Queen of Hornets

Queen of Hornets overview

Queen of Hornets is a large Ukrainian multirotor carrier associated with the Wild Hornets volunteer engineering initiative. Its reported purpose is to carry and release smaller first-person-view drones, moving their launch point farther from the operator and extending the practical reach of an FPV team. The aircraft is a carrier and support platform rather than a conventional fixed-wing strike UAV, and English-language sources use both Queen of Hornets and Queen Hornets forms.

Wild Hornets and Ukrainian wartime reporting have described a heavy-lift design able to carry several smaller drones. Those reports do not establish one standardized production configuration or a complete independent performance record. Payload mass, range, endurance, dimensions, control links, release mechanism, and aircraft weight are Not publicly disclosed; the supplied illustration is interpretative catalog art and cannot verify the number of carried drones.

The system was publicly discussed and shown in Ukrainian drone-development reporting by 2024–2025. That evidence supports a real Ukrainian FPV-carrier effort, but not a complete fleet inventory, universal battlefield performance, or a confirmed list of foreign operators. As of September 12, 2026, Queen of Hornets remains best described as a reported and evolving carrier system whose exact configuration can vary between builds.

Armament

No fixed weapon publicly confirmed; may carry and release smaller FPV drones

Development and operational timeline

1. Oct 2024Wild Hornets and Ukrainian reporting publicly discuss a heavy carrier drone for transporting smaller FPV aircraft
2. Feb 2025Open reporting describes Queen of Hornets as a multirotor carrier concept with a multi-drone release mission
3. Sep 2025The project remains associated with Ukrainian volunteer production and battlefield drone experimentation
4. Sep 2026As of September 12, 2026, configuration-specific performance, quantities, and operator records remain Not publicly disclosed