the explosive sends shrapnel over the selected section of the plane, riddling it with holes, unless crashed into a particular section when detonating, causing irreparable damage or fire.
Posted on 09/01/2023 2:50:24 PM PDT by dennisw
In a development that can’t be independently confirmed – yet nevertheless offers an ephemeral blast of schadenfreude for those so inclined – close observers of Ukraine’s military actions against Russia and its assets have said four highly valued fighter jets that were destroyed or seriously damaged at a base in Western Russia late Saturday were the victims of Australian drones made of cardboard.
The aerial attack took place when drones struck a MiG-29 and four Su-30 fighter jets – plus missile launchers and an air defense system – at a base in Kursk, about 100 km inside Russia’s border. Per usual following such operations – and despite the exceedingly high-value targets struck – Ukraine remained mum about responsibility.
That was eventually – and specifically – assigned by well-informed observers to Australian Corvo drones, whose SYPAQ maker began sending them to Ukraine in March as flat-pack systems assembled from cardboard parts, rubber bands, and lightweight onboard tech.
DroneDJ was among the first to report on Melbourne-based SYPAQ providing the cardboard drones to Ukraine to supplement the thousands of cutting-edge DJI, Draganfly, Quantum-Systems, Teal, and Teledyne FLIR UAVs Ukraine receives to battle Russian invaders.
Those Ikea-esque Aussie craft elicited a few dismissive chortles from readers at the time, but now they’re being credited with inflicting one of the worst material losses Moscow has suffered during its increasingly bleak efforts to conquer its neighbor.
Read more: Oz’s SYPAQ sends Ukraine high-performance cardboard drones
Officials from Ukraine’s Security Service on Sunday first confirmed to the Kyiv Post their agency had been behind the strike. Just hours later, a prominent Russian blogger on the war followed up with a post stating “(f)or the first time, Ukrainians used Australian UAVs from SYPAQ to attack the airfield.”
A Corvo drone, he noted almost ruefully, is “made almost entirely of wax-soaked paper and rubber bands, which together makes it almost invisible to radar” – thus allowing a team of the Aussie piñatas to deliver a stupefying smack-down to Russian jets recently seen elbowing US UAVs around over the Black Sea.
Read: Russia claims hidden ‘sleeper’ drones thwart Ukraine defenses
Crediting Kyiv for the resounding blow to Moscow’s fighter planes – with a critical assist going to flying cardboard from Oz – was echoed on Tuesday by Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko. The diplomat’s account on the social media formerly named Twitter quoted him repeating SYPAQ drones staged Saturday’s strike.
The rich irony of Russia’s most formidable and expensive military aerial tech being blasted by something made from matter kids use to slide down grassy hills on is lost on nobody. But it also holds important lessons for the future.
Additional information contained in the Russian blogger’s post offers – if accurate – another example of how moves like Ukraine “going cheap” with $710,000 worth of cardboard SYPAQ drones will continue to further confound the huge, highly sophisticated military systems Russia, the US, China, and other major powers have been developing to face off against one another for decades.
Like Briton and Russia in Ww2, that is a ridiculous comment
Like the one that says if they are winning why do they need more stuff
Hey you guys landed on Normandy, we’ll that’s it on your own…
Sigh
Latest?
Hum haven’t seen t-14s but have t-55s, where is their 57, and remember the unstoppable hypersonic not so much missile.
There is little that is high tech, and if what you say is true then it is even more embarrassing for Putin and Russia that in a year and a half. Russia is in at best a stalemate, I would say they are cracking
Maybe time to pull out their ace in the hole Is-2 Stalin tanks
I want to see the damaged aircraft. It sounds like a scam-gimmick to me.
*bump* lol
The story is bullcrap as there is no evidence of it took place, which is the case for most Ukrainian claims of late.
I’m curious how those things can fly over 100km, much less actually hit a target. Or were they launched by sabotage teams hanging out at the end of the runway?
That thing is at best only marginally stable
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I’m no expert but I remember from my RC airplane days that a flat bottom airfoil was the most stable profile. That is what this drone has.
OTOH, the wing has little or no dihedral angle — which is to say it extends straight out rather than rising towards the tips. A flat wing with low dihedral is a less stable configuration IIRC.
And it looks like the distance from the CG to the vertical stabilizer is unusually short, which I could see reducing stability.
But to my eyeball it doesn’t look fundamentally unstable.
What is it that makes you say it’s unstable?
Lack of dihedral alone would require constant input. Would not fly “hands-off” for more than a few seconds. Yes, flat-bottom airfoils exhibit a low shift of center-of-pressure vs. angle-of-attack, but that short tail moment would require a very sensitive hand on the elevators. Picture control-line combat designs.
An interesting aside - Lindberg’s Spirit of St. Louis had no dihedral. He wanted it that way so as to help him stay awake, or so he said afterward.
Okay, got it — makes sense.
In the past month, cheap drones have taken out $1.2 billion worth of Russian equipment.
Russia is using the latest military weapons ... Circa 1990 T54/T55 tanks
Paper airplanes have destroyed $1.2 billion in Russian high value military assets this MONTH.
They fly from secret UA bases inside Russia ...
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