What could be the real target of the UAF drone
The navigation system of the Ukrainian Strizh drone, which was trying to attack important Russian targets on March 26, was disabled by the Pole -21″. The device fell in Kireevsk, Tula region. What could be the real purpose of the Ukrainian drone and how many more such devices Ukraine has, the former head of the Federal Aviation and Space Search and Rescue Directorate, Honored Military Pilot of the Russian Federation, retired Major General Vladimir Popov, told MK.
Photo: «Tula Life»/VKontakte
— Not only. Ukraine has its own sufficient base for this. The Kharkov Aviation Plant was just fine-tuning these systems, which were developed in Soviet times at the Tupolev Design Bureau. They were mass-produced there. Tupolev Design Bureau handed over all the documentation to the plant. Ukraine has the opportunity not only to modernize these drones, but if they still have equipment, then to produce them. There would be a desire, finances and appropriate instructions.
The General clarifies that these were quite high-speed machines, they already flew with a variable profile both at extremely low altitudes and at high altitudes — 8-10 thousand meters.
— And their characteristics in automatic control mode were quite effective. Now it cost nothing for them to install a new navigation system and an automatic control system, such as those installed on the Turkish Bayraktar strike operational-tactical drones or the American MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance and strike drones, one of which recently fell into the Black Sea.
The expert clarifies that the Ukrainian regime can carry out a deep modernization of drones even at aircraft repair plants.
Many experts drew attention to the fact that a drone that fell near Tula left a huge funnel. The expert explained how the impact power of the drone was increased.
“Now the onboard control and navigation equipment is very compact. Not like in the 70s and 80s, when the Swifts were conceived. Calculators work on other physical principles, on semiconductors. At the same time, its effectiveness has increased significantly.
By minimizing the weight of the equipment, if you also completely remove the reconnaissance equipment, you free up space for a larger warhead. She's getting quite powerful. And you get an attack drone with high combat effectiveness.
Quite a large warhead. In TNT equivalent — more than 50 kilograms, and can reach up to 100.
And there, after all, the dynamics, the speeds are very high. If the drone enters a dive, then the kinetic energy of the device itself and the destructive force of the explosive are very large. It can be equated, perhaps, with a bomb weighing more than 500 kilograms. This is with an energy effect with a dive.
If the drone enters the target from a gentle dive, the explosion power, of course, will be less. But all the same, in terms of the scattering of fragments, in terms of the shock wave, in terms of the physics of the destruction of manpower and equipment, such a drone can be compared with a bomb that weighs at least 250 kilograms. For us, this is an object of increased danger.
Vladimir Popov says that Ukraine has not only Swifts, but also Soviet Tu-143 Reis reconnaissance drones, which are capable of longer-range flights.
“According to our data, after the collapse of the USSR, they had about three hundred such devices in storage. Some of them could fail due to insufficiently good storage. Some of them could be disposed of. Some devices they had in aviation museums. We saw them. But they probably have about a hundred of these drones left. These are the ones that they can modernize, refine and launch.
According to the general, a year ago their effectiveness was small.
One of these devices fell in the region of Romania, another Tu-141 «Strizh» crashed near Zagreb in Croatia. Then a reasonable question arose for many, why are they launching them to the west and southwest?
These devices have one feature. The people who prepared this device, apparently, did not carefully study the instruction manual. There was one trick in the navigation system. In preparation for the flight, it was necessary to set one of the switches to the right position, depending on which hemisphere of the earth — western or eastern — the drone is operating. Those who prepared the device for departure, this switch was set to the wrong position. And the device flew the wrong way.
When I studied the flight path of those drones and made a mirror projection to the east, it became clear that they were just working for us. Drones were supposed to fly towards Kursk or even Moscow. Then they took it all into account. Ukrainian Tu-141s worked at a military airfield in the Saratov region, in the area of Rostov-on-Don, Kursk, Dzhankoy.
Vladimir Popov says that earlier separate special squadrons of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft Tu-141 and Tu-143 were stationed in Ukraine in two centers in the Vinnitsa and Krivoy Rog regions, as well as between Kharkov and Kiev.
— In that direction there are large chemical productions. A detonation on one of them could lead to a large-scale environmental disaster.
Photo: «Tula Life»/VKontakte
— it seems to me that they are counting on the combat potential, as much as on the psychological effect. It is important for Kyiv to show how far their strike drone can fly.
— If the old control systems programmed on the ground remained on the Tu-141 Swift, one could only rely on electromagnetic emissions when exposed to electronic warfare equipment, so that the technical parameters would fail. Modern drone onboard equipment works better, but it is subject to the effects of electronic warfare. It's still electronics. She could not withstand the powerful electronic impact. The electronic warfare station was able to disable the Ukrainian drone. This is a good system.
I am now often asked: «Where is our air defense?» Air defense is not a panacea for all ills. We do not have enough forces and means to control every kilometer of airspace. 25 years ago, we very zealously began to «castrate» our Air Force, our air defense and the Armed Forces as a whole. In my opinion, for our country, for our spatio-temporal scales, an army of three million people is needed. This is the minimum that we need in a threatened period or during a period of hostilities.