Ukrainian troops use disposable Australian drones made of cardboard

The Ukrainian Army uses ultra-cheap single-use cargo drones to provide logistics tasks in hard-to-reach places.

According to The Australian, these drones are produced by the Australian company SYPAQ.

Chief Engineer of SYPAQ Ross Osborne, explained the way drones are used in Ukraine.

According to Osborn, the company managed to fulfill one of the most ambitious tasks: to deliver many Precision Payload Delivery System (PPDS) drones directly to the scene of hostilities.

Drones are supplied in the form of blanks made from flat sheets of cardboard, from which an aircraft can be easily assembled.

“Low profile is a key feature, we can fold them onto a pallet. We also developed modular avionics and sets of power plants, which we hope can be reused,” he said.

The manufacturer stated that the Ukrainian army has already received more than 60 deliveries from this company. Around 100 units of Australian cardboard drones are delivered each month.

The main task of drones is to deliver ammunition, food, and medicine directly to the front line. But reconnaissance flights and the dropping of explosive devices are also possible.

Osborne emphasized that drones are made for working in difficult conditions:

“The sturdy cardboard was soaked in wax to prevent the fuselage from collapsing and drones from falling further in wet weather conditions.”

According to him, despite the language barriers between English and Ukrainian, there were no problems in cooperating. Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines “were able to successfully use our system without any of our training, only with instructions and videos.”

The Chief Engineer also explained that, in addition to performing basic cargo tasks, SYPAQ drones can be used for other tasks, such as delivering bombs to a target or conducting reconnaissance.

Depending on the model, the drone can lift up to 3 kg or 5 kg. The aircraft is capable of carrying cargo for 1-3 hours, depending on the range load of 40-120km.