1. A precision munition carried by a Ukrainian #balloon? Ukraine has been using balloons for several months to bomb russia. One problem has been how to guide the bomb to a useful target. This may be Ukraine’s solution.
2. This weapon is easily recognised as balloon-borne from the strings attaching the payload to the balloon. Also, the water bottle used for altitude control has been seen on previous balloons.
3. A water bottle is used to control the balloon’s altitude. The altitude controller can release water as required. There is a USB port, likely for programming and charging but interestingly there is no connection to the flight controller.
4. The flight controller hangs above the munition. There is a release servo but the mechanism is hard to see. The controller’s case & bracket are standard off-the-shelf. Internal electronics are unknown at this point. The controller would need a list of possible targets.
5. The munition is nicely 3D-printed. There are 4 steering fins mounted directly to servos. Since the final target is one of many possible, the wires are likely to charge the munition & program it with the target’s location. Guidance could be GPS or inertial or both.
6. It will be interesting to see how effective this weapon is. At a minimum it would consume a lot of russian air defense resources. If you liked this thread, please bookmark it and repost as a quote. Also, please see my previous threads listed under “Highlights”.
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1. This wreckage is Ukraine's secretive Bars (Snow Leopard) cruise missile that was first mentioned by Minister of Strategic Industries, Herman Smetanin in April 2024. The pieces in this photo are not arranged correctly but still give an idea what it looks like.
2. This jet-powered missile was spotted attacking Donetsk on September 14. The fuselage appears to be more curved than the common cylinder shape. There are no obvious winglets. The tail is consistent with a dual tail (H-tail).
3. One crashed in July and is shown here upside down and missing its nose. The jet engine has broken free. It clearly has an H-tail and a complex shape (non-cylindrical) fuselage. Visible are 3 supports for catapult or rocket-assisted takeoff.
1. This soldier was very excited because he scored a jet engine. A big question is, what drone is this a part of? Cutting up a drone before taking photos is common, and makes identification a more interesting challenge.
2. The engine is mounted on a pylon but there are no markings to work with. It is hard to even be sure if this a Ukrainian or a russian drone. It is common for drones to have been cut up to remove the warhead & useful components.
3. The engine is most likely made in China and has a "360" label, which is probably its size. But this is an unusual size so it could be a knock off. Note the four mounting straps.
1. It is beautiful but is this reconnaissance drone too good to use in a war? The various reconnaissance drones flown in Ukraine are well made and usually expensive. But are they too expensive?
2. At the start of the war, Ukraine obtain several Penguin-C military drones made in Latvia by UAV Factory (now called, Edge Autonomy).
3. This aircraft is fairly small but has a number of fancy design elements. The wing and tail are removed for transport. The red triangles show where the fasteners go.
1. Here is something a little unusual. It is a Zlin Z137T agricultural aircraft (crop duster) equipped with two R-73 air-to-air missiles for shooting down drones. There is no obvious gun so this is likely only for large drones like the Geran-2 (Shahed 136).
2. For reference, here is a Z137T in its tradition role of applying chemicals to a crop. A maximum cruise speed of 252 km/h will be a constraint as a drone hunter.
3. The R-73 missile uses infrared homing and has a maximum range of about 30 km. It is not clear how many of these are in inventory.
1. What would have been unthinkable a few years ago is now routine. Several Ukrainian drones successfully attacked a russian drone factory located in Dubna, only 115 km from the kremlin. This is a smart move by Ukraine, and there may be more to this attack than at first seems.
2. Importantly, one video showed several drones attacking, one after the other. Oddly, there was remarkably little air defence heard as each drone approached over a lake. What happened to russia’s air defence?
3. This shows the factory with the lake on the left (west) side. This building is very large. The camera operator (for #1) was quite close and was almost hit by shrapnel.
1. Developing a new weapon is hard so why not just copy another company’s design? Fibre optic drones are a hot product and part 4 of this series looked at a company (Skywalker) who developed their own. Other companies have rushed to make similar weapons.
2. Here are two fibre optics kits made by the Chinese company, Skywalker. Opening the boxes is the likely owner of PGI Technology, which operates in China but is effectively russian. Initially, this photo was confusing. Was Skywalker collaborating with PGI Technology? Nope.
3. PGI bought these two Skywalker kits with the goal of copying the technology and selling their own version. The following photos are very unusual since they show the design process. Here is the Skywalker canister with a large drone frame.