Ukraine Is Fielding A ‘Heinz 57’ Fleet Of Heavy Drone Bombers Against Russian Forces

In the early days of the war, Ukraine’s small drone strike force could be easily divided into two types: improvised consumer DJI quadcopters armed with small Vog-17 or hand grenades, and R-18 octocopters operated by Aerorozvidka with larger anti-tank munitions. Both types have been highly effective, and Ukrainian forces have been extending their operations with a bewildering variety of improvised or locally-made drones with heavier bombloads. Here’s a rundown of the many types we have seen, products of a broad ecosystem of ingenious drone engineers, as assorted as Heinz’s legendary ‘57 Varieties.’

Often the goal is to hit more targets in one sortie. In December the 226th battalion of the 127th Territorial Defence Brigade showed off a large commercial quadcopter with six mortar bombs in vertical tubes. A video of a similar drone appeared in October, described as carrying six 82mm mortar bombs (weighing about 7 pounds each), with another showing it being reloaded with practice rounds while still hovering.

Some may not be improvised. Back in June CMMEDIA reported that a number of Taiwanese Revolver 860 drones being supplied to Ukraine. This portable, folding octocopter made by Dronevision has a rotating magazine which delivers eight individually-aimed 60mm mortar bombs (weighing about three pounds each), and a flight time of 25-40 minutes. However, there are no known videos of the Revolver 860 in Ukraine.

Confusingly, another octocopter drone – with a different rotor layout to the Revolver 860 – appeared dropping eight mortar bombs from tubes in a video released in August. Three similar bomb-carrying octocopters are seen on the ground in a video in October, as ‘another bomber squadron’ according to the caption, with the unit commander explaining (in Ukrainian) that the drones are equipped with thermal imagers for night attacks.

The situation was further confused with a video released on November 16^th of three heavy drone bombers. Two had munitions in vertical tubes as previously seen, the third was a hexacopter with two rotary dispensers for small mortar bombs, similar to the one on the Revolver 860. This might be the Kazan E620, a locally-made drone first announced in July, with a claimed payload of up 20 kilos.

A different revolver bomb mechanism appeared in July a video from July. A DJI Matrice 300 drone, normally used for commercial filming, was fitted with a homemade rotary munition rack holding eight Vog-17 antipersonnel grenades.

The drones mentioned above were shown in demonstrations and training so we do not know which have been used in action (we look at drones dropping bigger single munitions below). However, there are some reports from the Russians. In October, Russian Chechen fighters downed a large drone dropping mortar bombs on them. From the images, this was identified as a British Malloy T-150 – which does not resemble any of the drones seen above. This type of drone is intended for logistics and can carry a 50-pound payload for 20 miles; in May the U.K. announced it was sending a number of them to Ukraine. It looks like at least some have been modified for the attack role.

The Russians also describe drones dropping multiple hand grenades. A video in November shows a Russian soldier in a trench under drone attack. The drone drops a hand grenade, which the Russian manages to grab and throw away before it goes off. He tries do the same with a second grenade, but it explodes close by and he seems to be injured by the shrapnel.

Russian state newspaper Pravda followed up the story and claims that the soldier is Rustam Khudaynurov of the 5th Brigade Donetsk People’s Republic militia, currently recovering in hospital. According to their story, the drone dropped eight grenades in all, with Khudaynurov throwing three of them clear before being injured by the fourth.

We do not know what type of drone was used in this incident; none of the drones mentioned above drop hand grenades. But the Ukrainians will likely put shorter time delay fuses on their grenades in the future.

The Ukrainians are using large drones to deliver heavier bombs. A video released in October shows what look like a DJI Matrice, said to be flown by Belorussian volunteers and dropping a single 120mm mortar bomb. These bombs weight about 25 pounds, and when dropped on a Russian position the blast is certainly far more powerful than the drone bombs.

A video from December 18^th shows a novel arrangement with a hole dug underneath the drone’s landing pad so a large, home-made munition can be attached. The bomb partly demolishes a building in Russian-held territory, reportedly on Kinburn Spit. Another Ukrainian drone, with a single large munition identified as a KZ-4800, was shot down in June.

Larger drones can carry other weapons besides bombs and grenades. In September, the 98th Territorial Defence Battalion ‘Azov-Dnipro’ showed off images of a large quadcopter armed with a pair of downward-firing 66mm rocket launchers. This looks like a home-made version of the demonstration we reported on last year by Nammo, who make the M72 rocket launcher. They fitted the weapon to a drone and used it to destroy a truck, effectively turning it into a top-attack munition with a range of several kilometers. This should be considerably more accurate than bombing, especially in windy conditions. There are no reports of Ukraine using this combination in action yet.

Bigger drones are more expensive, often $20,000 or more, compared to $2,000 or less for small drones. They also require more support on the ground; unlike a DJI Mavic, they cannot be easily carried and used by one person. Clearly there is a strong demand for this capability. Just as we see light, medium and heavy anti-tank weapons and mortars, several different categories of attack drone may emerge to support units at squad, platoon and company level.

Large drones are easy enough to acquire or build that Ukrainian forces are not waiting for the military procurement process to deliver, but are assembling their own airpower on the spot. The results are impressive and given an idea of what small non-state actors could achieve — something that other armies need to heed.

By next year we may see mass production of bomber drones and more standardized models in the fields. For the time being, there is a whole Pokémon collection of different types out there, growing all the time and difficult if not impossible to fully catalog.