Recently, russian forces in Ukraine have suffered from a previously unseen type of suicide drone constantly shelling their positions. The new drone is unique in its almost primitive simplicity, all materials used in assembly are improvised and, importantly, accessible and cheap to the extreme.
In a photo published by a russian soldier on social media, we can see one of them: a fairly large drone assembled from plywood boards, which seems to have been sheathed with dense polyethylene, the fuel tank is made of 5-liter water bottles, the tail is a water pipe, and the avionics are placed inside a plywood box.
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It might seem that there is nothing to brag about here because it definitely does not meet any standards, nay concepts of modern weapons. However, this is exactly what the ideal kamikaze drone should look like. Let's say it one more time: the whole point of such a drone is to make a single flight in its "lifetime," which should end with it simply crashing into the target. Thus, the most expensive thing there can be is a small-sized internal combustion engine and a flight control system.
In the conditions of the Ukrainian warzone especially, the cheaper the design is, which ensures this single yet bright flight, the better. If someone can make a flying vehicle out of the assortment of materials they can find at a DIY store, it would be just perfect. Moreover, if this design needs no high-precision machine tools and highly skilled workers to make the product — even better.
The Ukrainian suicide drone in the photos demonstrates exactly this approach to weapon-making. The name of the UAV is unknown but it has one characteristic feature — a sticker with one of the characters from The Simpsons animated series.
The russian soldier also notes that the camera is attached to the drone from below. In other words, it is a classic loitering munition that can be manually controlled at the terminal phase of the strike, so it can hit not only stationary targets. Yet, the existence of an alternative cheaper configuration is not ruled out either.
At the same time, many details remain unspecified, such as the size of the warhead or the flight range. Given the size of the fuel tank, we can assume that the aerial weapon is intended for strikes on targets located about twenty or more kilometers from the launch point.
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