Ukraine’s Prototype ‘Revolver’ Bomber Drone – Another Game Changer?

A video posted on the “Ukraine News Live” X / Twitter site on Thursday showed a newly developed drone fitted with a revolver-style bomb-release system. Bomb-dropping drones are nothing new but this latest model takes the technique another step forward.

This drone is fitted with an integrated drum mechanism that can hold five munitions; in the video these are mortars. Once the drone is launched and a target is identified the operator can choose when and how many of the bombs to release – singly, sequentially in a bomb train, or in a salvo of all five.

The drum is reportedly 3D-printed and acts like a revolving magazine as in a handgun, designed to carry and release the bombs it carries. This gives flexibility to allow the drone to hit five separate targets, hit one target with multiple bombs, or even act like a kamikaze drone by crashing into a target while carrying some or all five of the explosive bombs.

The video shows that after the first bomb is released, the drum mechanism rotates so that the newly emptied chamber is replaced by a full one. If used as a bomber, once all the munitions have gone the drone can return to base to be reloaded and deployed again.

Viewed on the video the mechanism looks to be simple yet effective. Because the drum is 3D-printed it is likely to be relatively inexpensive and give users the ability to print replacement components or even complete drums using portable printers in the field.

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The idea is not new. In May 2022, a much larger and more complex rotating drum fixed to a commercial quadcopter capable of releasing a larger number of mortar-type munitions was revealed by an unnamed Dutch company. In August 2023, the Russian military issues website Top War showed an artist’s impression of a similar device capable of carrying four bombs that it said was under development.

The Dutch rotating drum “bomber drone.” Photo: X / Twitter

Ukraine has taken the original idea and come up with a cheaper, expedient solution using off-the-shelf commercial equipment – as it has done several times for other weapons. The creation of an affordable drone capable of carrying out multiple attacks on a single mission will reduce the need for the number of drones necessary to achieve the same impact on the battlefield.  The video does not make it clear whether the drone is nothing more than a prototype or if it is in serial production soon to be used on the battlefield.

If the latter, one can only imagine the effect a swarm of these would have on a Russian “meat grinder” assault, even one supported by tanks, especially if dropping anti-armor grenades as well as mortars, and more so if used in combination with other direct and indirect fire weapons.