Ukraine on Friday showed off a new locally made “rocket-drone” that it said could fly up to 700 km (430 miles) — longer than the longest ranges of missiles supplied by Western allies. More than double.
The unmanned craft, called “Peklo” – which means hell in Ukrainian – is the second such “rocket drone” unveiled by Kiev as it tries to boost its ability to strike deep into Russia, which has spent 33 months Had attacked first.
The drones can reach speeds of 700 kilometers per hour, a representative of Ukraine’s state arms manufacturer Ukroboronprom told reporters at a ceremony where they were officially handed over to the armed forces.
No other details were given and no evidence of the drone’s range or speed was provided. Ukraine has released some details of its arms industry, citing concerns about giving useful information to Moscow.
Ukraine’s arms production minister told Reuters in November that the “rocket-drone” could be seen as similar to a cruise missile, flying at typically less than the speed of sound on a guided path to its target.
The drones were over a meter long, with small wings on either side and two tail feathers. The US-supplied ATACMS missiles have a declared range of just over 300 km.
Russia has used thousands of long-range missiles and drones to hit military and infrastructure targets across Ukraine.
Kiev has sought the ability to retaliate, but its allies until last month had resisted calls to allow the use of its missiles on targets deep inside Russia.
Ukraine has tried to balance the long-range strike gap throughout the war by launching explosive-laden propeller drones at targets up to 1,000 km inside Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was at Friday’s ceremony, said last month that Ukraine was developing four different missiles.
However, despite already having had one successful launch, the missile program is plagued by global supply chain issues, Ukraine’s arms minister previously told Reuters.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
