"Shrapnel hits from up to 500 m, a flak jacket won’t save you": the risks faced during early launches of the now-famous Ukrainian Liutyi drone

Early Liutyi (Fierce) Ukrainian long-range drones had issues with the front landing gear and compass calibration which meant the operators had to accompany them by car during launches, putting their lives at serious risk.

Source: UP’s article "Sanctions from 1000 kilometres away: the story of the Ukrainian drone Liutyi (Fierce) burning Russian oil refineries".

Details: Ukrainska Pravda has reported on the kamikaze drone’s first combat launch in Chernihiv Oblast in September 2023, citing eyewitness stories.

The first aircraft had a minor problem with the front landing gear and compass calibration: the aircraft could slide off the runway at high speed during take-off and crash somewhere on the roadside.

"So the operator had to constantly steer those first aircraft to keep them on the runway. That meant you had to chase this 50-kg bomb from behind in a car at speeds of up to 150 km/h so that the operator could see it and align it with the runway. Obviously no one wanted to launch it that way," one of the team members who conducted the first launches told Ukrainska Pravda.

This wasn’t a problem during daylight hours, because the aircraft is large – over 4 m long with a wingspan of almost 7 m. It’s clearly visible. But the 'chase' was inevitable at night. To see how it all worked at first, watch the video Ukrainska Pravda has posted of one of the early launches.

"Shrapnel damage from the Liutyi is guaranteed at a range of 400-500 m, so we didn't even wear flak jackets, as they wouldn't have saved us," recalls a participant in the early launches.

In fairness, it should be said that one of the company's senior executives was always present at each launch during the "chases". Whenever a drone rolled off the runway and into the bushes, it was the developers who were the first to approach the vehicle and pull it back, the Ukrainska Pravda story says.

At the end of September 2023, the time came to launch the Liutyi.

A section of road in Chernihiv Oblast that had once been used as an airfield was chosen for the first launch.

The choice of location also had a security aspect: the team was sent closer to the border, as no one knew exactly how the drone would behave in the air. The aircraft were new and carried 50 kg of warhead, so it was important that they at least made it across the border.

"No one realised back then how much these first prototypes could skid on the road; they would roll off to the side of the road. Moreover, roads are designed so that water flows off the road onto the side. That means there is a slight slope. And that slope is enough to make the navigation go a little crazy," recalls one of the participants of the first combat launch.

The first launch on Russia was delayed.

"One time, take-off was interrupted. We turned around and went back to the starting point. The second start, the drone skids again. Take-off is interrupted yet again. It's like being the first astronaut: it's hard not because it's impossible, but because there's no one to ask how to do it right.

But we were so eager to get there and hit the Moskals [the Russians] that we tried a third time: the aircraft took off and – flew. And then there was a strike, and it wasn’t just anywhere, but on an oil depot near the airfield in Sochi [Russia]. And that was the only airfield the Russians had on the Black Sea at the time. It was a triumph," recalls the launch participant.

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