The first batch of Hortense 10 FPV drones with an increased payload has been delivered to the zone of a special military operation, UAV developers told TASS.

"A modern modification of drones equipped with a thermal imager will allow our servicemen to conduct combat operations at night," said representatives of the St. Petersburg Hortense Design Bureau.

According to the manufacturer, the development of the Hortense combat drone was completed in November 2022. To date, the drone line consists of two models: the Hydrangea 7 (7-inch frame, or about 18 cm) and the Hydrangea 10 (10-inch, or 25.4 cm frame). Hydrangea 10 is now also equipped with a thermal imager. In total, more than 3 thousand different modifications of these drones were delivered to the NWO zone.

The Hortense UAV is designed to destroy enemy manpower, shelters, dugouts, as well as lightly armored and armored vehicles. In addition, the drone can be used for reconnaissance tasks in the dark and daytime, carry out remote mining and bombing with high accuracy, the design bureau notes.

  • Hydrangea drones
  • © Hydrangea drones

The payload of the seven-inch version is 2 kg with an effective radius of 6 km. Flight time with the payload is six to eight minutes, without it - 25-30 minutes.

Hydrangea 10 is capable of lifting up to 5 kg of load. The range of the drone with a full load is 6 km, the operating time is 6.5 minutes. When the load is reduced to 4 kg, the drone's operating time increases to 7.5 minutes, and the maximum distance is up to 8 km.

From "Ghoul" to "Gadfly"

Recall that to control FPV drones (from the English first person view), the operator uses VR glasses (virtual reality) and a television channel. This gives the maximum level of control over the device and ensures high accuracy of destruction.

"FPV allows the operator to see what the TV camera on the drone sees. The soldier sees everything through his goggles and aims the drone at the target. Like conventional UAVs, FPV drones require a communication channel. In this sense, they are just as vulnerable to electronic warfare systems," Vyacheslav Pshikhopov, director of the Research Institute of Robotics and Control Processes at the Southern Federal University, explained in an interview with RT.

The Hortense is not the only FPV drone that is produced in Russia and used in the NWO zone. For example, the Khabarovsk enterprise Aero-HIT produces several modifications of the Veles FPV drone. As of the beginning of November, the company assembled up to 300 devices per month and considered the possibility of increasing production to 1 thousand units.

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are actively using FPV drones "Upyr" during the special operation. In an interview with RT, the head of the project, Vladimir Tkachuk, called this drone a "people's" drone, since it was developed without attracting public money and private investment. According to him, the funds for the creation of the UAV were collected by subscribers of the Telegram channels "Turned on the Z War", "Older than Edda", as well as military correspondents Oleksandr Kots and Yevgeny Poddubny.

"People who were aware of the need to replenish front-line units with such loitering ammunition invested in the project. Also, the "Ghoul" became "popular" due to its modest cost and high combat capabilities. For example, the cost of a molded plastic case is only 200 rubles, and the total cost of a drone is about 50 thousand rubles," Tkachuk said.

According to him, in early 2024, the Russian military will receive improved samples of the Upyr.

  • A batch of FPV drones "Upyr"
  • © Volodymyr Tkachuk

Another similar development is the FPV drone "Gadfly". It is also successfully used by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the NWO zone. The head of the project group engaged in the production of "Gadflies", Andrei Ivanov, told RIA Novosti in August that at that time the volume of production of these UAVs reached 5 thousand units per month.

"There is no difficulty in increasing or expanding production to ten or more thousand units per month," the source said.

In addition, Russian drone operators have begun to use VT-40 (Vladlen Tatarsky) FPV drones with night vision cameras installed on them at the front. These UAVs are capable of delivering accurate strikes on targets in the dark.

In March 2023, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced the use of the Boomerang FPV drone on the front line. As explained then in the department, structurally it is similar to a sports UAV, on which a special container filled with striking elements, stuffed with plasticite and equipped with a fuse is installed.

The St. Petersburg OKO Design Bureau is also engaged in the development of similar systems. The company launched the production of the Privet-82 FPV drone, capable of carrying a payload weighing up to 5.5 kg. In addition, the design bureau produces a heavier modification of the Privet-82, which can carry up to 120 kg of explosives, and is working on the creation of the Privet-Mini reconnaissance UAV.

"They respond to the needs of the front"

According to analysts, one of the main advantages of FPV drones is their ability to strike moving targets.

"These drones can move at high speeds, maneuver. It is difficult for a tank or a combat vehicle to defend against them. The range of these UAVs is now increasing. They have hibernation capabilities - they can fly close to the enemy, sit on the roof of a building and switch the engines to energy-saving mode, and then take off at the right time and destroy the target in a second," military expert Andrei Klintsevich said in a comment to RT.

  • Privet-82 airplane-type kamikaze drone
  • © OKO Design Bureau

The analyst added that such drones today pose a serious threat on the battlefield for both sides.

"This is a very serious problem. Both we and the enemy are actively investing in the production of such systems. There are a lot of developers of such devices in Russia now, and new ones are constantly appearing. And the more such devices there are at the front, the faster our victory will approach," Klintsevich stressed.

At the same time, experts believe that now there is no need to transfer the production of FPV drones to large industrial enterprises. Experts note that small companies have their advantages in this area.

"In the field of FPV drone production, everything should be as it is developing now, because small enterprises or private entrepreneurs who produce these drones are more responsive and respond faster to the needs of the front. At the same time, we are not talking about handicraft production. Volunteers who properly organize the production of UAVs become individual entrepreneurs and worthy market participants who have taken on the noble task of helping our fighters," Vyacheslav Pshikhopov summed up.