Ukraine Tests Fiber-Optic FPV Drone With Grenade Launcher

The Ukrainian military has tested a fiber-optic FPV drone with a disposable hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher in combat conditions.

The video was released by the 420th Separate Battalion of Unmanned Systems “KHORT”.

The Separate Battalion of Unmanned Combat Systems “KHORT” from the Operational Command North conducted fire tests of the Queen Hornet drone, which used a disposable hand-held grenade launcher RPG-75 as a means of destruction.

This has not been directly reported, but judging by the features of the video, it is likely that a fiber-optic FPV drone equipped with a digital video camera was used.

This ensures not only uninterrupted communication, even in the face of enemy electronic warfare, but also high image quality, which makes it easier to detect and aim at a target. Unfortunately, according to the video, despite the successful shot, the rocket grenade itself did not explode.

The 15-inch Queen Hornet drone is capable of carrying a payload of up to 9.5 kilograms over a distance of 5 kilometers or 6 kilograms over 17 kilometers.

The Czech RPG-75 used during the tests weighs 3.2 kilograms and is equipped with a 68-millimeter high explosive grenade designed to destroy enemy armored vehicles.

The maximum effective range of the grenade is 300 meters, with a maximum range of up to 1000 meters. The grenade is capable of penetrating up to 300 mm of armor plate.

The remaining carrying capacity of the drone is enough to install a 15- or even 20-kilometer fiber-optic coil, which weighs between 1.5-2 kilograms.

This is not the first attempt to equip this type of drone with a grenade launcher. In September 2024, a video of a similar system being tested by the Bulava unmanned aerial vehicle unit of the Bohdan Khmelnytsky Separate Presidential Brigade was published.

At the time, it was not a fiber-optic FPV drone that was used, but a conventional radio-controlled version of the Queen Hornet drone and a Bulspike-AP anti-personnel grenade launcher equipped with an OG-22M high-explosive rocket-propelled grenade. At the time, the company said: “We will continue to work in this scope together with the Bulava unit aiming to reach mass production to help our military.”

The drone developed by Wild Hornets is multifunctional and can be a bomber, a kamikaze or transport drone, a carrier for other drones, as well as a communications repeater capable of remotely mining logistics routes.