Ukrainian FPV kamikaze drones retrofitted with powerful SWD ammunition

Ukrainian engineers have created new combat parts for kamikaze drones that are much better than the usual ones that scatter debris during explosion. This allows you to hit a large area and inflict heavy losses on the Russian invaders. Kamikaze drone manufacturer “Wild Hornets” has tested and will equip its own drones with new types of warheads produced by the Ukrainian company Shock Wave Dynamics (SWD).

“Wild Hornets” received a batch of powerful ammunition for FPV drones of various sizes and types, including fragmentation, high-explosive and impact core. Improved drones have already been sent to the front line for testing.

SWD talked about the combat part of drones; The company produces cold ammunition that does not contain fuzes or explosives. They were designed by military engineers to be equipped with drones in the field. Among the ammunition there are fragmentation, cumulative, universal and special ones. All BZs have specific features adapted to specific use cases.

The company says its main goal is to increase the efficiency of every kamikaze drone used on the battlefield. This is achieved by creating optimal damage sectors, optimizing the mass, balance between the explosive, the number of damage elements, weight and speed.

“We create the ergonomics of combat units that minimize the time required for equipment in the field. Our company constantly improves existing products and develops new ones based on feedback directly from the battlefield,” says the SWD representative.

High explosive part for FPV drones is a new product from SWD. Designers believe that suboptimal high-explosive fragmentation ammunition has recently been used on kamikaze drones. The usual cylindrical payload is fixed along the axis of the drone. Such ammunition has a fairly narrow band of fragments, forming a very dense but narrow band. With this distribution, most pieces fly into the sky or onto the ground.

To increase the effectiveness of ammunition, SWD changed its shape and location. As a result, a less dense but more effective fragment field is formed due to the expansion of the affected sector during the explosion and the reduction of inaccessible areas. As a result, pieces fly more horizontally, with fewer falling into the air or onto the ground. This enables more effective engagement of targets behind an obstacle, for example inside a vehicle.

The classic attack at ground level also does not work very efficiently, the attack area is noticeably limited. A wider defeat sector allows debris to hit more targets; for example, the Russian army standing on the ground.

The design of fragmentation ammunition is created to ensure maximum density of evenly spaced damage elements. In order to get maximum efficiency from the energy of the explosion and to ensure the maximum speed of the fragments, a lining made of plastic and paraffin is placed between the fragments and the explosive. The damage element is a sphere with a mass of 0.9 grams. The number of parts is 576 pieces. For higher speed, charging is attached to Velcro-type straps that can be easily removed.