1. This is an update to an earlier thread on a curious Ukrainian #drone. Not much was known then about this drone but there is now a shaky video to analyse. First, we now have a better sense of the size of this drone. It is not small. t.me/in_factum/23000
2. A previous thread provides additional information. To a high degree, the construction appears exactly the same.
3. A broken prop indicates the engine was turning when this drone crashed. The rail used to hold the munition is also visible on the left.
4. The photo confirms that the engine is a DLE 170, which weighs about 4.1 kg and produces 17.5 HP. Usefully, fuel consumption estimated to be about 0.12 litres per minute (8.5 minutes per litre) at full throttle.
5. Model aircraft have a long history of using bottles for fuel tanks. This tank is a bit curious because one bottle ruptured but the remaining bottles still contain fuel. If 4L per bottle then maximum flight time is about 2 hours, easily a 200 km range.
6. The munition looks very similar to that seen previously. It is mounted on a rail under the aircraft's nose. For safety, a servo on the rear may provide a delayed arm. No idea what the heavy orange wire is for.
7. The previous drones had fixed landing gear but this one appears to be different. Instead of gear there are wedges. Perhaps these are for launching from a moving vehicle or dolly. If launching from a moving vehicle, driver must be very cool headed.
8. The fuselage is a simple, thin plastic pipe (orange is a curious colour choice). Diameter appears to be about 150 mm (6 inches). The remains of the right wing is pushed under the fuselage, confusing matters.
9. Wing construction is very interesting. Spars are two aluminum tubes, along with some wooden stringers. Foam inserts maintain the shape of the leading edge of the wing. A neat detail is that the trailing edges of wing ribs function as the hinges for the ailerons.
10. Wings contain wooden ribs and are covered with heat-shrink plastic film like that used to winterize boats. This film will provide a lot of the wing's strength. Also visible is a pitot for airspeed and another sensor (maybe digital part of pitot).
11. Overall, this aircraft is a simple but effective old-school design. It is obviously meant to be cheap and easy to make in quantity. Navigation is still a mystery but there may be a camera & antennas but it is hard to be certain.
12. Given that a number of these drones have spotted, one can speculate on what Ukraine is using them for, e.g., targeting air defense or oil storage. If you enjoyed this thread, please consider reposting as a quote: your comments are appreciated.
13. (ps) One question is, what brought this drone down? There is plenty of fuel, the engine was running and there are no signs of bullet holes. However, there are plenty of power lines and utility poles. Possibly, the right wing hit a pole or wire.
14. (ps) Here is another look at the drone after it was captured. This gives a better look at the orange wire.
15. (ps) Here is the same photo as the first one in the thread but slightly better quality.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
1. Ukraine announced that it had tested a long-range “rocket drone” called Palianytsia. Is this weapon, in practice, a cruise missile? This thread is a closer look at this (likely important) weapon.
2. Other than a few simple sketches & animations, Ukraine has released very few details about Palianytsia. The approach used here was to carefully study this public information with the aim of making a CAD drawing. From this drawing, various design aspects are considered.
3. How big is Palianytsia? If it uses an AI-PBS-350 turbojet engine, which is a joint project between PBS (Czech Republic) and Ivchenko-Progress (Ukraine), then the size is easily estimated. This engine weighs 51 kg with a maximum thrust of 3,400 N.
1. Is it secret or not a secret? I have posted many threads detailing the technical aspects of #Ukrainian and russian #drones, including quadcopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Is any of this information secret?
2. There are always a few, possibly well-meaning, commenters who think my threads reveal secrets that will benefit the russians. Shown are a few select comments. Do they have a point or are they just technically uniformed? Let’s have a closer look at not-a-secret drones.
3. Amateurs started building radio-controlled (RC) aircraft more than 60 years ago. It was about 50 years ago that RC planes, although very expensive, became popular. This is relevant because all low-cost drones in Ukraine use hobby-grade components, which are not secret.
1. Recently, a very interesting #Ukrainian precision-guided munition was captured by russians. This is a closer look at this (possibly important) weapon. t.me/vanguard_space…
2. This munition was captured by russians who posted 2 photographs of a crashed Ukrainian Baba Yaga drone along with. Also shown was an interesting munition that had been damaged in the crash. By carefully studying these 2 photos, a drawing was made.
3. This is the resulting CAD drawing produced (by me). Note that this drawing is only an approximation and some details are omitted. Overall length was estimated as roughly 52 cm and diameter as 10 cm. Conceptually, it has the three main sections shown here.
1. A very large #Ukrainian Baba Yaga #drone was captured by the russians. Other than its size there are a number of very interesting details. t.me/vanguard_space…
2. The drone lost one of its arms and heavily hit the ground bending its frame. It is very nicely made and was probably expensive. There are 4 antennas for radio control making this drone difficult to defeat with electronic warfare.
3. This drone’s munitions are extremely interesting. These are optically (laser) guided. Baba Yaga drones are large and fly slow, making them very easy targets to shoot down with small arms. Guided munitions would enable bombing from much higher altitudes.
1. The air data computer from a Shahed-136 #drone was reversed engineered by Le labo de Michel @lelabodemichel5162 with a detailed explanation given in a YouTube video. This computer supplies airspeed and altitude to the drone’s flight computer.
2. The circuit board is fairly small and has two air pressure transducers. One transducer is used for measuring altitude and the other is for airspeed. The board transmits data over an old-school RS232 serial line. A JTAG port is for programming a microcontroller.
3. The pressure transducers appear to be from the Slovenian company, HYB Sensor. It is difficult to determine the exact models but possibly HPSD 3100 or HPSD 3000. Feel free to ask HYB Sensor if (and why) their products are in these drones.
1. A single photo of a russian workbench gives a sense of how the #war is going for them. Here a russian Telegram channel proudly describes the “FPV "OFFICE" of their graduate. Let’s have a closer look. t.me/FPV_vyZOV/1673
2. There are a few things including the rifle (AK?) indicating this is near the frontlines. Can weapons folks please comment on this rifle, especially if there is anything interesting about it?
3. The munition looks like a nasty thermobaric warhead that is used against vehicles and personnel. It seems odd to have this on a workbench meant for repairing drones.