Cheap Aircraft for Resistance Fighters
Ok, time for the dumb question.
These turkish drones are apparently giving the Russians quite some curry. The drone being used (TB2) has a wingspan of 39 feet, cruises at 70 kts. So why arent they being blown out of the sky before they get to the target with the Russian Stinger equivalent. The Russian Air Force is MIA so they don't have top cover and the mythical "lookdown, shootdown" capability. They certainly seem not to have any AWACS support.
Maybe 50 x AT-802U's roaming around the countryside at low level is not such a daft idea after all.
Some enterprrising chaps and chapetts have rigged up drones to carry molotove cocktails. But what about an even simpler idea. A simple hook & release system to pick up a morter bomb. Fly off the top of a small building, hover over a tank and bombs away then a pre programmed random track back to landing sight for the next morter bomb load, rinse and repeat. Now I have no idea if the vertical accuracy of a dropped morter from say 500 feet - does it swirl around etc. A friend of mine was able to drop a steel dart on a wrecked car from 300 feet. It was hard to see the drone at 300ft even when you know it was there with the naked eye. Couldn't hear it either.
These turkish drones are apparently giving the Russians quite some curry. The drone being used (TB2) has a wingspan of 39 feet, cruises at 70 kts. So why arent they being blown out of the sky before they get to the target with the Russian Stinger equivalent. The Russian Air Force is MIA so they don't have top cover and the mythical "lookdown, shootdown" capability. They certainly seem not to have any AWACS support.
Maybe 50 x AT-802U's roaming around the countryside at low level is not such a daft idea after all.
Some enterprrising chaps and chapetts have rigged up drones to carry molotove cocktails. But what about an even simpler idea. A simple hook & release system to pick up a morter bomb. Fly off the top of a small building, hover over a tank and bombs away then a pre programmed random track back to landing sight for the next morter bomb load, rinse and repeat. Now I have no idea if the vertical accuracy of a dropped morter from say 500 feet - does it swirl around etc. A friend of mine was able to drop a steel dart on a wrecked car from 300 feet. It was hard to see the drone at 300ft even when you know it was there with the naked eye. Couldn't hear it either.
Well, well, well..............it seems some of my "hairbrained ideas" as some here have put it................may not be so wacky afterall.
Inventive Ukranians are attaching small grenades to drones with a cobbled up release mechanism, and dropping them on soft targets like trucks and other non-hardened material. Apparently they are driving the Russians bat**** crazy.
Inventive Ukranians are attaching small grenades to drones with a cobbled up release mechanism, and dropping them on soft targets like trucks and other non-hardened material. Apparently they are driving the Russians bat**** crazy.
It’s been done before this conflict by Daesh:
Limited effect really, you have none of the speed, reach and persistence that Air Power doctrine requires. It might get lucky, but it’s not exactly a war winner…
Limited effect really, you have none of the speed, reach and persistence that Air Power doctrine requires. It might get lucky, but it’s not exactly a war winner…
NMC
It would appear you are attempting to gaslight us!
You started the thread by asking about Extra 300s in dogfights and were told by many of us that drones were a better option. Now you’re trying to tell us the drones were your idea all along.
You can’t have it both ways.
BV
You started the thread by asking about Extra 300s in dogfights and were told by many of us that drones were a better option. Now you’re trying to tell us the drones were your idea all along.
You can’t have it both ways.
BV
There is a fascinating article in the current edition of Aviation Historian about Rhodesia's use of civil aircraft for counter-insurgency back in the day. Their reservist police force used civil pilots and aircraft such as a Cessna 206, and a v-tailed Bonanza armed with machine guns in underwing pods (Bonanza), and out of the rear doorway (Cessna). The Bonanza additionally had a home-made grenade launcher through a hole in the floor. Amazing ingenuity (and balls). Clearly the threat environment is a little different in the present case!
There is a fascinating article in the current edition of Aviation Historian about Rhodesia's use of civil aircraft for counter-insurgency back in the day. Their reservist police force used civil pilots and aircraft such as a Cessna 206, and a v-tailed Bonanza armed with machine guns in underwing pods (Bonanza), and out of the rear doorway (Cessna). The Bonanza additionally had a home-made grenade launcher through a hole in the floor. Amazing ingenuity (and balls). Clearly the threat environment is a little different in the present case!
er....
ummm....
ah...
absolutely or relatively?
if the option is between having a load on the fuselage or on the wings, quite correct.
If the mass is just added as "wing-mounted mass will lower the overall structural loading on a wing in a high G turn", then.... er... nope. The only thing that affects the wing bending moment is the load at the wing root, the mass of the fuselage. Adding a decorative load to the wings without removing same from the fuselage isn't going to change the outcome, other than increasing the CL required to achieve a certain g loading if the whole weight is greater as a result of the decorative bangles applied to the wings.
Well, well, well..............it seems some of my "hairbrained ideas" as some here have put it................may not be so wacky afterall.
Inventive Ukranians are attaching small grenades to drones with a cobbled up release mechanism, and dropping them on soft targets like trucks and other non-hardened material. Apparently they are driving the Russians bat**** crazy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D0Zu4dDXjo
Inventive Ukranians are attaching small grenades to drones with a cobbled up release mechanism, and dropping them on soft targets like trucks and other non-hardened material. Apparently they are driving the Russians bat**** crazy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D0Zu4dDXjo
Fighting the Russians symmetrically is a poor option, it is trading blows and the differences in losses are dependent on surprise, fortification, logistics, morale and luck. Surprise is not present in most of this fight, fortification is not a way to winning, it is a way to not loosing, logistics are definitely a prime interdiction target and then defensive measures come into play, morale, Ukraine: politicians in the front line, lines of volunteers, a population that will never forgive Russia for the was of extermination that they have brought to their home, vs, Russia: the Oligarch's billionaires club. conscripts, desertions, refusal to fight, surrendering to Ukraine, handing over weapon systems to Ukraine citizens.... and luck. You tend to make your own luck, and attacking Ukraine in spring was just outright dumb. Assuming that the other team is less competent than you are, is less committed, less smart or brilliant tends to reflect in what appears as luck, (hubris).
Crowdfunding drones for Ukraine would seem to be a great idea, every quadcopter in the air adds to the static and increases the amount of intel that the warfighters have. There is a morale aspect as well, it doesn't take long to learn that the sound of a $50 drone is followed by explosions targeted nearby, and in the end, arty has caused more losses to armies than any other single cause, the AK-47 doesn't even come close in it's headcount.
Start a crowdfund, I'll donate.
An alternative suggestion, the farmers are probably short of tow ropes, which is worthy of crowdfunding...
Last edited by fdr; 18th Apr 2022 at 07:51.
The only thing that affects the wing bending moment is the load at the wing root, the mass of the fuselage.
well of course the World's most effective low level penetration ever was carried out by a Cessna/Rheims 172 piloted by Mathias Rust 
Thirty five years ago this month
Thirty five years ago this month
