A waxed cardboard drone produced by an Australian company SYPAQ Systems comes in a flat-pack and is assembled like something from IKEA. The drone called “Corvo Precision Payload Delivery System” (PPDS) can fly 75 miles and is launched by hand or catapult. They can deliver ammunition, food, and medicine to the front lines. The PPDS also can perform reconnaissance flights in contested airspace and can be configured to carry payloads. They can even fly without an operator. The PPDS is stealthy, as radar signals can’t see cardboard, and they have the ability to fly even in GPS-jammed environments. Read more from SYPAQ’s press release:
Developed in Melbourne in partnership with Army and under a $1.1 million Defence Innovation Hub contract, the Corvo PPDS is a low cost, expendable drone for the delivery of supplies and equipment into areas traditional logistics capabilities cannot reach.
Also known as the ‘cardboard plane’, the PPDS comes flat-packed and can launch, fly up to 120km and land by itself, providing true autonomy and removing the cognitive load on the soldier during operation.
Following feedback from end-users in Ukraine, the system has also been adapted for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
PPDS is being manufactured at SYPAQ’s Defence Autonomy Centre of Excellence in Fisherman’s Bend, Melbourne, using components from SYPAQ’s Australian supply chain.
Drones are becoming an essential tool for the Ukrainian military. Russian social media is abuzz with reports of an imminent Ukrainian attack by 50,000 small kamikaze drones. The reports are based off Ukrainian military and political observer Alexei Arestovich’s comments that the Ukrainians are preparing a drone offensive, and in January, Ukrainian General Command announced the formation of new tactical drone assault units. The reports are that Ukraine is using highly maneuverable FPV (First Person View) racing drones with munitions that can travel up to speeds of 87 mph.
FPV loitering munition in service with the Ukrainian 72nd Mechanized Brigade, equipped with a 1kg RKG-3 shaped charge anti-tank grenade. pic.twitter.com/akMfpX4HFf
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) January 24, 2023
Check out some of the FPV loitering munitions in action in Ukraine.
#Ukraine: A moving Russian KamAZ-5350 transport truck was destroyed by a Ukrainian FPV loitering munition strike on the left bank of the Dnipro River in Dnipriany, #Kherson Oblast. pic.twitter.com/BkOrff5jzE
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) April 11, 2023
#Ukraine: Another Russian MT-LB armoured personnel carrier – this time with a ZU-23-2 23mm autocannon – was damaged by an improvised FPV loitering munition operated by the Ukrainian 23rd Separate Rifle Battalion North-East of Torske, #Donetsk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/kFOxGB2VdW
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) April 6, 2023
Ukrainian FPV kamikaze drone hits Russian armored fighting vehicle in the Donbas region, eastern Ukraine.
📹https://t.co/vpy8TNXIvC pic.twitter.com/9soE6uQl3v— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) April 8, 2023
Footage of Ukrainian FPV drones used as improvised loitering munitions. Some of the footage is a duplicate from the above tweet but with better quality. https://t.co/sbsgK2MdCXhttps://t.co/JwRjhbZI95https://t.co/gqUWbcB9FN pic.twitter.com/2EaDGsbNXT
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) January 1, 2023
