The state is holding a tender for 10,000 homing drones through the closed Prozorro module. This was announced by Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
The lowest price
“The development of homing modules is a technically challenging task, yet 10+ companies are already producing them in Ukraine. There is competition in the market, which allows us to buy drones at the lowest price,” says Fedorov.
According to him, the state has already contracted 3,000 FPV drones with homing at the lowest cost through a Prozorro tender and is now holding another one for 10,000 such UAVs.
On October 7-8, the State Service of Special Communications concluded agreements worth UAH 51.35 million (USD 1.25 mln) for the purchase of 3,000 10-inch FPV kamikaze drones with homing.
According to different contracts, the cost of such drones in the procurement of the State Special Communications Service ranges from UAH 15,960 to UAH 18,990 ($390 – $460). Oddly enough, this is cheaper than the cost of conventional FPV drones in other procurements.
Homing drones to combat electronic warfare
“The critical need at the front is to combat Russian electronic warfare, and homing drones partially meet it. Such a UAV reaches the target despite enemy electronic warfare,” the official said.
Such drones are distinguished from standard FPV drones by their ability to engage enemy targets automatically, without human intervention at the last stage of approaching the target. When the drone visually captures a target, whether stationary or even moving, it keeps its course and adjusts its flight before striking.
According to the technical specifications, the purchased FPV drones will have a range of capture and automatic tracking of stationary objects of up to 300 meters and moving objects of up to 150 meters.
The FPV efficiency should be 80%, even if the moving target is traveling at a speed of up to 40 km/h. The speed of approach to the target in automatic mode is not less than 60 km/h, and the drone will be able to perform a combat mission even in strong winds of up to 12 m/s.
The procured drones must hit with very high accuracy – up to 1 meter for stationary targets and within the object for moving targets.
“The war is moving to a new technological level, so we need to be fast, support entrepreneurs and predict the future,” adds Fedorov.
