Solutions to win: Ukrainian intelligence receives six Leleka reconnaissance drones from Come Back Alive Fund

Ukrainian intelligence soldiers received Leleka-100 reconnaissance drones from the charity fund Come Back Alive, Rubryka reports.

What is the problem?

Both the Russian army and the Ukrainian forces use drones of various types and sizes — from large UAVs for military purposes to small commercial drones that do not require special training to operate them.

Thanks to domestically produced drones, Ukrainian troops receive valuable intelligence, which allows them to set up ambushes and destroy Russian equipment on land, water, and in the sky.

What is the solution?

Ukraine's Defense Intelligence fighters received six Ukrainian-made reconnaissance drones, Leleka-100. They were purchased as part of the "Wings for Defense Intelligence" project, which raised more than ₴9 million ($245,802).

How does it work?

The Leleka reconnaissance drones can conduct surveillance up to 50 kilometers deep from the front line and develop a speed of up to 140 km per hour.

They fly at an altitude of up to 2 km and have night and day video cameras with detailed imaging.

Leleka can transmit the situation on the battlefield to the command and other units in real-time and at any time of the day. Intelligence officers also note the resistance of drones to obstacles.

In addition to the drones themselves, benefactors purchased payload modules, batteries, and a kit to increase their air time.

In total, ₴8,995,349 ($245,675) was spent on drones. The rest of the donations will be spent on batteries for UAVs, laptops, generators, charging stations, and camouflage nets for aerial scouts.

The project came to fruition thanks to the Come Back Alive Fund and the Ukrainian IT company Intellias.

Background 

Leleka-100 was created to solve aerial reconnaissance, patrolling, and terrain mapping tasks with the ability to transmit operational information and obtain accurate geographic coordinates in real-time. The drone is part of the hardware and software complex.

The video broadcast from the UAV is encoded, which excludes the interception by standard video receivers. The video signal from the board contains neither flight telemetry nor GPS.

The aircraft is resistant to weather conditions and suitable for use at any time of the day: the use of the complex is allowed in conditions of dense clouds and light rain if the time spent in the air under the rain is no more than 20 minutes.

Rubryka reported that Come Back Alive spent more than  ₴2 billion preparing soldiers for the counteroffensive.

The fund also raised  ₴333 million to purchase mortars for each territorial defense brigade.