Video shows Ukrainian soldier taking apart a Russian drone and discovering its components include a plastic bottle top for a fuel cap

Business Insider ^ | 11 hours ago | Bill Bostock

[Zhang Fei]

Ukraine ping

Many new technologies are MacGyvered in some form or fashion. But using water bottle caps seems like a whole new level of improvisation for a fairly pedestrian drone type, variants of which Western powers have fielded for decades now. It’s as if Russia’s $70b annual defense budget, about 12 times Ukraine’s $6b, had somehow sprung leaks that pinched off spending for important weapons systems like drones.

Nonetheless, a 12 multiple in funding is a formidable advantage - equipment-wise, whatever Ukraine has, Russia has several times as many units, at minimum. That is why, in the coming single-axis clash, the outcome will depend on the West making up for Ukraine’s equipment deficiencies. Offers of howitzers and tanks are coming through. The question is whether they will arrive in time for what may be a decisive battle, at the end of which the loser goes into headlong retreat while being pursued by the victor.

[Flick Lives]

“This is seriously real. Not fake,” the soldier is heard saying...

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Channeling Joe Biden, and just as convincing.

[billorites]

When was the last time any of you bought something made in Russia?

[Chode]

COTS...

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Unless the loser is Russia and the lunatic at the helm decides to blow up the world.

[LouieFisk]

“Insider was unable to independently verify when or where the footage was taken.”
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Surprising!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Maybe the Russkies just sent in a “disinformation drone” to make us THINK they are using bubble gum and baling wire in their defense equipment. It’s a head fake.

[escapefromboston]

What’s wrong with a plastic cap? It works well on water bottles.

[NorseViking]

Orlan-10 is a baseline drone in the class of the US Raven and its specs are fairly impressive for the class. The price of the unit in the article is pulled from you know where.

[montag813]

Ours cost millions. Russian ones cost less than $120,000.
Nice DIY job. Raspberry Pi-like board with IR camera, motion detector, and simple Canon SLR via HDMI interface.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

1. You believed the video? Because?

[Yo-Yo]

Forget the bottle cap for a fuel cap. Check out the Canon DSLR being used as the image sensor!

[Prince of Space]

Because it’s anti-Russia, silly!

[Zhang Fei]

[Unless the loser is Russia and the lunatic at the helm decides to blow up the world.]

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Like the Russian people, Putin’s a throwback, not a lunatic. We have this habit of assigning pejorative labels to goals and world views that seem atavistic to Western Europe and North America. But to Putin and the Russians he rules, there’s nothing wrong with territorial gain via armed conquest. We like to think that this went out the window after WWII and the onset of MAD. They think MAD is BS, and no one is going to pull the nuclear trigger over a piece of land. They won’t, and they understand we won’t either, because real life isn’t a board game. In real life, anyone who initiates a nuclear war with a nuclear-armed adversary with 2nd strike capability is also starting an all-out nuclear exchange, meaning he is vaporizing not just himself, but everyone he knows.

[This_Dude]

Almost all my 7.62x39 was imported from there

[billorites]

For Western weapons or Russian?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

But he will go down in history — to the 500 million to 1 billion people left behind.

[Seruzawa]

You can buy Ural motorcycles. They are Russian copies of old BMWs but without the quality. They do have a cool sidecar rig where the sidecar wheel is driven too. A lot of people like them but you’d better be handy with a wrench or two.

[This_Dude]

2 Russian, 1 Romanian, 2 Chinese, a yugo, and a Czech