War in Ukraine
Mass instead of class – now Putin is attacking Kyiv with construction foam drones
Such cheap Russian drones are supposed to flood Ukrainian airspace
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Russia is terrorizing Ukraine with cheap Iranian-made drones. Masses of cheap copies of the Shahed drones are intended to exhaust the Ukrainians’ air defenses.
The Russian army has long used simple drones based on Iranian designs for its war in Ukraine. They are powered by a small motor, are relatively slow and can also be recognized by the bubbling sound of their motor. Nickname: Moped. This Drones are currently primarily used to keep Ukrainian air defense busy. So far they have been fought by anti-aircraft tanks such as the German Leopard, but also by mobile units that have machine guns mounted on pickup trucks.
Russia is allowing drones to fly at higher altitudes
But the Russians have adapted their tactics to the situation. The Shahed drones used to fly at low altitudes – so they are difficult to detect by ground radar, but can also be hit by machine guns. They are now flying at higher altitudes, out of reach of machine guns. This is intended to force the Ukrainians to fire their scarce and expensive anti-aircraft missiles at the cheap drones.
The use of drones is often not primarily intended to hit a target. The Russian armed forces have significantly increased the duration of their attacks, thereby extending the paralyzing period of air alert in Ukraine. In addition, the drones circling around for hours keeps the Ukrainian air defense busy – it is supposed to tire them out in the truest sense of the word.
In the West it is estimated that Russia produces around 500 Shahed drones under the name Geran-2 per month. In September alone, around 1,300 of these drones were spotted over Ukraine, as Forbes magazine reports. The reason is that there is now a copy of the cheap drone that is manufactured even cheaper. This extremely simple drone is built by the Russian company Aersocan, which already produces the effective Russian Lancet drones with its subsidiary Zala.
Drones like those from model making
The costs are so low because methods from model building were adopted. Carbon or expensive composite materials are not used in production. Instead, the Italmas is based on a plywood frame. This is not new, the extraordinarily successful De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito heavy fighter aircraft from the Second World War was also a wooden construction. The actual body of the delta-shaped drone is cast in a hollow mold with a better construction foam. The whole thing is powered by a Chinese motor for hobby drones.
The combination of foam casting and plywood frame makes it possible to produce large quantities. A CNC milling machine from the carpentry shop can cut the wooden components from plywood panels fully automatically in piecework. Then they just have to be put together and glued, like in model building.
The “Gerbera” is built in a similar way and is also a cheaper variant of the Iranian model. Both models are expected to have a smaller warhead and a shorter range. They are intended primarily to serve as decoys to saturate air defenses. It is expected that Russia will be able to further increase the number of drones in strategic air warfare in the next few months.
Rumors about delivery from China
The Reuters agency reports another threatening development. Russia should have long-range combat drones manufactured directly in China. Until now, Beijing had avoided supplying pure weapons, limiting itself to dual-use products. Such as enduro motorcycles and light four-wheeled vehicles that can also be used by the military.
Samples of the Garpiya-3 (G3) combat drone, named after the mythical creature Harpy, have already been delivered for testing. It should have a range of up to 2000 kilometers and be able to transport a payload of 50 kilograms. It would be a dangerous development for Ukraine if drone giant China decides to openly support Putin’s war. The West is already finding it difficult to even cover Kiev’s needs for armaments to some extent. If China’s production capacity were to benefit Russia, the imbalance would be immense.