The Company That Makes the AK-47 Is Now Building Suicide Drones

David Axe

Security, Europe

Super swarm: A Russian company is developing a propeller-driven "suicide drone" that could target enemy air defenses.

A Russian company is developing a propeller-driven "suicide drone" that could target enemy air defenses.

Kalashnikov Group, the same family of companies that produces Russia's iconic assault rifles, revealed the KUB-BLA drone at the IDEX-2019 trade show in Abu Dhabi in February 2019.

It's unclear whether the Russian air force requested the drone's development, or Kalashnikov developed the type on its own for the domestic or foreign market.

"KUB-BLA is designed to destroy remote ground targets," Kalashnikov stated. "An unmanned aerial vehicle delivers a special load to the coordinates of the target, which are set manually or in the image from the [drone's] guidance system."

The four-feet-long drone has a 30-minute endurance at a speed of 80 miles per hour while carrying a six-pound warhead, Kalashnikov stated. "The advantages of the system are hidden launch, high accuracy of the shot, noiselessness and ease of handling," according to Kalashnikov.

KUB-BLA in essence is a small, slow and presumably inexpensive cruise missile.  It apparently is similar in design to Israel's truck-launched Harpy drone, which has been on the market for at least 25 years.

The jet-propelled Harpy however is much heavier than KUB-BLA is, carries a 70-pound warhead and boasts much greater performance.

"The Harpy weapon detects, attacks and destroys enemy radar emitters, hitting them with high hit accuracy," Israel Aerospace Industries stated. "Harpy effectively suppresses hostile SAM and radar sites for long durations, loitering above enemy territory for hours."

If Harpy is a weapon for the suppression of enemy air defenses, KUB-BLA might be, too. A single Harpy reportedly costs around $70,000. A KUB-BLA could be even cheaper. In theory, an operator could purchase hundreds of KUB-BLAs and deploy them by the dozen to swarm enemy defenses.

The concept is popular. The U.S. Air Force is developing its own suicide drone that could target enemy radar sites.