Russia Unveils Supercam S350 Drone With 240 km Range for Artillery Targeting Operations.

Russia’s Supercam S350 tactical UAV was displayed at World Defense Show 2026 in Riyadh as a rapid-deployment ISR drone designed to feed targeting data directly to artillery units. The platform’s endurance and strike integration claims matter as drone-enabled fire control continues to reshape modern battlefield operations.

On February 11, 2026, Army Recognition was on the ground at the World Defense Show in Riyadh when the Supercam S350 unmanned aerial vehicle system drew attention as a fast-deploying reconnaissance asset pitched for harsh weather and rapid artillery support. Our team examined the static display, where the manufacturer emphasized a 3.2 m wingspan flying wing airframe, electric propulsion for a low acoustic signature, and parachute recovery designed to keep the system independent from prepared runways. The message in Saudi Arabia was direct: a compact, long-endurance ISR platform meant to push targeting data to ground fires in minutes rather than hours.
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Supercam S350 tactical UAV at WDS Riyadh, a 15 kg class electric flying-wing drone carrying EO/IR sensors (40x day zoom, thermal night camera) for rapid deploy reconnaissance, with up to 5,5 hours endurance, over 240 km flight range, 100 km control link, and parachute recovery for austere operations (Picture source: Army Recognition Group).

The S350 sits in the light tactical fixed-wing category, combining a blended flying wing layout with a tractor propeller and modular payload bay. The show placard describes day reconnaissance via a Full HD camera with up to 40x optical zoom, and night work via an HD thermal camera with up to 4x digital zoom, reflecting the standard battlefield need for a single air vehicle to cover both observation and confirmation tasks across a full day cycle. Launch options typically include elastic or pneumatic catapults, while recovery is by parachute, a combination that reduces the footprint for dispersed units and enables operations from austere roadside positions.

Performance data presented at WDS lists a maximum takeoff weight of around 15 kg with a 2 kg class payload, a speed bracket of roughly 75 to 120 km/h, and an operating ceiling reaching 5,000 m. Army Recognition also noted the system’s claimed flight time of 330 minutes and a maximum flight range stated as over 240 km, with a telemetry and command radio line around 100 km. Those figures matter operationally because they allow commanders to choose between persistent loiter to watch a kill box or standoff transit to survey a wider corridor, while keeping the ground control element outside many short-range threat rings.

What elevates S350 from a pure surveillance drone into a tactical enabler is how it is marketed for the reconnaissance strike loop. Russian industry has repeatedly framed the platform as part of a wider fires architecture, including demonstrations pairing Supercam S350 with automated artillery fire control tools and rocket artillery, effectively using the UAV to detect, identify, and update targets for time-sensitive engagements. In Riyadh, that narrative is reinforced by official industry messaging about a unified reconnaissance and strike configuration, where the UAV’s real value is measured by how quickly it converts video into actionable coordinates for guns, rockets, or loitering munitions.

Combat claims around the system have become part of its export story. At WDS 2026, a company spokesperson told Russian media that Supercam crews in Ukraine have enabled the detection and subsequent destruction of a wide range of Western-supplied systems, from armored vehicles to air defense and rocket artillery, presenting the drone as a proven sensor for counter-battery and deep fires targeting. Separately, the firm has emphasized ongoing upgrades driven by operator feedback, with modernization efforts focused on survivability in electronically contested environments and faster exploitation of imagery.

The project’s evolution also reflects the industrial realities of sustained high-tempo drone demand. Reporting in recent years has described UAV producers within the Supercam ecosystem expanding capacity through unconventional facility conversions such as repurposed commercial buildings, a visible signal of scale-up pressure. At the component level, investigative findings have identified foreign-made parts within Supercam S350 systems, underlining both the platform’s reliance on global electronics supply chains and the scrutiny it attracts under sanctions enforcement.

In terms of operators, the baseline and most documented user remains Russia’s armed forces, where S350 is described as a key reconnaissance UAV type. Belarus is the clearest external military customer, with open-source procurement reporting indicating multiple Supercam S350 purchases since 2020 and additional orders publicized in 2023. Kazakhstan, meanwhile, has been publicly associated with S350 use in a monitoring role through a major pipeline consortium’s 2019 release describing the drone’s employment for environmental observation, demonstrating that the platform’s dual-use branding is not just marketing language.

For a prospective buyer, the most effective way to use S350 is to build it into a battalion or brigade-level ISR and fires cell rather than treating it as a standalone aviation gadget. The system’s range profile supports border surveillance, route security, and critical infrastructure overwatch in large areas, while its catapult and parachute concept favors rapid displacement between launch points to complicate enemy counter-UAV hunting. In competitive terms, S350 trades up from hand-launched minis like AeroVironment’s Puma AE, which offers about three hours of endurance but a much shorter range, and it outstretches many electric mini systems, such as Elbit’s Skylark I LEX at around three hours endurance and a more limited control radius. Against Quantum Systems’ Vector, which offers roughly three hours of endurance and modern sensor integration, S350 competes primarily on claimed endurance and command radius, while heavier systems like ScanEagle remain in a different bracket with far greater endurance but increased logistical overhead.