Ukrainian JET Company has introduced a new drone-bomber with eight drop pods, designed to destroy enemy equipment, communications equipment, and manpower at depths of up to 15 kilometers from the front line.
Ukrainian JET Company has introduced a new drone-bomber with eight drop pods, designed to destroy enemy equipment, communications equipment, and manpower at depths of up to 15 kilometers from the front line.
At the forum «Joint Ventures, Joint Defense» in Lviv, the association «Technological Forces of Ukraine» presented a bomber capable of carrying a combat load weighing 20 kg at a speed of 60 km/h.
According to Oboronka, the maximum speed without payload is 80 km/h. The drone is able to stay in the air for 25-40 minutes, depending on the weight of the cargo.
The ammunition mounting platform and drop system are modular and can be modified depending on the mission. The drone can carry either two heavy munitions to destroy heavily armored targets or elements of buildings and defenses, or 8 smaller «drops» to destroy lightly armored enemy vehicles and manpower.
During the development of the JET MAX, engineers relied on changes on the battlefield, as the need to increase the combat load of drones is now sharply increasing. «We are already seeing a trend that FPV drones with 7 and 8 inch frames do not have the same market as before. At the front, drones now need to deliver a larger warhead to the enemy,» Mykyta, a representative of JET Company, tells the Oboronka journalist.
Ammunition for drones is manufactured in Ukraine in various versions.
To protect against enemy electronic warfare, the drone is equipped with a navigation system with a quad-band RF frequency response, i.e. the ability to dynamically change the operating frequency. The communication system also operates on «floating» frequencies.
The «intelligent» part of the drone is completely developed in Ukraine. Western countries are currently purchasing engines, propellers, and carbon tubes. The camera with a nine-fold magnification is also purchased abroad, although the company is currently looking for Ukrainian analogues. «We have quite deep localization. We manufacture components — housings, frames, mounts. And we have the ability to quickly scale this production. (…) Our military system and communication station are also Ukrainian-made,» the company’s technical director Olena Kurta emphasized in a comment to Oborontsi.
The drone crew consists of two people. These are the main and auxiliary pilots. They can prepare the drone for takeoff in 10 minutes. The drone is controlled from its own radio station, which was developed in Ukraine. It has a directional and log-periodic antenna, which operate in a wide frequency range.
JET MAX is currently in the process of codification.
