Finland develops Steel Eagle drone for Ukraine to destroy infantry

The Finnish company will present the Steel Eagle drone with an extended range of action developed for Ukraine and Ukrainian specialists.

As reported by Finnish public service media company Yle, the Finnish company Insta is presenting a new drone at the SecD Day conference and exhibition, which begins on Wednesday, 29 January, in Helsinki.

The Steel Eagle ER extended-range drone is currently in mass production, but only test versions have been in operation so far. 

"If it works only in Finland, then it is impossible to understand what the device should be like. There is a war in Ukraine, so the product was developed with the frontline conditions considered," Tuure Lehtoranta, Sales and Marketing Director of Defence Business at Insta, said.

The drone is equipped with a propeller developed by a Ukrainian partner, a radio signal system for control and relaying capability, i.e., a data transmission function, and goggles for the pilot.

The goggles have a first-person mode that allows the user to observe the environment from the drone's viewpoint.

Finland has developed a load that contains explosives and fires steel and tungsten bullets. 

Tungsten is a strong metal that was once used to manufacture filaments for incandescent light bulbs. It has the greatest melting and boiling temperatures among chemical elements. This substance is one of the raw materials utilised in the defence sector.

Yle reports that the bullets can penetrate the roof of a conventional or lightly armoured vehicle from a height of many tens of meters.

At the same time, the drone's payload is designed largely to target infantry. If military personnel were on a football field-sized area, three drones carrying such payload would be sufficient to kill or injure them. The new device is long-range and interference-resistant.

It was reported in early January that the UK, along with its NATO allies, would provide Ukraine with 30,000 new drones.

On 14 January, the German government updated the list of military aid provided to Ukraine, confirming the delivery of thousands of artillery shells and drones.

Ukraine received a new package of military aid from Lithuania, which includes Lithuanian-made drones, thermal imagers and five-tonne telescopic loaders for the Ukrainian forces.