Ukrainian engineers have turned a light civilian plane into a heavy, long-range kamikaze drone.

The German publication Bild reported on this.

According to the media, Ukrainian engineers were able to transform a civilian light aircraft into a deadly weapon capable of carrying a large warhead and having a flight range of more than 1000 km.

In addition, despite its size, the kamikaze drone remains a difficult target for Russian air defense. This is confirmed by strikes on the Chechen capital, Grozny, as well as other regions of Russia located at a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers from the state border of Ukraine.

According to the publication, the drone is one of several deep-strike weapons that Ukrainian troops have developed in the 34 months since Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine began.

An analysis of the video of the drone strike on the territory of the 2nd Special Police Regiment revealed several features, such as a painted-over onboard registration number and a protected cockpit, which is likely to contain explosives.

According to the newspaper, the modified aircraft is able to reach its targets thanks to a small engine that is almost invisible to Russian air defense systems.

“While the engine of a Storm Shadow missile heats up to 870 degrees, the engine of this aircraft heats up to a maximum of 100 degrees. A special film provides radar protection. In addition, it flies at low speed and at low altitude. Russian air defense has no response to such threats yet,” Bild says.

At the same time, the publication’s analyst Julian Röpke notes that this weapon’s weakness is the limited number of available units.

The most notable use of this type of attack drone, apart from the attack on the military barracks in Grozny, was the attack on the Shahed kamikaze drone factory in Tatarstan.

The attack took place in April 2024 at about six in the morning local time, when explosions occurred on the territory of the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, located near the city of Yelabuga.

There are, among other things, two enterprises producing Russian military drones, including Shahed drones.

Later, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine confirmed that the target of the attack in Russian Tatarstan, located about 1,200 kilometers from Ukraine, was a factory that assembles Shaheds, which the Russians label Geran-2.