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Ігор Вишневський Weapon
23 September 2025, 09:00
2025-09-23
The cheapest reconnaissance drone that is "not a pity" and a drone-waiter that can spend up to three days in an ambush. TAF Industries presented new products that will surprise not only our military, but also the enemy
The Ukrainian drone industry is constantly searching for new technological solutions, because what was effective six months ago may be outdated today. One of the largest domestic UAV manufacturers, TAF Industries, held a DemoDay the day before, where it demonstrated the operation of a number of new products in field conditions. Dev.ua was also invited to the presentation. What exactly the manufacturer presented is in our report.
The Ukrainian drone industry is constantly searching for new technological solutions, because what was effective six months ago may be outdated today. One of the largest domestic UAV manufacturers, TAF Industries, held a DemoDay the day before, where it demonstrated the operation of a number of new products in field conditions. Dev.ua was also invited to the presentation. What exactly the manufacturer presented is in our report.
Power Key delayed start systems: how it works
According to Maksym, a representative of TAF Industries, the idea of the Power Key delayed start system developed by the company is to ensure the operation of so-called waiting drones for as long as possible — this allows them to remain in ambush not just for days, but, under certain circumstances, even weeks.
«The board allows you to turn off the power from the remote control — everything except the ELRS is turned off. The drone can be in an ambush, recommended, for up to 72 hours. But in some cases, our drones were standing for up to two weeks with a 15,000 mA „battery“. According to our calculations, those drones that were standing with an 8,000 mA „battery“ for three days used 30% of its charge. And the same for drones that were standing for two weeks — 5,000 mA was used from 15,000 mA during this time, which is also approximately 30% of the charge,» explains the company representative.
As our interlocutor says, this solution allows you to not waste battery power while the drone is not active. However, since the goal of the pilot of our drone is not to simply defend in an ambush, but to complete his task, more than 30-40% of the battery charge cannot be used in this mode: you need to save energy to hit the target.
A representative of TAF Industries assured that no one offers such products as the Power Key delayed start system on the Ukrainian drone market yet, although some other companies are working on software solutions that are similar in concept. «Products that could be our competitors here do not turn off the flight controller, and this, accordingly, discharges the battery faster and does not provide the efficiency that we offer,» he added.
«The „Grandmother“ is that scapegoat who risks himself»
According to another representative of TAF Industries, Vladislav, who demonstrated in the field the TAF-U1 «Babka» reconnaissance drone with digital video communication, this product is the response of Ukrainian engineers to the history with Russian interceptors, which are now seriously bothering our reconnaissance equipment in the air.
«As more and more aircraft are being lost, we need to find a variety of solutions to respond to this threat. Many manufacturers install evasion systems or electronic warfare systems that create a „curtain“ directly on the aircraft. But our approach is to create a „Babka“, a reconnaissance aircraft so cheap that its loss would devalue the economic feasibility of its destruction,» explained a representative of TAF Industries.
He calls the «Babka» the cheapest reconnaissance aircraft with digital video at the moment. «Our task was to create a product that the military would not be so afraid of losing, and the state would not have to pay so much to compensate for,» Vladislav explains.
The manufacturer’s representative recommends launching this drone «from a rubber band», although technically it can be done without it. Its operational tactical radius is 40-50 km, and the battery allows you to spend up to two hours in the air. «At a speed of 70 km/h, you can fly 40 minutes to the target, another 40 minutes to circle around the target and return back. During this time, you can scout the situation both during the flight and at the reconnaissance point,» says a representative of TAF Industries.
The main control channel, according to him, is implemented on the basis of Crossfire technology, and the backup channel, which allows you to work on autopilot, has the ability to navigate autonomously without GPS and GNSS. «We work with beacons. We provide them in a kit so that you can place them in the process of preparing for the flight. At the same time, there is already a certain infrastructure of beacons installed in advance at the front,» the specialist explained.
The drone’s optics provide a 30x optical zoom, which gives «a fairly high-quality and accurate picture from a working altitude of 1,000 m.» According to Vladislav, the drone can operate at altitudes up to 2,000 m, but such altitudes are rarely used «due to the impact on the battery.»
He added that the teams, in coordination with which TAF Industries developed the «Babka», often work with such reconnaissance drones as the «Stork» and the Shark, and the latest UAVs are technically more complex, but also much more expensive. Accordingly, according to the manufacturer’s plan, the military can send the «Babka» to where they are afraid to send the «Stork» and the Shark due to the risk of being shot down by enemy interceptors. «The Babka is an addition to your crews and the means that you can send to those points where you are afraid to send more expensive scouts and correctors. This is the product that can take the blow in case of a threat and confirm the presence or absence of interceptors and enemy means of destruction in a given direction. The „Babka“ is the goat-sucker who risks himself. Such is his fate, for this he was developed,» the specialist explained.
The kit includes 4 UAVs, a laptop with pre-installed software, a video receiving station, video receiving antennas, a ground repeater, and a tablet with the «Kropiva» program.
The company also reported that they are organizing internal training for brigades on working with the Babka UAV (including visiting military positions if they are training more than one crew). The company’s specialists can demonstrate the operation of the drone in real combat conditions if the brigade prepares the appropriate capabilities for this.
A dev.ua journalist asked how they managed to ensure a balance between such a cheap UAV and quality, and what parts were used.
«In order for us to optimize it, it was important to highlight what key characteristics our product needed. That is, we had to sacrifice some technologies. We are more limited in time in the air due to batteries than we are limited in flight distance. Our radio channel is able to „snap through“ up to 75 km, there are confirmed cases of use, but the batteries do not allow us to fly such a distance to return back after that,» Vladislav says in a comment to dev.ua.
To save money, according to him, they also had to abandon composite fuselages.
«The entire camera suspension system, gyroscope, and stabilization were made by us. Many small decisions were made by our own efforts in order to reduce the cost of the serial product. We did not try to achieve maximum Ukrainian localization, because the initial task was to make a cheap product. Therefore, many small components come from China,» added the representative of TAF Industries.
He specified that the cost of replacing one side of the Babka UAV will be about UAH 100,000, and the entire infrastructure, including four aircraft, will cost about UAH 1.1 million (plus a small amount for training). However, according to Vladislav, Babka is not currently on sale, but is being tested jointly with teams and supplied through charitable foundations. «It is important for us to collect feedback in order to shape this whole story, how it will look commercially in the future,» the specialist concluded his comment.
«This allows us to accomplish missions that previously seemed impossible»
In addition to the listed products, TAF Industries demonstrated to the military, journalists and potential partners the KOLIBRI 13 FR1 airborne repeater carrier, which «brings FPV strike drones into the area of interest.» The repeater, as announced by the company representatives, is designed to improve the radio horizon in difficult terrain where it is impossible to receive a correct signal from the ground control station.
«That is, you increase your radio horizon, increase the range of the attack. This allows you to perform more complex missions and those missions that previously seemed impossible,» the manufacturer’s representative assured. The latter also stated that the carrier copes well with gusts of wind at altitude and does not use GPS.
«Optical stabilization works without GPS, it works along a track. It fixes itself on the point at which it was instructed to hold its position, constantly calculates this point and returns to it — especially when there is some wind or other interference,» the manufacturer’s representative noted.
The repeater has an optical stabilization system in two versions — day and night, and currently these are different boards, but the company plans to make such stabilization with camera switching so that one board can work both day and night.
During the practical demonstrations, TAF Industries showed an analog version of the KOLIBRI 13 FR1 airborne repeater carrier, but, as the company assured, a digital version is also being developed and will be available soon. The repeater carrier is claimed to have an altitude of up to 1000 m.
According to a company representative, the repeater carrier was developed jointly with the Unmanned Systems Forces.
«I am allocating $1 million — a resource that I have set aside for ‘hard times.’ But it seems those hard times have already arrived.» The founder of TAF Drones will sponsor mobile groups of veterans who will conduct reconnaissance and strikes in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with Babka drones. How to get involved
