The Russians are very concerned about the emergence of the Ukrainian “Hornet” strike UAV (Russian name: “Martian-2”) from Eric Schmidt's Swift Beat company.
It reportedly has autonomy and terrain-following capabilities that were previously seen on the Russian “V2U” strike UAV.
1/
Here, a Hornet UAV destroys a Russian “Zoo-1M” counter-battery radar.
The medium-range UAV can automatically detect, classify, and lock onto a target, as seen here by the on-screen tag “VEH/ARM” (armored vehicle).
2/
The Hornet is equipped with two daytime cameras that enable GPS-free terrain-following navigation using onboard digital maps, although it also has a simple GPS antenna.
The drone approaches targets at an altitude of 200 meters, and the Russians complain that it is very quiet.
3/
The Hornet still relies on radio control and possibly a mesh network before switching to autonomous mode.
It uses a very wide range of frequencies with digital communications that are not detectable by standard Russian drone detectors, providing no warning of an attack.
4/
The warhead is reportedly a 1.5 kg fragmentation shaped-charge EFP munition, which the Russians say has achieved a 100% detonation rate.
5/
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.