Heavy Shot and Vampire in action: how the Typhoon unit destroyed an enemy convoy with heavy bombers

In the Pokrovsk sector, fighters from the separate special-purpose unmanned systems detachment of the National Guard of Ukraine, known as Typhoon, repelled an assault by the Russian army, which attempted a breakthrough using a convoy of quad bikes, motorcycles, and combat vehicles. The unit reported this in its press release.

Typhoon said that FPV drones, as well as heavy bombers Heavy Shot and Vampire, were used to repel the assault and destroy the Russian convoy. The Russians placed their main bet on adverse weather conditions — snowfall — and a reduced number of drones in the air. However, Typhoon’s drone operators eliminated enemy quad bikes, motorcycles, and combat vehicles with precise strikes.

Heavy Shot is a Ukrainian heavy drone produced by Gurzuf Defence. These UAVs have been in service with special-purpose units since April 2022. The drones are equipped with GPS navigation systems that are resistant to electronic warfare and can return to base using their launch coordinates.

Heavy Shot drones can carry from 10 to 40 kg of bomb payload, including Soviet TM mines, Czech TMU mines, and 120 mm fragmentation munitions for strikes against enemy personnel. Depending on the configuration, the UAVs can carry up to eight mines of 60–120 mm calibre or non-standard charges made by sappers. The release mechanism can be either universal or automatic.

The drones are equipped with a high-quality 2K camera with 30x zoom and three-axis stabilisation. The operating radius is up to 20 km; flight endurance without payload is up to 40 minutes, and with payload up to 30 minutes. Gurzuf Defense’s production capacity allows it to supply the defenсe forces with up to 600 UAVs per month.

The heavy Vampire drone is a development by the Ukrainian company SkyFall. The UAV was codified in spring 2025, although it had been used by the Defence Forces long before that.

This hexacopter can carry a payload of up to 15 kg over a distance of up to 20 km. Thanks to high resistance to electronic warfare, a GNSS antenna, and a bispectral camera, Vampire can carry out missions both at night and during the day. Like Heavy Shot, it features an autonomous return mode in the event of signal loss, significantly reducing the risk of losing the drone.

In September, Defender Media reported on how the Fakhivtsi unit of the 82nd Air Assault Brigade uses heavy bomber drones.