Ukrainian Military to Receive Morok Drones

17 November, 2023 Morok drone, November 2023. Photo credits: Serhiy Prytula The Ukrainian military will receive long-range drones of a new model that will hit targets in the deep rear of Russia.

A photo of the new drone was released by Ukrainian volunteer Serhiy Prytula. "A month ago, we raised UAH 177 million for the Morok long-range kamikaze drones as part of the "One More Time" fundraising campaign. And now the first drones are already being prepared for delivery to the relevant agencies.

In winter, we are waiting for video content with explosions in Russia," he wrote. According to Prytula, the drone, called Morok, which was first presented to the public, is designed to carry out in-depth strikes in the Russian Federation. Similarly, last year, Bober drones were purchased.

Compared to the previous drone, the Morok drone is smaller and cheaper--about UAH 1.7 million versus UAH 4 million for the Bober drone.

Serhiy Prytula and the Bober kamikaze drone. Photo from open sources

The exact technical characteristics of the drone are not disclosed, but judging by the tasks assigned, the flight range should be hundreds of kilometers. The drone is about 1.5 meters long and has a wingspan of about 1.5 meters.

The airplane's aerodynamic design is similar to that used in high-speed jet aircraft. However, the black superstructure in the tail of the fuselage just behind the keel looks like an internal combustion engine.

Morok drone, November 2023. Photo credits: Serhiy Prytula

There are no optical devices on the drone, which may indicate the use of a traditional flight control scheme using an inertial system with correction by GPS signals without the involvement of an operator.

New drones

On November 16, Minister of Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin announced that the Ukrainian defense industry had launched mass production of drones similar to Iran's Shahed-136.

According to the Minister, the Ukrainian defense industry has now launched mass production of dozens of kamikaze drones per month. He noted that these are new drones that have not been publicly presented before.

Shahed-136 loitering munition. Illustrative photo

Presumably, by "analogous to the Shahed drone," the Head of the Ministry means an unmanned aerial vehicle with an appropriate warhead and range.

It is worth pointing out that the Iranian drone is capable of delivering between 40 and 50 kilograms of explosives over a distance of 1000-2000 km.