New 'Turtle' Wheeled Drone Starts Delivering Shells to Russian Forces in Ukrainian Conflict Zone

One of the Russian troop units has started using a new prototype wheeled drone.

“Cherepakha” (lit. Turtle) is a new wheeled cargo drone developed by a Russian company called Argo, which has recently entered testing in battlefield conditions in the Lugansk People’s Republic.

According to Argo’s CEO Konstantin Bagdasarov, the drone has been deployed with one of the Russian troop units operating on the front line and is primarily being used to deliver munitions, including shells for mortar crews and rations to soldiers stationed on forward positions.

The drone’s small profile of only one meter high and its electric engine that runs on lithium-ion batteries and generates little noise make the vehicle hard to detect, with Bagdasarov also claiming that “Cherepakha” does not generate a noticeable heat signature.

The drone can move up to 500 kg of cargo and has a maximum speed that does not exceed 10 kilometers per hour (hence the name) as it was designed to match the speed of a marching infantry unit. “Cherepakha” can also be programmed to follow a radio marker carried by a squad leader.

Argo is currently developing other modifications of the “Cherepakha” that can be outfitted with lidar and satellite uplink. The new models may vary in size and can be mounted on both wheeled and tracked chassis.

The promotional materials previously disseminated by the company also suggest that, aside from operating as a cargo drone, “Cherepakha” could also be repurposed for other tasks such as surveillance, fire support, rescue operations and medevac.