Ukraine tested the “newest” missile aircraft for the Armed Forces of Ukraine: what is known about the technology (video)

The Center for Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Telegram reported that the UAV missile launch system was successfully tested. The Defense Express edition appreciated the technology.

UAV rocket launch: what is the essence of technology

On February 12, a video posted by an employee of the Department of Chemistry of the Kiev National Institute was posted on the Web. Shevchenko by Sergey Pipko, who is also head of the NAURocket project, a student design bureau for experimental rocket science based at the National Aeronautical University. It captures the takeoff of a drone from a platform located in the back of a jet propulsion truck. A small rocket booster can be seen on the underside of the UAV with the nozzle pointing diagonally down.

As the scientist explains, the technology greatly simplifies the launch of drones and is designed to replace mechanical catapults. Since the system is compact enough to fit in a truck or van, it does not need to be assembled and disassembled every time, as it uses a very short track or no rail.

“You can throw several pieces a minute in one gulp,” Sergey Pipko said on Facebook, but deleted his post soon after. However, several Ukrainian media and even Armed Forces managed to rerun Stratcom.

The first jet kamikaze aircraft in Ukraine: fact or myth?

Some netizens suspect that the video shows a new kamikaze drone model. According to Defense Express, the video shows a long-running RZ-60 unmanned aerial vehicle developed by specialists of the Kharkov Aviation Institute and Ramsay, a Ukrainian private company. Presumably the engineers chose it to demonstrate the new technology.

It is noteworthy that the RZ-60 was originally designed to be launched using a large pneumatic catapult. After accelerating, it flies very fast with the help of a gasoline engine that rotates a propeller at the rear of the fuselage, and the device lands with the help of a parachute. But engineers have created versions with one (RZ60Jet) and two (RZ60Jet-2) jet engines, the most powerful of which reaches speeds of up to 700 km / h.

The RZ-60 is known to everyone and its technical specifications are not secret. The UAV was delivered to the army in 2019 as a training target for anti-aircraft missile systems. The Ukrainian Armed Forces successfully used it and shot it down with the help of the S-300PT. It was assumed that the RZ-60 could replace the obsolete BP-2 and BP-3 target aircraft, but in 2021 Ramsay reported supply problems: allegedly, the military set technical tasks for developers, which significantly increased the cost. producing.

“They put the data transmission, the inertial system, the video system, etc. in the control center,” said Vladimir Shatov, the company’s technical director at the roundtable.

Features RZ-60

• Wingspan: 2.78 m
• Speed: up to 290 km/h
• Flight altitude: up to 6 km
• Flight range: up to 300 km
• Flight time: up to 1 hour
• Takeoff weight: 60 kg
• bearing capacity: 3kg

Defense Express believes the RZ-60 could theoretically be a kamikaze drone due to its low cost and presence of a navigation system. However, in its basic form, the drone can only lift a payload of 3 kg, which does not allow it to carry a large enough amount of explosives to cause significant damage to the Russian troops.

Previously, tests of a drone launching missiles at Ukraine were appreciated by Russian propagandists. They noticed that in terms of take-off technology, the UAVs are very similar to the Iranian “kamikaze” Arash-2.

Recently, a new jet drone with an EMP projectile was patented in Russia. It must go very high and then strike the drones with an electromagnetic pulse, knocking out the electronics.