The operation of the Omega Special Purpose Center of the National Guard of Ukraine to destroy the russian front-line bomber Su-24M at the Saki airbase in the temporarily occupied Crimea was carried out using the Hornet UAV, which was modernized in some way.
In general, it was a clearly planned operation, before which significant preparation was carried out for three days, as the commander of the separate diving detachment of the Omega Special Purpose Center of the National Guard of Ukraine, Vitaliy Kravchuk, call sign "Krava", told about in an interview with ArmyFM.
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"Planning, thorough preparation, preparation of the means themselves, studying the place where we will fly, how we will work, reserve targets. All this – planning of the operation by the headquarters, clear implementation of the task by the personnel – leads to such results. We want to continue to act and are ready for more," he noted.
The name of the drone itself, which was used, was also heard on the air – Hornet. This is an aircraft-type drone, which is actively and successfully used to disrupt the enemy's supply lines.
"It was a proposal from the personnel to test the maximum capabilities of the Hornet, with its improvements, what our technical specialists can do. Of course, it may sound absurd that divers flew into an airfield somewhere in a plane and destroyed an aircraft, but this means that we have universal servicemen who can do everything," the commander of the separate diving detachment of the Omega Special Purpose Center of the National Guard of Ukraine noted.
We should add that the use of the Hornet strike UAV is also evidenced by the interface that can be seen in the video. In addition, it is worth adding that tere is no secret in the fact, as russians already know very well what means was used by defenders of Ukraine to destroy their Su-24M front-line bomber.
Finally, the cost of the Hornet UAV by the American company Swift Beat LLC was also mentioned in the video – just about 10-11 thousand dollars. This parameter really makes this UAV an ultra-cheap means of mass destruction to a depth of 100-150 km. At the same time, the drone is also equipped with a fairly advanced hardware and software for detecting and capturing targets, as well as visual navigation.
We should also add that to destroy targets, the Hornet UAV usually uses warheads of the type of impact core with a total weight of 1.5 kg or 4 kg, or a high-explosive fragmentation warhead. In general, the Hornet has a take-off weight of about 15 kg, a wingspan of 2.2 meters, a length of 1.4 meters, a cruising speed of about 100-120 km/h, a maximum of up to 200 km/h.
If the price of the Hornet UAV in the range of 10-11 thousand dollars is confirmed, then this makes it really extremely cheap. For example, the German HX-2 by Helsing, which is similar in technology, costs for Ukraine about 17 thousand euros per unit (about 19.5 thousand dollars). Also as an example, we can cite the known purchase prices of the russians for their Lancet-type strike UAVs: 40 thousand dollars for X52 – the simpler version of the drone as well as 68 thousand dollars for the more powerful X51.
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