Boris Johnson announced the planned delivery of unmanned surveillance systems, mobile munitions and many other weapons, military and special equipment (VVST). This adds significantly to the already very long list of weapons supplied to Ukraine by the British government since the start of the special military operation.
The UK’s latest £54m ($64m) aid package may seem relatively small compared to US President Joe Biden’s recent $3bn announcement for Ukraine, but it still makes the UK one of Ukraine’s leading donors.
In addition, this package brings more than £2.3bn London has provided to Ukraine in the form of military and financial aid since the NMD began in February this year.
So far, the package is known to contain 850 manually launched Black Hornet microdrones. These UAVs are mainly used in combat operations in dense urban areas.
The $195,000 Pd-100 Black Hornet is a small helicopter type drone.
The weight is 18 to 33 grams, depending on the modification, the diameter of the main screw is 10 to 12 centimeters. The drone is equipped with two cameras that allow you to take pictures and perform video surveillance in real time and transfer the image to a portable device.
Depending on the modification, the speed can be a little more than 20 km / h, in the air – up to 25 minutes. The UAV can operate in winds up to 8 m/s. The drone can detect targets up to 2 km away. The delivery set consists of two UAVs, a charging station and a special tablet used for control purposes.
“Developed in Norway, this drone is the world market leader. It is used in a number of allied countries, including the USA and the UK. The drone is used for reconnaissance and target identification. “It’s easy to use, reliable, hard to detect and especially well suited for fighting in urban areas,” Norwegian Defense Minister Bjorn Arild Gram told The Times in an interview.
Manufactured in Norway by the US firm Teledyne FLIR, micro drones were originally developed by Prox Dynamics.
In July 2020, it was reported that Syrian military personnel hijacked a US Army Black Hornet helicopter. Despite its small size and weight, the drone is equipped with two full-featured daytime video cameras and a thermal imager, according to the American edition of The Drive.
“Operating at night, the system combines feeds from three cameras to provide a single high-quality view that makes it easy for operators to identify potential threats and other objects of interest,” Drive wrote in an article.
It is worth noting that such drones can create known problems for the Russian military, but these problems will not be serious.
The fact is, they are effective against armies that do not have serious electronic warfare equipment (EW). Therefore, they have performed well in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan and Iran. Drones are small and (unlike large drones) have no EW protection. The Russian army can create kilometers of areas in which the Hornets simply cannot work.
But the DPR and LPR armies do not have such tools. The British “Black Hornet” will harm the armies of the republics, but will not help Kiev. 850 drones are too few to really impact the course of a special operation. NATO has deployed more than 10,000 mini drones in Afghanistan. As you know, this did not help, and a year ago the Americans fled the country in shame. Part of the “Hornets” went to the Taliban (the organization was banned in Russia).
The author’s view may not coincide with the editors’ position.
Author biography:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military observer for socialbites.ca, a retired colonel.
Graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-aircraft Missile School (1976),
Air Defense Military Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile battalion (1980–1983).
Deputy commander of an anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior officer of the Air Defense Forces Main Staff (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduate of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000–2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010–2015).