Ukrainian Defense Forces Approve ‘General Chereshnya’ FPV Drone System

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has approved the FPV aviation system General Chereshnya (Cherry General—ed.) for use by the country’s Defense Forces, the ministry announced on its website.

The drone system features multirotor UAV built on various frame sizes, capable of carrying different types of warheads depending on mission requirements.

Payloads can include munitions designed to destroy armored vehicles, cars, bunkers, or other field fortifications. Some variants include anti-aircraft capabilities.

“The ‘General Chereshnya’ system can be deployed and made operational within minutes, which is critical for crew safety,” the ministry stated.

The system is produced by the “Center for Research on Unmanned Systems” LLC, which currently has 14 codified products in the military’s inventory.

These include various types of drones actively used by Ukrainian forces in combat.

The manufacturer has completed the certification process for supplying the General Chereshnya UAVs to the Armed Forces and received two registration certificates from the Ministry of Defense (both for UAVs and unmanned systems).

In fall 2023, Militarnyi reported the use of General Chereshnya-7 drones in combat against Russian forces near the Avdiivka waste dump in the Donetsk region.

The drones were operated by the 2nd Battalion of the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade.

At the time, the quadcopter was reported to have a range of over 10 kilometers and carry up to 1.5 kilograms of explosives. The drone system was named after the military unit of the same name.

The widespread use of FPV drones in the war between Ukraine and Russia has significantly altered modern battlefield tactics. A single low-cost drone can disable or destroy equipment worth millions of dollars.

Read more: FPV drones: weapons that changed the modern war.