Aircraft for $ 90,000 with a robot at the helm: how was Shahapedov's plant in the Russian Federation - Forbes

Ukrainian engineers have installed an autonomous management on the Airpract A-22 sports aircraft and found it explosives, analysts say. The Ukrainian drone was able to overcome more than 1000 km before reaching the goal in Tatarstan - the Shakhaned Drops. Forbes analysts have suggested that Ukraine was helped by an overlaid sports aircraft of Ukrainian production A-22. Probably, the aircraft was modified somewhat, replacing manned robots and explosives.

They concluded that it was far from the last strike of the Armed Forces on the rear of Russia, given the fact that Ukrainians can convert A-22 into a drone-Kamikadze. They also named local production from the pros - the plane does not need to buy and wait for deliveries, as well as its relatively low price for its capabilities - $ 90,000.

The A-22 drone capable of flying 1000 km, being unnoticed by the Russian air defense system and is able to deliver with high accuracy potentially tens of kilograms of explosives, costs only a little more expensive than one Javelin anti-tank rocket of American production, but they are used in large quantities. It is quite possible to scale UAV production on the basis of A-22, so experts expect that in the future new attacks are waiting on the Russian Federation.

The publication notes that A-22 aircraft are sold in the United States. Yes, Leighor Aircraft wrote on her website: "If you are looking for a strong plane that is easy to control, which has stunning characteristics at short flight distances, but at the same time capable of developing cruising speed of more You hit the address! ".

Analysts do not know exactly how Ukrainian engineers managed to convert A-22 to Dron Kamikadze, but they suggest that this could be done with a set of drives and computer management. Such methods were used in 2019 by the US Air Force engineers when the CESSNA 206 1968 was reworked.

"The system" grabs "the helm, presses on the steering wheel and brakes, controls the throttle, manipulates switch and reads the readings of the devices in the same way as the pilot does," the Air Force's research laboratories explained. - "The system also uses sensors such as GPS and an inertial measuring unit for situational awareness and collecting information. The computer analyzes this information to make a decision on how best to manage the flight.

" Apparently, from Airpract A-22 made a slow winged rocket. And taking into account the cost of integrated automatic control and release load systems, the drone A-22 can reach several hundred thousand dollars. But it is still cheaper than Neptune's winged rocket, which costs about $ 500,000. And it is much cheaper than the winged Storm Shadow missiles worth $ 3 million that Ukraine has received from the United Kingdom.

Moreover, A-22 with a flight range of about 1000 km is much more effective than Neptune and Storm Shadow, whose flight range is only 321 km. But there are also disadvantages in UAVs. Experts believe that this is a low speed: a maximum of 202 km/h compared to 965 km/h, which can be issued by Storm Shadow. Theoretically, this does the drone on the basis of A-22 vulnerable to Russian air defense.

In practice, air defense tools are scattered throughout the vast territory of Russia, so new Ukrainian drones have enough space to maneuver and strike. Earlier, we wrote that Ukraine had a Cessna light -brown aircraft and attacked drones in the Russian Federation. After a blow to the Shakhadov plant in Tatarstan, journalists recalled that in 1987 a German teenager on Cessna 172 landed on Red Square. The Soviet fighters went to him, but the laid radar operator recorded the aircraft as "friendly".