Ukraine is Developing Shahed-Like Cooper Drone Made of Polyurethane

The Ukrainian company POLIFLY has developed a technology for creating drones made of high-quality polyurethane.

Militarnyi learned about this from POLIFLY representatives during the Brave1 Components exhibition.

Experts emphasize that the current requirements of war dictate three key criteria for any drone: low cost, high performance and scalability.

It is stated that polyurethane production technology allows to combine all these advantages.

The material turned out to be not only cheaper than three-component composites, but also lighter by 19%, without losing strength.

In terms of convenience, performance, and reliability, polyurethane hulls are significantly superior to traditional composite counterparts.

The flagship of POLIFLY’s development is the Cooper attack drone, created according to an aerodynamic design similar to the Shahed drone.

The device is equipped with a rear pusher motor and has a wingspan of 1.2 meters, and the body is made entirely of reinforced polyurethane.

The drone is capable of carrying a payload of up to 5.5 kg and hitting targets at a distance of over 90 kilometers.

The launch system is catapult-launched, and navigation is based on autopilot and GPS, making it autonomous and easy to deploy.

The Cooper drone is compatible with a ready-made ground control station that operates at a distance of up to 35 kilometers without external communication channels. The system can be easily integrated into existing military infrastructure.

Cooper can be equipped with different types of warheads – thermobaric, high-explosive or cumulative – making it a versatile tool for hitting a wide range of targets.

Polyurethane hulls

One of the key advantages of the new technology is the ability to quickly roll out large-scale production.

“With just three sets of dies, up to 700 hulls can be produced per month – four and a half times more than with the classic composite scheme,” the company says.

In addition, polyurethane allows for the immediate formation of technological holes in the body for a camera, warhead, or battery, which significantly reduces the time required for manual assembly and speeds up drone assembly.

The developers note that the cost of the polyurethane body is several times lower and its maintainability is much higher.

“The production capacity available now allows us to produce up to 200 cases per month,” the company says.

Due to the combination of lightness, cheapness and reliability, polyurethane UAV production technology can be one of the key solutions to provide the frontline with attack drones on the required scale.