Ukraine’s Drainpipe Drones
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“This is a very interesting and quite nice drone,” DanielR told Forbes. “The people who made it know what they are doing. The over-all design is similar to radio-controlled aircraft built by hobbyists many, many years ago. However, the airframe has been carefully designed to use locally-sourced, low-cost materials.”
The fuselage of the drone, its backbone so to speak, is what looks like length of orange plastic drainpipe six inches in diameter. DanielR was puzzled by the color choice, until European commenters told him that orange is the standard code for pipes carrying underground electrical cables in Europe, and six inches is the usual diameter. So the makers simply acquired sturdy PVC piping off the shelf. -
Not dirt cheap at $5-$10k per drone, but very reasonable for the capability.
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@Jolly said in Ukraine’s Drainpipe Drones:
Not dirt cheap at $5-$10k per drone, but very reasonable for the capability.
Considering the capabilities - remarkably cheap. And it takes only 2 people to assemble.
What's a cruise missile cost these days?
Granted, these don't have the range or the payload, but build enough of them, and you'll make an .. impact.
Online discussions of fuel consumption for the DLE170 indicate that at normal rates of fuel usage it will fly for something like two and a half hours, which could take it 200-300 km/ 120-190 miles. Which is about the same as the ATACMS long-range missiles which Ukraine has been fruitlessly requesting from the U.S. since 2021.
As with some missiles, the ignition of unexpended fuel may do more damage than the explosive. The drone is essentially a giant, flying Molotov cocktail. Given that many of the current prime targets are Russian gas and oil storage and refineries, the drainpipe drone may be intended as more of a Firestarter than a blaster, especially if used as a second wave after drones with bigger warheads have ruptured storage tanks.
