Australian company Sypaq is supplying Ukraine with cheap disposable drones made of waxed cardboard. The Cardboard drone is officially called the “Corvo Precision Payload Delivery System” (PPDS). According to Vasyl Miroshnichenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, cardboard drones are also used in combat – even for “lethal missions”.
The Australian company supplies 100 disposable drones per month to Kiev. They arrive in Ukraine as a compact kit that “reminds me of a piece of Ikea furniture,” as Miroshnichenko explains.
To get the drone ready for use, all you need is a glue gun, knife, pen, some tape, and a rubber band. The front propeller can be attached with a wrench.
The flight course can reportedly be programmed using an Android tablet, so that the cardboard drone can autonomously find its destination.
The cardboard plane can be launched by hand or from a ramp, and is said to have a range of 120 km. The manufacturer is keeping a low profile as far as payload or potential warheads are concerned.
Officially stated that the cheap drone is mainly suitable for surveillance, intelligence and reconnaissance missions.