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- Ukrainians person fitted a Bulgarian Bulspike-AP grenade launcher connected a ample quadcopter FPV drone.
- It's been tested for months, but Wild Hornets released caller combat footage of the level connected Tuesday.
- A limb similar this would let drones to onslaught without having to straight alert implicit oregon into a target.
A Ukrainian drone shaper released footage connected Tuesday showing what's believed to beryllium the archetypal clip a grenade launcher was fired successful combat from a first-person-view uncrewed aerial system.
The Wild Hornets steadfast published the clips connected its Telegram channel, crediting the "Bulava" drone portion of the 3rd Mechanized Battalion successful the Bohdan Khmelnytsky Separate Presidential Brigade.
The footage shows 2 instances of the mounted grenade launcher firing implicit unfastened terrain.
In the archetypal clip, a worker tin beryllium seen caught successful the resulting detonation and being knocked to the ground. Their destiny was unclear based connected the footage, but the Wild Hornets said the people was a Russian worker who died. The people successful the 2nd clip was not intelligibly visible.
The drone shaper said some clips featured 1 of its designs, the "Queen of Hornets" drone, arsenic the level for the grenade launcher. With a 15- to 17-inch frame, the quadcopter is among the largest FPV drones commercially produced for combat successful Ukraine, and it's typically utilized arsenic a bomber.
Wild Hornets did not accidental erstwhile the footage was shot, nor did it specify which grenade launcher was used. But during September investigating with the "Bulava" unit, the institution said the "Queen of Hornets" drone was fitted with the Bulspike AP, a Bulgarian anti-personnel grenade launcher. The level is meant to beryllium reusable.
The Bulspike AP fires a 2-kilogram fragmentation grenade astatine an effectual scope of astir 100 meters, oregon 328 feet.
A drone mounted with specified a limb could frankincense springiness Ukrainian operators acold much options to strike, since FPV combat drones are typically either utilized to fly straight into a people arsenic a munition oregon to driblet explosives from above.
The clips released connected Tuesday demonstrated the launcher's scope capability, showing the mounted limb firing astatine force targets positioned good up of the drone itself.
"From present on, an mean rocket launcher tin enactment astatine a region of 5+ km. This opens up caller opportunities for the military," Wild Hornets wrote astatine the clip of investigating successful September.
💥 Successful trial of the world's archetypal rocket launcher droneThe Bulava drone portion of the Separate Presidential Brigade named aft Bohdan Khmelnytsky installed a rocket launcher connected the Queen Hornet FPV drone and conducted a palmy test.From present on, an mean rocket… pic.twitter.com/AAkaHgcS7z
— Wild Hornets (@wilendhornets) September 13, 2024Still, it's unclear whether Ukraine tin oregon volition nutrient and deploy these drone-mounted launchers astatine scale. Dozens of Ukrainian companies person developed and tested a monolithic assortment of drone weapons, specified arsenic mounted shotguns and Kalashnikov rifles, but troops are inactive wide relying connected loitering munitions and bombers arsenic their breadstuff and butter.
Wild Hornets, successful particular, has been recognized for producing immoderate of the war's astir exotic drone weapons, including FPV drones that spew thermite from above oregon interceptors designed to alert faster than 100 mph.
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