Forpost Specifications, Russia’s Most Expensive Drone Shot Down in Ukraine

JAKARTA – The morale of Ukrainian troops is being raised after successfully shooting down Russia’s most expensive drone, Forpost, over the Black Sea on April 1 2024. The drone with Israeli technology is estimated to be worth USD 7 million or approximately IDR 112 billion.

A Russian Forpost drone was shot down by Ukraine’s Odesa anti-aircraft missile brigade. Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Illia Yevlash described the Russian Forpost drone as having several similarities to the Bayraktar drone.

“It is relatively large, capable of recognition, and can carry additional payloads in the form of two guided missiles or other weapons to attack ground targets,” said Yevlash as quoted by Defense Express, Wednesday (3/4/2024).

In terms of specifications, the Russian Forpost drone is capable of providing recognition at an altitude of up to 5 km for 16 hours continuously and within a range of 400 km from the operator. The wingspan has a span of 8.5 meters and a maximum take-off weight of 500 Kg.

This drone is used by the Russian military to identify target positions and release guided bombs with high precision.

Drone Outpost It has been produced by Russia itself under license from Israel. Tracing its history, Russia purchased the first batch of drones made by Israel Aerospace Industries in April 2009, at that time the acquisition value of the Searcher II (original Forpost-M variant) reached USD 54 million, the package included the BirdEye 400 drone. Then at the end of 2019, Russia returned ordered 36 Searcher II units with a value of USD 100 million.

(msf)