In November, he told the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliamentary body, that he wanted to see Ukraine produce 30,000 long-distance drones, and 3,000 “cruise missiles or missile-drones” over the next year. These “missile-drones” are a new genre of weapons that Ukraine is pioneering.Deploying new weapons to offset the lack of traditional ones isn’t a new move for Ukraine. Just as Ukraine has deployed UAVs to take on roles traditionally reserved for an air force, such as aerial surveillance and targeted bombing, the rocket-drones are evolving to perform functions of cruise missiles, which Ukraine doesn’t produce.“They are basically the next evolution step of long-range deep-strike suicide UAVs,” says Fabian Hinz, a research fellow with the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies who specializes in missiles.
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