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/
“I get in, we go. The driver asks for the address again, in Russian. That very Russian that I wouldn’t confuse with anything else. Neither with Russified Kharkiv, nor with Dnipro or Donbas. Russian from Russia.
2/
He tries to insert Ukrainian words, but from the very first notes I understand everything.
We drive through an empty, dark city; his navigator doesn’t work because of the air raid alert.
- I see you’re driving without navigation, have you been in Kyiv long?
3/
The accelerometer in the flight controller (FC) of an FPV drone measures linear acceleration, helping the FC understand the drone’s current direction and the force with which it is moving. 1/
The solid-state accelerometer has a tiny “proof mass”suspended by springs.
When the drone accelerates or tilts, inertia shifts the mass slightly.
This movement is measured electronically along the X, Y, and Z axes, telling the FC the FPV’s direction and which way is down. 2/
The key feature of an accelerometer is that it detects not just maneuvers, but gravity as well.
To the sensor, the force of gravity feels exactly like a constant upward acceleration.
This allows the drone to sense its own tilt relative to the ground and maintain stability 3/
The Telegram messenger app was supposedly blocked in Russia on April 1, but I have seen no change whatsoever in the activities of the many Russian channels that I follow.
On his channel, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov explains why: 1/
“😎 Telegram was banned in Russia — yet 65M Russians still use it daily via VPNs, with 50M+ sending messages every day. The government has spent years trying to ban VPNs too.
2/
“Their blocking attempts just triggered a massive banking failure — cash briefly became the only payment method nationwide yesterday. 😂
3/
Controlled Reception Pattern Antenna (CRPA) satellite navigation systems have played a crucial role in the electronic warfare (EW) struggle between Ukraine and Russia.
These electronic systems provide powerful protection against EW systems that try to jam GPS/GLONASS signals. 1/
GPS signals are extremely weak when they reach earth from the satellites 20,200 km overhead (10^{-16} watts!).
This makes jamming these signals (overwhelming with a stronger signal) relatively simple, and a powerful jammer can prevent reception of GPS signals over a wide area. 2/
That is, if the GPS receiver has a single antenna, as in our cell phones.
A CRPA is an array of four or more antennas that exploit the spatial difference between horizontal signals from ground-based jammers and the generally vertical GPS signals from overhead. 3/
The official journal of the israeli Defense Forces, Maarachot, has issued a warning that the IDF must not only operate FPVs but also dramatically upgrade its FPV countermeasure systems: 1/
“At a time when only Russia and Ukraine have achieved full-scale production of operational FPV systems and continue to improve and expand them, it becomes clear that the Israel Defense Forces need to make a leap forward not at the experimental or pilot level, ...
2/
"... but on a real systemic scale. A reasonable working assumption about the enemy should be that he will fully embrace the advantages of using FPV—to use FPV systems in the best possible way.
3/
The cows of peasant farmers are being slaughtered by the State in Siberia (apparently for hoof and mouth disease), which has caused much outrage in Russia.
Russian blogger “Russian's People's Militia” contrasts this to the silence about the tremendous loss of life in Ukraine: 1/
“I wanted to write a long and complicated text, but then I realized it was unnecessary.
This photo did it for me instead.
Everything here!
2/
“Pain, sorrow, anger, rage, and even tears of despair from Russian farmers (peasants), who were unable to defend their livestock against the Russian authorities.
Why did this happen?
- They each acted for themselves.
3/