Ukraine has started a new trend in the world for missile-drones
Ukraine has initiated a new global trend in hybrid cruise missiles and kamikaze drones, the production and use of which offer several advantages in modern warfare. This was reported by Valentyn Badrak, director of the Center for Army Research, Conversion and Disarmament, and Volodymyr Gorbulin, first vice-president of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and former secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, in a joint article for LIGA.net titled "Palianytsia, Ruta, Peklo. Why Ukraine is producing missile-drones and what their prospects are."
According to experts, the trend began last year when Ukraine first announced the availability of weapons that were designated as "drone-rockets" in the Ukrainian military lexicon. On August 24, 2024, during the celebration of Independence Day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine had used a new domestic development, "Palyanytsia," for the first time in the war.
"It should be noted that this strike weapon was developed by Ukrainian specialists in the shortest possible time to respond to constant missile strikes from Russia," the authors of the article wrote.
Today, among the new Ukrainian missile-drones, or "small" cruise missiles, are "Palyanytsia", "Trembita", "Peklo", "Ruta", as well as the "Bars" strike product, which was first mentioned in April of this year.
Hybrid weapons have a number of advantages over "real cruise missiles," such as a simpler, faster, and cheaper production process, as well as the ability to hide them better.
"Drone-rockets" can be launched from both ground-based installations and aircraft.
Experts believe that due to its advantages, the new type of weapon will develop rapidly, including outside of Ukraine.
Yes, the European missile giant MBDA has already demonstrated its new development at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget on June 16 – the One-Way Effector missile, which, in terms of characteristics, is a hybrid of a missile and a drone.
On December 4, 2024, Umerov announced that Ukraine is mass-producing the "Palyanytsia" drone-rocket and scaling up production of "Neptune" anti-ship missiles.The creation of the new "Bars" missile-drone became known on April 11 .