The Czech Republic is interested in the Ukrainian Shark drone. It has been spotted in testing

The Czech military is interested in the Ukrainian reconnaissance drone Shark, which is actively used at the front.

This is evidenced by photos of the drones published on the Czech Armed Forces’ official Facebook page.

Among them, in particular, was a Ukrainian airplane-type drone.

Experts from the Czech army, together with the Ministry of Defense, tested the selected drones in “extreme conditions.” In particular, the 53rd Regiment of Intelligence and Electronic Warfare of the Czech Armed Forces was involved in these tests.

The drone test scenarios that interested the Czech military reflected the realities of the modern battlefield, including the use of drones in an environment where the enemy jams navigation and communication signals.

“For us, cooperation with civilian companies is the way to the most advanced technologies. Development cannot be stopped, and we must keep up with the times,” the statement reads.

No details about these tests were available on the website of the Czech Ministry of Defense or the Czech Armed Forces at the time of writing. There is also no clarification of the criteria used to select the drones for these tests. In particular, it is not explained why the Ukrainian Shark was interested.

Judging by the published photo, it was the newest modification of the Shark-M. It is placed on the catapult used to launch it.

It is noteworthy that after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the export of military products from Ukraine was banned to meet the needs of its own troops.

Shark-M

The Shark multifunctional unmanned aerial vehicle, developed by the Ukrainian company Ukrspecsystems, enables autonomous aerial reconnaissance, surveillance, identification, and recognition of objects from a long distance and at high altitudes. This year, in January, the manufacturer introduced a new version of the Shark-M, featuring several improvements to provide an advantage on the battlefield. The updated drone has a record range of 420 km and an extended flight time of up to 7 hours. The designers managed to achieve these parameters by integrating new batteries with 170% higher capacity.

Thanks to the modernization of the radio modem and antenna equipment, the maximum communication radius has more than doubled to 180 km.

The longer range allowed the crews to operate beyond the reach of enemy weapons, and new hardware and software solutions ensure stable operation even in the face of GNSS disruptions, GPS spoofing, or attempts to intercept control signals. The developers shared with Militarnyi that the new Shark-M is now capable of performing the tasks of older systems, such as the PD-2.