7mo ago

Ukranian FPV drone equipped with shotguns shoots down Russian drones.

cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/20750177

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I was speculating a bit about the lack of recoil here: I think they may be using a firing mechanism that reduces/removes recoil, but with modern regulation technology, I can also imagine that you could program a drone to more or less perfectly counter the recoil when you fire.
Especially for the drones equipped with MG's firing at soldiers, I think the latter might be a better option. Anyone here with any experience with drones that could weigh in on this?
- The sensible solution is probably just a recoilless barrel - literally just don't seal the back of the barrel, and let the f=ma pass you by. Like a bazooka.
  Traditionally, the reasons NOT to use a recoilless rifle are as follows:
  The backblast is highly visible and gives your position away (the drone is disposable)
  The energy blasted out the back is wasted, meaning less efficient ammo that you have to carry more of, for the same effect (an unsealed barrel can be lighter, and the drone likely won't carry much ammo compared to the barrel weight anyway)
  The back blast could hurt you if fired indoors (the drone is disposable, and plenty of drones are in the sky anyway)
  Reloading could be hard (engineering problem, not actual problem)
  PS: if you're gonna fire an MG, why not a multi grenade launcher? Grenade launchers' lethality doesn't come from the f=ma so it's inherently less recoiling.
  
  That's exactly what I was thinking (unsealed or partly sealed barrel). On a drone you also have a lot more freedom regarding the reloading mechanism because you have access to a battery.
  I mentioned the MG because I've seen some footage of drones equipped with what looked like an LMG of some sort. And while an automatic grenade launcher takes away the problem of recoil, you get the issue of carrying enough ammo to be effective. Also, a drone equipped with an automatic grenade launcher seems to me like a complicated way to do what "bomber drones" are doing now, just without the launcher. I can see MG-equipped drones filling a different niche (high-volume suppressive fire).
- The weight of the drone + battery + gun is enough to absorb most of the recoil, and the gyroscope compensates for the rest.
  
  I have no way of judging the weight of this drone, but was thinking there must be something more than just "mass+gyro" since the recoil from a shotgun can be quite a bit to stabilise even for an 80 kg man. That's of course before taking into account how the recoil aligns with the centre of mass of the shooter (drone in this case).
  
  It's probably improvised rat shot out of a small steel tube.
  
  Good point, a standard shotgun shell is probably overkill for shooting down drones at short range.
- Drones are too light for full auto weapons. Virtually all of them shoot once, stabilize, and then shoot again. Maybe by creating a custom weapon which redirects the blowback downwards it would be easier but most drones have generic guns strapped onto them no custom stuff.

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