Heavy Drone Trend Dashboard (illustrative)
Sources for context: open media reporting on heavy/FPV drone use in 2024–2025; public posts showing large-caliber payload carriage; and latest coverage on the growth of Ukraine’s drone sector (see article links in the post).
August 22. A Telegram video emerged that left military experts breathless: a Ukrainian FPV drone is seen carrying a 155mm artillery shell on its undercarriage. This very caliber, which usually “sings” from the heavy NATO howitzers, has now been turned into a flying munition. Ukraine has literally taken artillery to the skies.
The footage makes it clear this is no standard “flying camera”: the drone is visibly modified for a heavy payload. The shell is fitted with stabilizing fins for a straighter fall, and the overall design resembles a hybrid—a cross between a kamikaze drone and a mini-bomber.
Other formats have been reported previously: massive agricultural “Baba Yaga” drones are also being deployed. These can effortlessly lift such munitions and attack from low altitudes, where air defense systems are powerless.
155mm shells have become a symbol of this war and a persistent headache, as they are chronically in short supply. FPV drones solve several problems at once: they deliver shells to the target without the need for artillery pieces, circumvent the limited stocks of barrel artillery, and cost dozens of times less than a tank or howitzer.
According to Western media, Ukrainian workshops produce thousands of such “kamikaze” drones monthly, at a cost of $300 to $1,000 each, turning the war into a kind of technological startup battle.
Russian channels focus on the “Baba Yaga”—an agro-drone that is difficult to shoot down and has been transformed into a celestial truck of death.
English-language communities are noting the details: the fins on the shell and the non-standard suspension system.
Western analysts see the bigger picture: this is a response to the artillery shortage and a step towards a new military tactic where a cheap drone can replace a battery of howitzers.
The fact that a heavy artillery shell can now be dropped from a small drone is more than just a curious experiment. It’s a signal: the rules of the game on the battlefield are changing. Artillery power is no longer solely the domain of factories and convoys; it is becoming the domain of engineering hackers and frontline workshops.
The Ukrainian drone with its 155mm payload is an aerial griffon of war: a blend of agility and brute force. Today it looks like a bold demonstration, but tomorrow it may become a mass-produced tool that finally blurs the lines between artillery and unmanned aviation.
