The Russian Ministry of Defense is testing a new Privet-82 loitering munition to be deployed against the air defense of Ukraine.

Russian Oko design bureau from St. Petersburg is developing the drone.

Vadim Zhernov, the enterprise’s CEO, reported that the company received a protocol of Privet-82 being successfully tested by the Ministry of Defense.

According to the document, the drone was checked for the range and flight time declared by the developers with a standard payload at a distance of 10 km.

During the tests, the drone launched normally, steadily controlled throughout the flight, maneuvered, turned the engines off and on again when practicing diving on the target, and practiced a repeated attack in silent mode.

In addition, the drone demonstrated the ability to transfer control in flight from one operator to another.

It also proved the ability to preserve the control and transmission channel operation in the conditions of the enemy use of electronic warfare systems.

Besides, the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals were jammed at a 2.5 thousand meter range, and then, the drone navigated without GNSS.

Russia states that the Privet-82 loitering munition will be able to carry a warhead weighing over 5 kg at a range of about 30 km and would cost slightly more than RUB 100 thousand (approx. $1200 – ed.).

The aircraft is made in accordance with the normal aerodynamic scheme and is equipped with an electric motor. The drone is launched via catapult, its cruise speed is 90 kilometers per hour, and during diving – 160 kilometers per hour.

Drone targeting is performed manually by video signal with electronic flight stabilization. It is possible to fly with GPS to an assigned area in radio silence mode, followed by manual guidance over a video signal from the operator positioned in the target area.

The range of use with video guidance is up to three kilometers in line of sight and up to 15 kilometers when using a repeater.

Deployment plan

New Russian Privet-82 drones will receive the ability to fly to the front line from single rear hubs, and operators will connect to their control at the front line and continue to direct them to targets.

According to the hub plans, one could send from one to several drones to a specific unit at once.

If there is only one operator in the unit, he would use them in turn, if there are several, one could strike one or more different targets in a coordinated manner.

It is also possible to transfer control of the drone from one operator to another when the drone arrives in the unit’s area.