Horky cartridges and ingenuity: As the Drones of the Armed Forces beat Russian quadcopters with nets (video)
Recently, several videos have appeared on the Twitter social network, as the Drones of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation fall into nets dumped by other aircraft. The fibers entangled the blades, which are a vulnerable place of copter, and disable them. In the 20th century, engineers designed for police for firing mesh with four loads at the edges that make it open in flight.
The idea was to entangle the target and immobilize it without harm, although the same goods could seriously injure it in the event of a human body. Later, the technology was rethinking for the fight against drones. There is already a rather large selection of firing installations with nets: from Skywall Patrol, similar to a base used to protect US Presidents and other persons, to the Skynet guns 12th caliber.
There are also drones interceptors abroad with nets, for example, Fortem Dronehunter 700, which was put in Ukraine. And recently, the Ukrainian team of Ptashka Drones with the support of the Brave1 cluster has developed a new UAV system. According to the Danielr OSINT analyst on its Twitter/X page, it is based on a 9 mm caliber cartridge and a truncated chicken mechanism erected by placing a bolt in a special groove.
The servo is activated when the operator turns on the LED lantern of the drone, a shot is heard, the powder gases push four metal balls that serve as cargoes for the grid. The mesh itself is stored in a plastic cone with a lid printed on a 3D printer. It must be properly packaged in this container so that it does not confuse. The products-loads are thus attached in special tubes. The network has an area of 3 meters / 10 square feet, which makes it capable of covering larger drones.
The firing mechanism can be installed on the drone without having to change the structure. Moreover, there are different mounts to connect with different quadcopter models. The total weight of the system is about 373 grams, so the UAV is lifted without much effort. However, the return during firing is quite strong, which affects accuracy. The creators are likely to refine the design. The range of an effective shot is about 10 meters.
Judging by the rollers, when enemy drones fall into the network, the drones fall down quickly. According to the analyst, the Ukrainian military can find and capture fallen drones to obtain reconnaissance information or reuse. As it usually happens in the war in Ukraine, both sides develop similar weapons at the same time. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have already started using drones for firing nets on heavy drone drone-type "Baba Yaga".
Forbes already involves counter -arrival for such weapons. In the sports arena for Droneclash drones, developers have already represented copters with closed rotors. This increases the weight, reduces the speed and productivity of the aircraft, but protects against damage to the blades. It is possible that soon the same armor Russian and Ukrainian troops will begin to put on their UAVs. Earlier it was written that 10 analogues of Dron Mavic were created in Ukraine.