Eric Schmidt's $5,000 Hornet drone is hunting Russian supply trucks in occupied Ukraine
A $5,000 drone from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt's Perennial Autonomy is letting Ukraine burn Russian supply trucks deep behind the front.
A $5,000 drone from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt's Perennial Autonomy is letting Ukraine burn Russian supply trucks deep behind the front.
Ukraine's Azov Corps is using a $5,000 strike drone called the Hornet to hunt Russian supply trucks deep in occupied Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent reported. The drone is built by Perennial Autonomy, the company founded by former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt.
The Hornet carries a 5-kilogram warhead to a range of about 200 kilometers and uses semi-autonomous targeting, per the Kyiv Independent. It is cheap enough to mass-produce. Azov crews bolted a Starlink terminal onto the airframe, a field modification that extended its reach and hardened it against Russian jamming. Perennial welcomed the change, Rob Lee of the Foreign Policy Research Institute told the outlet.
The strikes target the roads that feed Russia's southern front. Open-source monitor Tochnyi geolocated 55 logistics strikes in April and 130 in May, the Kyiv Independent said. A Kyiv think tank put the toll at 125 Russian trucks hit, more than 80 destroyed or burned. Occupied Sevastopol, Melitopol and Mariupol have seen fuel shortages and lines at filling stations, per the same report.
Kyiv is funding the method. Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced a "Logistical Lockdown" program on May 27 with an extra 5 billion hryvnia, about $113 million, for the units running middle-strike operations, Foreign Policy noted. The Hornet is one of several mid-range drones, alongside Fire Point's FP-2 and others, now reaching targets once beyond Ukraine's drone range.
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Subscribe Free →Schmidt has been an early investor in Ukrainian defense firms, Foreign Policy reported, and Perennial has backed Azov's field changes rather than fought them. At $5,000 a unit the Hornet costs less than the fuel tankers and recovery trucks it burns, and Fedorov's program is built to put more of them over the same roads.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who makes the Hornet drone?
The Hornet is built by Perennial Autonomy, the company founded by former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, according to the Kyiv Independent. Some outlets have referred to Schmidt's drone venture as Swift Beat.
What are the Hornet's specifications?
The Kyiv Independent reports the Hornet costs about $5,000, carries a 5-kilogram warhead, has a range of up to 200 kilometers and uses semi-autonomous targeting, and that it is designed to be mass-produced.
How is Ukraine using it?
Ukraine's Azov Corps is using the Hornet to strike Russian supply trucks deep behind the front, the Kyiv Independent reported. Open-source monitor Tochnyi geolocated 55 logistics strikes in April and 130 in May.
What effect are the strikes having?
A Kyiv think tank put the toll at 125 Russian trucks hit, more than 80 destroyed or burned, per the Kyiv Independent, which also reported fuel shortages and queues at filling stations in occupied Sevastopol, Melitopol and Mariupol.
How is Ukraine scaling the campaign?
Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced a "Logistical Lockdown" program on May 27 with an additional 5 billion hryvnia, about $113 million, for units running middle-strike operations, Foreign Policy noted.
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Marcus Schuler
Marcus Schuler edits BattlePolicy, a daily defense-technology brief connecting the companies and capabilities behind modern war to the contest among Europe, the US, Russia, and China.