Ukraine produces more than 2,000 Bars rocket-drones each month in various modifications and configurations. A representative of the missile’s manufacturer, whose name has not been disclosed, told NV in an interview.
He noted that since the company began operating, production of the Bars has been significantly scaled up.
“When we started, we were making 10 units a month. We planned to produce 600 units a year and thought that was ambitious. Then we reached 600 units a month. Now we make about 2,000 units every month. Is there a need to scale up further? Yes. But we still want to devote more time to reworking several systems, and only then move to version 2.0,” he said.
All manufactured products are directed towards combat missions, the representative said. According to him, the drones are used to strike oil refineries, power stations and substations. In addition, Bars systems are used for special tasks that are still rarely discussed publicly.
The representative said that certain UAV modifications have capabilities not found in conventional drones with traditional powerplants.
Among the Bars variants is a Middle Strike modification equipped with a camera and a control system. According to the developer, such drones have been used by special units of Ukraine’s Defence Forces to carry out special missions. In particular, this refers to operations in the waters of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, in Crimea and in other temporarily occupied territories.
There is also a Deep Strike version that flies to pre-set coordinates and is capable of covering a distance of up to 1,000 kilometres from Ukraine’s border.
“And, of course, deep strike, which flies by coordinates, a thousand kilometres from Ukraine’s border. About six months ago I made a map of missions. There were more than 200. In the time since then, that number has grown significantly,” he said.
As a reminder, in September a joint venture to produce the Ukrainian Bars drone-missile began operating in Germany. Under the production plans, the first products from the joint venture will be supplied to Ukraine’s Defence Forces from 10 October.
“There is two-way communication between the governments of Germany and Ukraine. We received a request, agreed with the government of Ukraine. In principle, we are interested in collaboration. First, there is Build with Ukraine, an initiative for joint production of Ukrainian defence products on the territory of partner countries and for exchanging military technologies with foreign partners. Second, there are certain components to which we have limited access, such as jet engines. There is an idea that Germany joins the production of engines and expands our ability to supply them,” the representative said in the interview with NV.
Besides Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Belgium and the United Arab Emirates have expressed interest in the missile. Talks are under way with these countries, the representative said.
The developer said work on Bars began in 2023. It was designed as a modular platform, allowing it to be used for different missions. He added that from the first basic prototype to the current version, the drone has undergone more than 40 upgrades and iterations. According to the developer, the drone has a range of up to 1,000 km, a speed of more than 700 km/h and can carry a warhead of up to 60 kg.
“In other words, our basic modularity allowed Bars to gain three main categories of use: DeepStrike, middle strike and front strike. It was modularity that made it possible to balance fuel volume and warhead weight, and to create several modifications of a single drone,” he said.
It is stated that at the final stage of flight, an operator can control the drone manually or hand control over to an optical terminal guidance system. The developer added that Bars localisation currently stands at more than 74 per cent. According to him, at present the only important component purchased abroad is the turbojet engine.