Russians start creating their own kamikaze naval drones for the war in Ukraine (photos, video)
The KMZ military-industrial holding promises to supply the first naval drones to the Russian army by the end of 2023.
Managing Director Mikhail Danilenko said this in an interview with RIA Novosti.
According to him, the holding company has received an order from the Russian Defense Ministry for the first pilot batch of 10 new drones. These will be flat unmanned boats with a low landing for low visibility on the water. They will be able to cover distances of up to 200 km, reaching speeds of up to 80 km/h.
The drones are designed to carry a payload of about 600 kg, and can carry reconnaissance equipment, special cargo, and explosives (TNT), which will allow them to attack targets in kamikaze mode, exploding on impact. In addition, they are proposed to be used as a platform for launching or landing unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as a means of electronic warfare against them.
Mykhailo Danylenko assures us that KMZ has already begun creating new drones and has even assembled the first “water cannon engines.” Soon the devices are to be tested in the combat zone on the territory of Ukraine, and if the tests are successful, mass production will begin.
The new maritime drones may have been based on the project of a robotic complex with a medium-sized working unmanned boat, the Vizir-700, which KMZ presented in October 23. According to the holding’s official website, the vessel itself is 6.7 meters long and has a cruising range of up to 30 hours, and the complex is designed for hydrographic work, although the holding has shown a sample with a combat module mounted on the nose at exhibitions.
The drone is equipped with sonar and a profiler with a current velocity sensor, as well as intelligent vision technologies to identify types of objects and avoid obstacles. In addition, the engineers have provided a multi-agent interaction system that will allow several drones to act as a group. The user interface allows you to set routes, receive telemetry data, visualize payload data in real time and build digital depth maps, and receive obstacle data. The complex can be quickly deployed from the shore for work in coastal areas and used in the far offshore zone from a carrier ship.
The KMZ holding includes the Kingisepp Machine Building Plant in St. Petersburg and seven production sites established on its basis. The companies create various boats and diesel generators for military special vehicles, kitchens, medical centers and field systems, as well as trawls for demining, engine parts, and coolers for warships of the Russian Navy.
“Today, we have tripled orders, for one thing. And the repair time has been reduced several times: if earlier it was 90 days, today it is 30 days. Today there are a lot of them, and next year there will be even more,” boasted Mikhail Danilenko.
