Small UAS / Drones and related general thread - NOT Swarming ones.

Josh_TN said:
I suspect given the shear quantity of fiber optic cables draped across the landscape that the number of times an active one is manually cut mid mission is fleetingly small. Snags/pulls I assume do happen. In particular I would think fixed wing fiber deployment a little problematic.

I wonder if these wires would reflect anything if you could shine a suitably energetic laser on them. They are mostly invisible, but if you could detect an active drone dispersing one and had a means for visualizing the wire itself, following it back to the source would be pretty trivial. Likely you could almost immediately determine bearing, and perhaps back tracking several would triangulate a small area sensors or artillery could focus on. But there would need to be some way of rapidly detecting the fibers, which I suspect are invisible to normal radar, IR, and EO sensors.
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That little guy as the cheapest and most efficient solution:

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(commercial image)
 
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https://topwar.ru/270989-bpla-kamikadze-geran-ih-sila-v-roe.html
It would seem that this is the solution, because due to the high flight speed, such Geran-3 kamikaze UAVs are almost as difficult to shoot down as cruise missiles?

However, everything is not so simple, the problem is that a turbojet engine is a very expensive product, the difference in the cost of a turbojet engine and a piston engine can be several orders of magnitude.

In addition, the increase in speed and high temperature of the turbojet engine increase the visibility of the UAV for radar and infrared detection means, and therefore the vulnerability to enemy anti-aircraft missile systems (SAM). And the increased cost of the kamikaze UAV due to the use of turbojet engines makes it quite an attractive target even for destruction with the help of missiles and air-to-air missiles.

However, there is an opportunity to increase the speed of kamikaze UAVs "inexpensively" - to use a pulsed air-breathing engine (PuVRD), which was used on German V-1 cruise missiles during World War II.

Compared to the turbojet engine, the PuVRD consists of almost only disadvantages - it is a noisy, hot, fuel-consuming jet engine, but it has one critical advantage - if its design and production processes are optimized, the PuVRD will be much cheaper than the turbojet engine, its cost may well be comparable to the cost of a piston engine from a "moped".

In fact, the PuVRD is a curved tube with a fuel injection device, in which there are no rotating parts, heat-resistant turbine blades and other complex and expensive parts - earlier we talked about the potential of the PuVRD for use on kamikaze UAVs in the material The V-1 was reinvented in the United States: this can be a new milestone in the creation of kamikaze UAVs.
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How much will the flight range of the Geranium kamikaze UAV equipped with a ramjet decrease compared to a UAV equipped with a turbojet engine or a piston engine?

It is difficult to say, especially given that we do not know for sure the range of the basic model with a piston engine. It can be assumed that if the range of the Geran-2 kamikaze UAV with a piston engine is about 1000-1500 kilometers, then for the Geranium with a piston engine it will be about 200-500 kilometers.

Well, a significant number of enemy objects will still be in the zone of destruction of the Geran-2 kamikaze UAV, even if they are launched from transport aircraft outside the range of the enemy's air defense systems or from inconspicuous Gazelles cruising several tens of kilometers from the line of contact.

In any case, the Geran-2 kamikaze UAVs will not replace, but will complement existing modifications, significantly expanding their "habitat" - the scope of application.
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Pulse jets are a cheap option, but they are sufficiently inferior in so many ways that I do not think we will see widespread adoption. It is a pretty volume inefficient installation, on top of having poor fuel economy for the performance. IMO, the trend will be cheaper, lower lifetime turbojets and turbofans, with there already being a number of specialized options coming to market. I think 3D printing of entire jets (for short, unmanned flight hour use) is just around the corner, though I am aware of no operational models as of yet.
 
Sorry that there is so much Geran news, not trying to spam too much of it here.
https://vpk-name.translate.goog/new...ee.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en
Russia's Geran-2 kamikaze drones have become even more effective; their developers have increased the drone's warhead, albeit slightly reducing its range. The new Geran drones now carry a dual warhead.

According to the SHOT channel, the new Geran-2 has received an additional 40-kilogram high-explosive fragmentation warhead, while the "old" 50-kilogram warhead remains in place. This brings the total warhead weight to 90 kg. With the new warhead, the Geran is expected to be more effective in striking military and critical targets in Ukraine.

As noted, for greater effectiveness, a belt of pre-formed fragments was added to the warhead, which should increase the damage per hit. However, as the developers admit, the Geranium's range with the new warhead has been reduced from 1,800 km to 1,200. However, as experience with kamikaze drones shows, this is quite sufficient for delivering strikes.

Previously, Ukrainian military personnel complained that Russian developers increased the altitude of kamikaze drones, immediately "disabling" one of the most important elements of Ukraine's air defense—mobile installations with heavy machine guns. As one Ukrainian military officer stated, "We see and hear the drones, but we can't hit them."

Recently, jet-powered Geran missiles, which fly much faster than the basic version, have begun appearing more frequently in Ukrainian skies. This also poses problems for Ukrainian air defense systems.
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I was wondering when someone was going to get to a completely 3D printed turbojet. Is anyone else moving in this direction? I know a lot of new low power, shorter life span engines are about to hit the market.
 
NMaude said:
That is definitely going to put a crimp in Russia's production of artillery shell, missiles and rockets for quite some time.
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Depends on the degree of damage. A lot of Ukrainian UAVs, outside the full sized converted civilian aircraft, lack much of an explosive payload. Refineries are relatively flammable targets; other types of factories and production sites probably less so.

The thing I find notable is the range; it is not the longest strike on record but it is at the upper end at what presumably was a modestly well defended target. I suspect that means a number of platforms were used in the strike.
 
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