Continuing the trend of operating an increasing number of unmanned systems on the battlefield, the Russian Armed Forces have deployed the new Knyaz Vishchiy Oleg (KVO) drone in Ukraine, which is specifically designed to carry out reconnaissance missions up to 45 kilometers beyond its launch point in support of special operations units. According to reports from Russian state media, the system also stands out for its high survivability, as it can deceive Ukrainian detection systems by mimicking the appearance of their own drones.
Commenting on this, Alexey Chadayev, currently serving as Director General of the Ushkuynik Research and Production Center (RPC) in Veliky Novgorod, stated: “The development of FPV air defense systems—drone-on-drone combat in the sky—has caused a real genocide of reconnaissance drones on both sides (…) The KVO has demonstrated an unexpectedly high survival rate for the simple reason that Ukrainians mistake it for one of their own aircraft, which it only resembles in appearance. Of course, over time the enemy will learn to distinguish them, but for now, this feature has allowed us to fly over Sumy, Kharkiv, and other areas.”
Additionally, Director Chadayev noted that the new KVO drones not only offer the capabilities of an advanced reconnaissance system but also have the advantage of being cheaper than other systems currently used by the country’s armed forces, thus facilitating large-scale production. In this regard, he pointed out that if any of its parts break and require replacement, they can easily be produced with 3D printers to reduce costs and speed up the process. The same philosophy applies to its launch system, which, in Chadayev’s own words, translates to: “The Prince Oleg doesn’t have a complicated launch system—basically, you just need to stick two rods into the ground and launch it.”
Furthermore, in his statements to local media, Chadayev emphasized that the new KVO drone will also be particularly useful when operating alongside loitering munitions currently in the hands of Russian troops for target detection. It is worth noting that this task has mainly been carried out using commercial unmanned systems, such as Mavic models, which have a considerably shorter range than that reportedly achieved by this new platform—differences of between 20 and 30 kilometers in range.
Finally, it is important to mention that in addition to these advantages, the KVO’s image transmission system is reportedly fully integrated with the software used by loitering munitions. According to reports, this allows the operators of these “kamikaze drones” to view real-time images gathered by the new reconnaissance drones on the same screens, enabling attacks with greater situational awareness.
Image credits to respective owners.
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