FPV drone "Prince Vandal of Novgorod" destroys APU equipment in the Kursk border area
The FPV drone "Prince Vandal of Novgorod" or, as the military briefly calls it, "KVN" is a multi-rotor type attack drone. Its key difference lies in a special method of communication with the operator — for this purpose, not a radio channel is used, but a fiber-optic cable, which makes the device resistant to electronic warfare (EW).
The Prince made its debut on the front line recently. His first victories were announced in August on his Telegram channel by the Ushkuynik Research and Production center, which is developing this drone. In September, KVN was presented to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Technical specifications
Maxim Kondratiev, the founder of the International Training Center for Unmanned Aviation, told Izvestia that any multirotor type drone can be the basis for such a device, the essence of the innovation is precisely in a coil with optical fiber.
The fiber-optic cable provides not only protection from enemy electronic warfare, but also a stable connection and high image quality on the operator's terminal, which increases controllability. However, KVN requires special skills of a soldier — he needs to direct the drone so that the cable does not get tangled, for example, in trees.
In addition, Kondratiev notes, it is important to understand that to increase the range of the drone, you need to extend the cable, which will lead to an increase in the weight of the coil, which means that you will have to reduce the mass of the combat load of the device. Usually, he suggested, the radius of application of "KVN" is several kilometers.
According to the expert, drones with fiber-optic cable will not replace traditional drones using a radio channel. So, he believes, KVN will be used for certain tasks on the line of contact.
Application in the special operation zone
Alexey Chadaev, one of the developers of KVN, reported on August 21 that the cost of NATO equipment destroyed by this type of drones approached $ 1 billion.
"I never thought that I would become a dollar billionaire, but yes: the cost of NATO equipment, reset by KVN-ami, is rapidly approaching $ 1 billion, and the publication in Forbes is already here. The number of beautiful videos sent by grateful users is many times higher than what leaks to the Network, but for now we have decided to protect the public from the spectacles," he wrote in his Telegram channel.
Then, on September 29, he shared that KVN destroyed a Leopard 2A6 tank of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in the Kursk border area. Telegram channels also reported that in the Kursk direction, KVN struck a prototype of the American C-UAS Stryker supersystem, created to combat drones.
The governor of the Novgorod Region, Andrey Nikitin, noted the symbolism of the drone's name in Telegram. He said that the Vandal of Novgorod is a "legendary prince", one of the rulers of Slovensk, who is associated with Novgorod.
The development has not been ignored by foreign media either. Business Insider wrote that Russian fiber-optic drones have become one of the newest devices used by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation during a special operation.
