The $3,000 UAVs activate air defense, but so far it does not represent any real harm to the Ukrainians, although Russian IPSOs try to convince them otherwise.
Recently, information has been circulating on the Internet about mysterious Russian unmanned aerial vehicles with wooden hulls. Pavlo Kashchuk, a Ukrainian volunteer and founder of the InfoCar portal, disassembled such a drone with his team and talked about its features on Facebook.
Drones “Kravchuchka”: true or IPSO?
The expert named the drone “Kravchuchka”, resembling the wheelbarrows popular in the 90s. According to him, two videos dedicated to such UAVs are currently actively circulating on the Web: one of them is a Russian information and psychological operation (IPSO), and the second is an analysis of a “not very competent person” from Ukraine. It works for the Russians too.
Pavel Kashchuk decided to tell what a Russian drone can and cannot actually do. “Do not believe the Russian IPSO and domestic idiots,” he insisted.
In the aforementioned videos, the authors call the cost of UAVs between $10,000 and $30,000 and encourage them to shoot down any way, as they pose a significant threat. The researcher also noticed that the drone consists of inexpensive civilian parts available on the market and therefore costs a little more than $2000-$3000.
“The plane is a serial version of a model made of shit and sticks, so to speak. It looks well assembled, it flies almost 1000 km, but there are some design issues that are obvious to aeromodelling professionals, we will not. Pavel Kashchuk shared:
What is the wooden drone made of?
The drone received a simple wooden body, in which you can see all the “stuffing”, and two Chinese engines – front and rear, each costing 600-700 dollars. Experts suggest that in case of failure the latter should copy the main one, but such a design is illogical for a “disposable” device. The declared speed is up to 300 km/h, but Ukrainian experts are sure that this is impossible due to the rather fragile structure – at 200 km/h it can “break apart”. It was flying at a constant speed of 100 km/h according to the operator’s settings.
The CUAV V5+ flight controller (China) costs about $450-500, allows the aircraft to take off from roads and other more or less stable surfaces with the help of a remote control, provides an inertial navigation system for movement with signal interference from satellites. The satellite navigation system is also from CUAV – the Neo GPS 3 costs about $ 100 (no longer produced), but the Russians in the video present it as very cool and modern. According to Pavel Kashchuk, Kravchuchka’s navigation can be suppressed by almost any method of electronic warfare, although it can fly beyond the range of anti-drone weapons.
“No one tried to make this aircraft super passable under electronic warfare,” the analyst said.
Inside they found a CUAV P9 Radio telemetry module (900 MHz), its purpose is still a mystery to Ukrainian experts. Theoretically, after the launch, the operator can change the mission of the UAV up to 100 km (with a good ground-based antenna), for example, send it to another place or send it back. At the same time, electronic intelligence systems that know the frequency can easily detect operators.
Mission of new Russian drones in the war in Ukraine
After examining the electronics, experts came to the conclusion that the unmanned aerial vehicle should distract the Ukrainian air defense system, provoke the launch of an expensive missile or force the Armed Forces of Ukraine to give the location of the complex. Drones can carry a load, for this a threaded mount is provided under the fuselage, but the samples that were dropped and captured in Ukraine came without one: no cameras, no explosives, no radio equipment. Probably the Russians will start installing some of it later, but for now they are just testing the devices.
“We didn’t see any serious tricks and fine-tuning. In general, it was assembled with the soul, someone thought of the location of the wires, boxes, fastening, it is very easy to assemble. In fact, I think everything is quite reliable here, but this is the level of a civilian hobby who makes foam things,” said Pavel. Kashchuk
It took off from the occupied Berdyansk, rose to a height of about 1 km, headed for the front line near Orekhovo, and then descended to 250 m, presumably in this way the drone imitates planes trying to hide from radars. Then he flew over Zaporozhye, including the National Police Department, then headed for the city of the same name along the bed of the Dnieper River and proceeded along a zigzag route, designed for 100 loops on it. As a result, the plane ran out of fuel and crashed outside the district headquarters.
According to the researchers, the Ukrainian military should not spend air defense missiles on such “bait” unless they are carrying explosives or harmful equipment. However, soldiers can shoot such devices with small arms when flying at an altitude of several hundred meters. While the UAV is flying over the city, it has the risk of falling on the dwellings, but it cannot do much damage, currently it has to be suppressed with electronic warfare to take it out of the settlement.
Pavel Kashchuk added that the captured and examined drone was sent for repair. After restoration, the military will learn more about the capabilities of the UAV and will be able to send it back to the invaders with their mission.
On the night of May 11, fighters of the National Guard shot down a wooden drone in the Dnepropetrovsk region. They found explosives inside.
Recently, the BLITZ Aircraft Unmanned group reported that new Russian drones can carry payloads of up to 10 kg and cost $10,000 according to experts. According to them, telemetry allows the Russians to control wooden cased UAVs over GSM channels.
Source: Focus
Ashley Fitzgerald is an accomplished journalist in the field of technology. She currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a deep understanding of the latest technology developments, Ashley’s writing provides readers with insightful analysis and unique perspectives on the industry.