Chernika-2

Foam, sticks and a claimed machine-vision brain — the Chernika-2 ("Blueberry") is Russia's flying-wing entry in the cheap-mass strike economy: a hand- or catapult-launched drone of model-aircraft materials carrying 3.5 kilograms of explosive out to 100 kilometers, assembled by soldiers at the front from kits whose maker has never been publicly identified. Russian sources credit its latest versions with AI-powered optical navigation that matches terrain imagery under jamming; no Ukrainian teardown has yet confirmed it. More than 11,000 are claimed built — and since June 2025 they have been landing on Kharkiv.

Overview

The Chernika family is what Russia's decentralized drone economy produces one tier above the FPV: foam-plastic flying wings with low radar signature, cruising ~60–75 km/h below 1,500 meters, in two sizes — the FPV-class Chernika-1 (~0.7 kg warhead, up to 80 km) and the Chernika-2 (3.5 kg warhead, up from 2.5 in early builds, 80–100 km range, ~90 minutes strike endurance, ~2 hours in a warheadless reconnaissance fit). The system's identity is deliberately murky: no producer has ever been named — an anonymous developer spoke to TASS in April 2024, RIA Novosti showed soldiers of the 110th Brigade assembling the drones at the front from kits, and ISW associates the fielding with the Russian Airborne Forces (VDV) — the "people's OPK" pattern of Russia's cheap-drone complex, documented across this lexicon's Molniya and V2U entries. Guidance is batch-dependent: autopilot to the target area with radio-manual terminal control in some, and — per Russian sources relayed by ISW — "AI/ML-powered optical navigation" in upgraded 2025 builds, matching camera imagery against preloaded terrain to reach targets under full GPS and communications jamming. The critical caveat this entry carries throughout: no public Ukrainian component teardown confirms the optical-nav module — the claim rests on Russian reporting, partially corroborated by Ukrainian experts' observation that "some versions" identify targets automatically in the final segment. At a Ukrainian-estimated ~$10,000 all-in, launched in packages with Molniyas and Lancets against Kharkiv, Sumy, Kramatorsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, the Chernika-2 is a working piece of ISW's battlefield-air-interdiction thesis: Russia holding Ukraine's near rear under persistent cheap fire.

Development

The Chernika's history is assembled from claims with dates attached. Russian soldiers told state media the flying wing had been in frontline use since 2022, iterating upward in engine power and payload; Ukrainian expert Valeriy Ryabykh of Defense Express dates meaningful employment from early 2024, when Russian production claims already ran to ~7,500 Chernika-1s and ~4,000 Chernika-2s, per Mezha/Bukvy. An April 2024 TASS interview with the unnamed developer described the control concept — autopilot to the area, operator terminal guidance — and a November 2024 RIA Novosti piece showed the 110th Brigade's front-line assembly line running at ~200 Chernika-2s a month, per Calibre Defence. The 2025 upgrade wave is the analytically important part: in late April 2025, Russian channels and ISW's force-generation tracking reported modified Chernika-2s with terminal guidance that completes the attack even if the operator never takes control, and by July–August 2025 ISW was relaying VDV claims of machine-learning optical navigation — the scene-matching approach the V2U proved at higher cost. Combat visibility followed the same curve: three Chernika-2s downed by Ukrainian anti-air FPV interceptors in early June 2025, the first strike on Kharkiv city on 30 June 2025 (a garage cooperative; the mayor compared its charge to a Molniya's), per Ukrainska Pravda, and on 22 June 2026 the first kill of a Chernika by the General Cherry AIR interceptor (made by General Cherry, a Ukrainian firm distinct from Wild Hornets) on the Zaporizhzhia axis, per Militarnyi.

🔒 The rest of the Chernika-2 file is for BattlePolicy Pro members. Stop here and you miss the part that actually matters: the optical-navigation claim examined against the missing teardown, the production-figure forensics, how it fits Russia's interdiction packages beside Molniya and Lancet, the complete specifications table, and our analysts' assessment notes. Unlock the full file with BattlePolicy Pro →