Gurzuf Defence

Gurzuf Defence is a Ukrainian maker of heavy multicopter drones founded in 2022 and based in the Lviv region. Its flagship product is Heavy Shot, a modular heavy-lift platform used for precision strikes, reconnaissance and front-line logistics. The drone carries a payload in the region of 30 to 40 kilograms and reaches targets roughly 15 to 20 kilometres from the operator; it is fitted to operate under electronic-warfare pressure and can return to its launch point automatically. The company has also shown a larger hexacopter, the Ayudag-6, described as carrying up to about 90 kilograms over a distance of around 25 kilometres.

The firm describes a long path to its current scale: the team’s account is that it started years ago in a garage assembling simple civilian drones before moving into heavy unmanned systems for the military. Heavy Shot has since been fielded across the front, with the platform reported in use by a wide range of Ukrainian units, including special-operations, airborne and reconnaissance formations. In 2023 the Ministry of Digital Transformation announced a batch of 206 Heavy Shot drones delivered to troops, one of several deliveries that have moved the type into volume service.

Demand for the platform has drawn in foreign procurement. The Netherlands’ defence ministry ordered 1,400 Heavy Shot bombers — paired with Intelic targeting software — and handed them to the Ukrainian military, an example of the “Danish model” style of foreign-funded purchasing from Ukrainian manufacturers that has become a feature of the country’s wartime drone industry alongside firms such as Fire Point and Culver Aviation . Like most Ukrainian defence-tech companies, Gurzuf Defence keeps headcount, ownership and facility details largely private.