and recruit 50 more workers to operate in two shifts.
At the same time, the company continues to develop another drone model with an expected flight radius of more than 1000 km.
“At my age, I should have retired a long time ago, but there is a war in my country,” says the 74-year-old former chief specialist of the Kharkiv Aviation Plant.”
Time some of the younger ones living in Europe took that attitude too.
The US has drones, like Avenger, that have a range of 15,000 miles.
Couldn’t Ukraine have some of them?
All military-aged men in Europe must be sent back to Ukraine. Not doing so is wrong!
The cost of Avengers is 15 mil a piece. They don’t seem to have the range you suggested. Looks to be about 275 miles. But perhaps I missed a longer range variant. These things carry stingers, and have a machine gun, but I wonder how hardened they are to EW.
It cruises at 400 mph, with an endurance of 18 hrs, or 7200 miles, so I was remembering incorrectly. Storm Shadow cost $3m apiece and is of course single use.
So Avenger seems to be decent value, as it’s multiple use.
Also there is Hawk.
Wiki :
* Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk is a military drone under the employment of the US Air Force. It is currently capable of flying at a maximum of 18,288 meters (60,000 feet) and has a top speed of 574.5 km/h (357 mph). It’s also capable of flying for more than 34 hours.
Is the global hawk predominantly recon or no, I forgot.
Global hawk doesn’t have a deicer system but can survey a wide area.
The Hawk is rather large, with a wingspan of 130 feet, and will get picked up by radar, I guess. Please remember the Russkies even intercepted the smaller MQ-9 Reapers. 🤨
The following lists the endurance as having been boosted to 20 hours. But it’s not clear to me that you can multiply the maximum speed by the maximum endurance to calculate a range. It seem that flying at the max. speed for hours would cut down on the endurance.
“It cruises at 400 mph”
The General Atomics link lists “Max Air Speed: 400 KTAS”. 400 KTAS (knots true airspeed) is equivalent to 460 MPH or 740.8 km/h.
https://www.ga-asi.com/remotely-piloted-aircraft/predator-c-avenger
“It cruises at 400 mph”
I just mentioned that the “Max Air Speed” is 400 KTAS. But they list the “Standard Dash” performance as 350 KTAS. I’m not sure if “Standard Dash” is equivalent to “cruising speed”, but 350 KTAS corresponds to 402.5 MPH.
For a strike drone, landing gear is unnecessary. In the interest of lowering the weight and decreasing air resistance, it would be preferrable to use starter ramps, like for the bad old V1 / Fi 103 ramjets, the very first cruise missiles. Still lots of room for improvements, I guess. 🤔