Russian small arms manufacturer Kalashnikov Group, a Rostec subsidiary, is promoting its ‘suicide drone, called the KYB-UAV, in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA).

The Russian manufacturer of the infamous AK-47 assault rifle has unveiled an unmanned combat aerial system KYB-UAV at International defense exhibition IDEX 2019 that it claims is capable of long-range precise tactical strikes.

According to a company’s statement, Kalashnikov Group and ZALA AERO Group introduced new smart weapon – unmanned combat aerial system KYB (Cube) at IDEX 2019. The new system precisely hits ground targets, delivering a specific payload to target coordinates. The target coordinates are specified manually or acquired from payload targeting image.

“This is an extremely precise and very effective weapon, incredibly hard to fight by traditional air defense systems,” said Sergey Chemezov, head of Rostec.

“The explosive can be delivered to target regardless of how well hidden it is. It operates ‘regardless of hidden terrains, at both high and low altitude,” he added.

The KYB-UAV has an endurance of 30 minutes, its operational range being 7 km, a payload is 3 kg. Typical airspeed is of 80 km/h, maximum speed is 130 km/h.