From cigarette smuggling to 100-kg bombers: how Heavy Shot drones are produced
Ukrainska Pravda
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One hundred kilograms. That is roughly how much the new drone fromGurzufDefence weighs. It is difficult to hide even behind a lorry in the yard of the company's development centre. Just a few years ago, heavy UAVs of this class were hard to imagine in Ukraine. Now they represent a new challenge in modern warfare.
Ten years ago, the Gurzuf team started out in a garage, assembling primitive civilian drones that were bought by cigarette smugglers. Today, it produces heavy unmanned systems that deliver cargo and destroy targets across large sections of the front line.
Heavy Shot drones rank among the ten most effective systems used to strike Russian forces. Ukraine's military receives these bombers not only from the state of Ukraine but also from partners in the Netherlands.
Ukrainska Pravda spoke with two co-founders of Gurzuf Defence, visited the company's development centre, production facilities and training ground, and saw how heavy drones for the front are built in the workshops.
Ayudag
Dozens of drones in different colours – blue, yellow, red and even a bright-pink Heavy Shot Barbie-board drone – stand between the desks in the company's R&D centre. These colours make it easier for staff to locate them on the testing range.
Test frame of the Heavy Shot Barbie-board drone
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
Engineers showed Ukrainska Pravda one of their new platforms. The huge frame with six long arms and large motors at the ends more closely resembles a small cockpit-less helicopter than a typical drone.
It has been named Ayudag-6 – after its six motors and Mount Ayudag near Gurzuf in Crimea. According to Bohdan, an engineer at the development centre, the platform has a flight range of up to 25 km (with return trip) and an operational altitude of 150–300 m. The aircraft itself weighs about 98 kg and can carry 70–90 kg.
Heavy hexacopter Ayudag-6 developed by Gurzuf Defence
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
The platform's configuration can be adjusted either for greater range or heavier payloads.
"It all depends on battery variations. If we want to cover 25 km one way – that's one configuration. If we want to carry more weight – we use different batteries," Bohdan explains.
Such systems are being considered not only fortransporting cargo. Gurzuf Defence believes they could eventually be used to evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield.
The platform is currently undergoing codification, after which it will become available for contracting.
Heavy Shot
Among military personnel, Gurzuf is best known for its Heavy Shot drones, now produced in the tens of thousands annually. They are used by many units – from the Armed Forces and the Unmanned Systems Forces to the Special Operations Forces, the Security Service and the State Border Guard Service.
In combat units, they are primarily used as bombers. The drone is said to be capable, in different configurations, of carrying up to 30 kg of munitions and operating at distances of up to 20 km (with return trip).
The platform was designed to be modular – different versions canbe fitted withnew navigation systems or other configurations tailored to specific missions.
Over time, several modifications have emerged around the core platform.
For example, the Heavy Shot Immortal versionhas been fitted withan optical navigation module – a system that analyses images of the terrain beneath the drone and allows it to navigate without GPS, complementing primary control and communication channels such as radio links and Starlink.
The camera takes around 10 frames per second, after which the onboard computer compares them and determines how far the aircraft has moved relative to the surface. This makes it possible to continue flying even in areas of active signal jamming.
Another modification – Zhvavyi ("Lively") –communicatesexclusively via Starlink and has an increased number of servomechanisms for releasingits payload. According to engineers, this configuration allows the drone to be used more effectively for logistics tasks – delivering ammunition, equipment or other supplies to hard-to-reach positions.
A Heavy Shot drone
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
One modified batch – Heavy Shot Ziablyk ("Chaffinch") – was named after the alias of the son of one donor who helped finance the production run.
The young man who went by the alias Ziablyk was killed in action near Bakhmut while serving with the 72nd Brigade. His father, Andrii Nikitin, donated US$10,000 during the fundraising stage to supportthemanufacturingof the drones.
Several drones from this batch are still operating on the front line. The companyhasnot disclosedtheir exact specifications.
"Even on New Year's Eve in Krynky [abesiegedvillage on the left bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast – ed.], the guys were receiving oranges delivered by Heavy Shot," he says. [Oranges are a traditional New Year's gift in Ukraine.]
In some experiments, Heavy Shot was also used as a transport platform for other UAVs – smaller FPV drones were suspended from a Heavy Shot and launched closer to the target. According to Oleh Hynda, some crews carried out more than 1,000 sorties using these aircraft.
It all started with cigarette smuggling
Today, production is measured in thousands of drones per month, but the first aircraft built by chief developer Oleh Hynda appeared back in 2016. At the time, it was a civilian market with no clear rules or standards.
In those years, engineers jokingly called their first copters "stools" – simple motorised frames that often broke during experiments.
"Back then everything was very much in its infancy. Pilots had several firmware versions, and communications were cheap and unstable," Hynda recalls. According to Hynda, one of the first aircraft could carry about 10 kg of cargo and fly up to 10 km.
A monument in Vyshneve, Kyiv Oblast, depicting Baba Yaga holding a drone, which mirrors the design of the first heavy UAVs, known as “stools”
Photo: RBC
At that time, no one was jamming frequencies or seriously thinking about counter-drone measures.
Such copters were often used for illegal tasks at the border. A box of cigarettes would be attached to a drone – and it would fly across the border along preset coordinates.
Back then, drones did not even have cameras. Operators simply entered coordinates into the system, and the copter would fly "blind" to a designated point where it was supposed to dropitscargo.
"We weren't involved in smuggling, we just sold drones," the chief engineer says.
In 2022, representatives of the Border Guard Service visited the team.
"We're just simple lads from a village. Then suddenly a convoy of cars arrives and a Border Guard general steps out. We thought: there's a war in the country, and they've come after smugglers," Hynda recalls.
However, the visit had a different purpose. The border guards said they knew about the drones being used to smuggle cigarettes and proposed that the engineers start producing UAVs for defence needs.
One of the first combat episodes involving these drones even appeared in a music video by the band Tartak in autumn 2022: a copter drops a munition froma heightof about 500 m onto a Russian MT-LB armoured fighting vehicle.
"At the time we hadn't even properly installed the camera; it was a GoPro taped to the side," Hynda adds.
After the start of the full-scale war, Pavlo Feldblium joined the engineering team. Before the invasion, he had been involved in business and civic initiatives related to Jewish heritage.
Founders of Gurzuf Defence (left to right): Pavlo Feldblium and Oleh Hynda
Photo: Ukrainska Pravda
After 24 February, Feldblium joined a volunteer territorial defence unit in Kyiv Oblast. Together with other volunteer soldiers, they waited for Russian forces on the Obukhiv motorway.
Feldblium's alias was Gurzuf, which later became the company's name. As a child, he often visited Crimea, particularly Yalta, where his uncle lived. Feldblium says he still feels a special connection to the peninsula. "I am convinced that this war began in Crimea and must end in Crimea," he says.
It was through the military that Pavlo Feldblium met engineers Oleh and Yurii in September 2022. There he realisedthat the operation hadthe potential tobecomelarge-scale and systematic, and began building alargedefence company.
What does mass production of bomber drones look like?
A Heavy Shot drone in the final assembly workshop
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
As the years of the full-scale war passed, what had once been a garage project now operates on a production line. A drone passes through several workshops before reaching the testing range.
Production begins with metal. In the welding shop, sheets and pipes are cut using shearing and bending machines,afterwhichthe partsare shaped into elements of the drone's frame. The workshop is filled with the sound of metal being cut, the crackle of welding, and the dullthudof components being assembled into frames.
A laser metal-cutting machine
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
On average, 80–100 sets of parts are produced here every day, enough to assemble roughly the same number of drone frames.
After cutting, the parts are moved to welding stations, where the frame is formed, seams are welded and then cleaned.
Metal components being welded
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
Next, the structure ispowder-coatedand cured under heat in special chambers.
Coating metal components
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
The company manufactures some components itself, while others are supplied by contractors, due to production bottlenecks.
Cut mounts for the release mechanism
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
After coating, each frame is inspected for weld quality, fitted with mechanical units and assigned an individual serial number.
Unassembled drone frames
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
Meanwhile, plastic elements and mounts are printed on dozens of 3D printers.
3D printers used to produce plastic elements
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
The device then moves on to the assembly stage. In the primary assembly department, powercables, motors and part of the external equipment are installed on the frame.
Assembly of the propeller unit
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
In the final assembly department, the electronics are installed. Some components are prepared beforehand in the IT department, where flight controllers and communication systems are programmed.
A cat perched next to the drop-mechanism testing station
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
The final assembly workshop is a long, bright room with rows of workbenches. Dozens of drones-to-be line the walls. As engineers check wiring, motors and telemetry, the sound of metal striking metal and the brief whirr of propellers starting up can be heard again and again.
Adjusting the drone’s electronic components
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
A separate unit – the drop mechanism – is what effectively turns a civilian copter into a combat one, allowing the drones to release munitions.
Testing the drop mechanisms
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
Before installation, the mechanism is tested and calibrated.
"If the clearances are set incorrectly, it may either release on its own or simply fail to drop the payload," explains Andrii, head of the production division.
The drone then undergoes telemetry checks and technical inspections. Only after that is the UAV sent to the training ground – where engineers can see how the device behaves in real flight.
A heavy UAV during a test flight
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
"The main issue thatcropsup at the training ground is the quality of communication and video," says Roman, head of the testing department.
If one communication channel fails, the system automatically switches to another.
A technician prepares a drone for take-off
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
Every day, 50-60 drones are tested at the training ground, and each flight is recorded on video. According to the company's statistics, roughly one in three hundred aircraft may crash during testing.
Large-scale production is associated with a host of challenges and problems. First and foremost, these relate to components. About 40% of parts still come from China – including cables, connectors and some electronics.
However, Ukrainian manufacturers of motors and flight controllers are emerging. Gurzuf Defence is already testing some of these components on its own platforms.
According to Andrii, testing of these Ukrainian-made motors and flight controllers is already at the final stage.
Even when the required parts are available on the market, the issue often lies in delivery times. Due to high production volumes, it's sometimes the case that an almost completed drone is waiting for just one component.
In the workshop, Andrii shows several Heavy Shot Immortal drones. They are already fully assembled but stand separately from the other aircraft.
"This drone is waiting for a flight controller," he says.
A platform at the final assembly stage
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
Staffing is another challenge. Over the past six months, the company's workforce has grown roughly sevenfold. Hundreds of people now work in the workshops – including veterans, women and IT specialists – yet the need for new personnel remains constant.
Partnership with the Netherlands and the future
Feldblium says that the team first encountered the Dutch company Intelic, which develops software for unmanned systems, at an international conference. Gurzuf Defence engineers realised that working with Intelic could provide their drones with additional capabilities.
Following negotiations, theMinistryof Defence of the Netherlands ordered 1,400 Ukrainian drones to be equipped with this Dutch software for Ukraine. Gurzuf Defence acted as the manufacturing partner in the project andtheUkrainianmilitarybecame the end users of these systems.
Intelic's software improves commanders' situational awareness across different sections of the front and helps them plan missions more effectively by providing data not only to pilots but also to command staff.
Company engineers demonstrate the Heavy Shot
Photo: Yaroslav Tabinskyi, Ukrainska Pravda
Requests from the front line often shape the nature of subsequent drone modifications. The company says the main vector of development is towards heavy platforms capable of carrying larger payloads and operating over longer distances.
The technological potential of bomber drones is far from exhausted. Current platform versions will undergo many more changes. The technological race with the Russians is forcing developers to move faster and faster, but Ukrainian drone manufacturers are also gaining increasing experience and scale, as well as building up partnerships and capital.
As a result, bomber drones remain one of the key means of striking Russian forces and will continue to evolve in the future.
