10 facts about the Ukrainian drone "Lyuty", which flew 1,300 km to hit the Russian Kupol plant - the manufacturer of the Tor, Osa and Harpy strike UAVs

Fact #1: How and when the idea for «Fever» came about

The story of «Fever» began in the first months of the Russian full-scale invasion. At that time, there was a huge need for new developments that could change the situation in our favor. We decided to make a kamikaze drone that could fly 1,000 km. What’s more, we would assemble it in Odessa.

The first fuselage was assembled by model enthusiasts with their own money. Due to the large size of the drone, no one believed in it. The Ukrainian kamikaze project received the biggest boost after Russia began launching Iranian «Shaheeds».

Fact #2: The first prototype

In the fall of 2022, the flying prototype of the «Furious» was finally assembled. The first flight took place on October 22, 2022. And everything went very well.

True, the first plane crashed during a test flight in December 2022. However, the fuselage turned out to be so resilient and repairable that it was returned to the runway in just three days.

The drone was already ready. The combat unit for it was ready. The manufacturers were ready to hand it over to someone. But everyone was afraid to fly it.

Fact #3: The plane they were afraid to launch

The plane was made, but it had nuances in its launch. And these «nuances» were quite impressive. The first planes had a small problem with the front landing gear and compass calibration. At high speed during takeoff, the plane could veer off the runway and crash somewhere on the side of the road.

«That’s why the operator had to constantly steer those first wings so that they would go straight along the runway. And this means that you have to drive a car at speeds of up to 150 km/h behind this 50-kilogram bomb so that the operator could see it and align it along the strip. It’s clear that no one wanted to launch it like that,» explains one of the members of the team that conducted the first launches to the UP.

During the day, there was no such problem, because the plane is large: more than 4 meters long, with a wingspan of almost 7 meters. It is clearly visible. But at night, a «chase» was inevitable.

So they created a training center where, for several months, real experienced pilots taught and explained all the nuances of large-scale aviation.

Fact #4: The first test was a failure

The first combat test of the «Furious» took place at the end of April 2023. The drone was supposed to attack Zmiiniy Island. But there was a malfunction, and it flew straight towards Odessa. Due to the secrecy of the tests, it was not possible to declare an air alert. But about 30 km from the coast, the pilots finally caught the drone’s signal and returned it to their control.

Fact #5: About two weeks after failure, triumph

After the failure of the first test, the developers did not give up. And two weeks later, on May 3, 2023, the developers triumphed. In the Russian village of Volna on the Taman Peninsula, an oil depot caught fire unexpectedly for the local authorities at night.

Fact #6: The first serial batch of drones

The first serial batch of «Fluty» drones was ready at the end of August 2023. On August 28, the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine struck the base of the 126th Coast Guard Brigade of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea in Perevalnoye with various UAVs.

In fact, this was the first use of the «Furious» in combat and the first published photo of it. It was the last.

Fact #7: The first long-distance launch of «Fever»

At the end of February, they decided it was time to launch «Lyutyi.» For the first launch, they chose one of the sections of the route in the Chernihiv region, which was once used as an airfield. The plane took off on the third attempt.

Then there was an arrival at an oil depot near the airfield in Sochi — the only airfield that worked for the Russians on the Black Sea.

Fact #8: Second flight

The second flight took place 10 days later, on October 1, and again in the Sochi area. This time, the helicopter park that served, among other things, Putin’s residence was hit by the «Furious».

Fact #9: From a loser to orders from various structures

The first batch was assembled from fuselage blanks, and there were no orders for other batches. GUR seemed to be flying on the «Flutykh», but could not contract much. The SBU also received several wings from the first batch, but at first it treated them very cautiously, not to say skeptically.

Therefore, it was very difficult to hope for hundreds of orders. Until St. Petersburg happened. Orders from various structures began to grow, as did the number of news about cotton deep behind enemy lines. Even the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine recently placed a large order and is already preparing groups of operators for this UAV.

Fact #10: The most high-profile joint operations

The mass production and operation of drones has made it possible to start planning large-scale joint operations involving several structures at once.

The most high-profile joint operations of several services at once were the attacks on the Novolipetsk steel plant, oil refineries in Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod, and Tatarstan. The strikes on Ryazan facilities became one of the hallmarks of «Fever»

Read the country’s main IT news in our Telegram

On the topic

Read the country’s main IT news in our Telegram

Ukraine has a network of secret weapons factories. They produce drones, missiles, and armored personnel carriers.

On the topic

Ukraine has a network of secret weapons factories. They produce drones, missiles, and armored personnel carriers.

The military is testing multifunctional ground drones «Makhno». Six modifications of the platforms were created by the soldiers of the Southern Defense Forces themselves

On the topic

The military is testing multifunctional ground drones «Makhno». Six modifications of the platforms were created by the soldiers of the Southern Defense Forces themselves

Germany proposes shooting down Russian drones over western Ukraine with NATO systems

On the topic

Germany proposes shooting down Russian drones over western Ukraine with NATO systems