The Come Back Alive Foundation Delivers Two New PD-2 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles To Ukraine
The Come Back Alive (Поверниcь живим) foundation, which has been providing military support to the Ukrainian armed forces since 2014, stated on May 9 that they have delivered a new PD-2 unmanned aerial vehicle complex to the Ukrainian Air Force. According to the foundation’s statement, the PD-2 UAV complex, which will be employed in missions to detect enemy targets for Ukraine’s HIMARS systems, includes two reconnaissance UAVs, a ground control station, and a mobile control point. The foundation expressed their gratitude to everyone who contributed to the purchase of the PD-2 UAV complex worth 30,000,000 Ukrainian hryvnias (approximately 816,000 USD), which was collected with public support. They also stated that they will announce another interesting transfer to Ukrainian defense forces in the near future and urged its supporters to continue their support.
The delivery in question took place as a part of the 10 PD-2 unmanned aerial vehicle complex (containing 20 PD-2 UAVs, 10 ground control stations and 10 mobile control points) purchased by the Come Back Alive foundation last year with the support of the public for the Ukrainian Air Force. The contract was worth 300 million Ukrainian hryvnia, or about $8.5 million at the time. Later, the Ukrainian DOU IT community raised funds to purchase another of these systems, bringing the total to 11. The first of the purchased PD-2 complexes was delivered to one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ artillery units in February of this year and began to be used actively on the front lines.
The PD-2 is a multi-purpose unmanned aerial vehicle developed by Ukrspecsystems, a Ukraine-based unmanned aerial vehicle systems manufacturer. It can perform intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) operations for military use. The fixed-wing drone has a modular body structure. All parts in the body of the PD-2 drone are fixed into place with “Quick Connect Locks”, so no tools are required to assemble or disassemble the drone. In this way, it can be converted into a VTOL configuration in 15 minutes.
Depending on its configuration, the PD-2 can take off in a variety of methods, including vertical take-off and landing, autonomous runway take-off, or by a pneumatic catapult launcher or a vehicle-mounted launcher. The PD-2 may land autonomously on runways or be recovered using a parachute recovery system. The vehicle has a maximum take-off weight of 55 kg, a length of 2.85 m, a height of 1.02 m, and a wingspan of up to 5 m. The UAV, which can operate in adverse weather conditions, can reach a maximum altitude of 5,000 meters, and carry out missions for up to ten hours. The vehicle, which has a range of 1,000 kilometers and a payload capacity of up to 11 kilograms, has a top speed of 100 kilometers per hour.