Russian propaganda media, citing the head of the “all-Russian” project called “Archangels” Mikhail Filippov, report that the specialists of this project, who are primarily engaged in training the crews of unmanned aerial vehicles, have modified one of the kamikaze drones, thanks to which it was possible to increase its speed several times.
“We made a hybrid with a vertical takeoff, and then it goes into “wing mode” and flies like a rocket,” says Filipov. According to him, quoted by Russian propagandists, the minimum range of this drone is 50 km, while it can reach speeds of up to 280 km/h. Filipov emphasizes that this is much faster than standard kamikaze drones, which usually fly at speeds of 70-120 km/h.
However, in the comments on their Telegram page, the ruscists from the Archangel group admit “inaccuracy” – they say, the drone will overcome a range of 50 km at an “economical” speed of 120-140 km, while at maximum speed, this figure will be lower.
The developers claim that the high speed significantly reduces the vulnerability of the drone to small arms, claiming that it is “physically impossible” to shoot it down.
It is noted that this kamikaze drone can be used against lightly armored vehicles, communication towers with equipment, at the same time, first of all, apparently, we are talking about the fact that this kamikaze will play the role of an anti-aircraft drone against our long-range drones, given that the ruscists rely primarily on speed.
It is worth noting that this Russian drone is quite similar to the Ukrainian anti-aircraft drones against Shaheds, which became known last fall, in particular, the enemy also chose a “missile-like” solution for its drone, although it still looks more like the result of the activities of a “circle of young technicians”.
At the same time, as for speed, it is worth recalling that, for example, specialists from the Wild Hornets community have previously shown that they managed to accelerate an FPV drone to speeds of as much as 325 km/h.