In Ukraine, a drone with a jet engine and a flight range of 400 kilometers has been developed
In Ukraine, a drone with a jet engine and a flight range of 400 kilometers has been developed
The Ukrainian company UKRJET has unveiled a new multi-purpose unmanned aviation system with a jet engine called UJ- ...
I wonder what the design decision was for the forward-swept wings. These typically decrease lateral stability and increase structural weight, because they require substantially higher stiffness for flutter-resistance compared to straight or rear-swept wings. Maybe so the main wing spar can be further aft to have a larger contiguous payload bay. The HansaJet had forward-swept wings for a similar reason (no main spar in the cabin).
22I would think it's got to do with spanwise flow. The forward swept design brings the spanwise flow toward the fuselage and allows for more effective control of the ailerons when traveling at transonic speeds like can be expected from a "drone/missile/UAV" like this.
It also allows for a reduction in vortices formed by the wingtip which would increase drag and decrease efficiency. That means you can get away with a smaller wing, decreasing weight and either increasing your payload or maximum range.
9If it were beneficial in total, most transonic planes would have it. The only aerodynamic advantage over backward swept wings is higher manoeuvrability, which isn't a priority here. This isn't a dogfighter. My money is still on better payload distribution.
more effective control of the ailerons
Not sure what that means. I don't think agility is a priority with a jet-powered drone. Or benign stall characteristics.
reduction in vortices formed by the wingtip which would increase drag and decrease efficiency
That is negligible. We know how to reduce wingtip vortices, and reverse sweep is not the answer. Raked wingtips as used on the 787 and the larger-wing versions of the 777 and the 777X are optimal for transonic flight. Blended winglets are a close second, as used on the A350 and A330neo. Again, not forward sweep.
This thing also does not look very refined aerodynamically, and there are many more things that could be done to reduce drag that are much cheaper. Wing-body fairings come to mind to reduce interference drag, or winglets if you really want to go there. This has all the looks of "Eh. Good enough. Send it!", which makes sense given the urgency.
5
the main wing spar can be further aft to have a larger contiguous payload bay
and maybe so it can carry all the heavy, rude stuff right up front, with all the control in the rear..
2I think this is mostly a reconnaissance and electronic countermeasures drone, with refined, rather than rude stuff.
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Isn't that just a missile? Is the difference that it doesn't need a launcher?
14I'd say the difference is that this one is remote controllable, a missile may fly autonomously?
16Yeah that's a cruise missile I thought?
6I think the difference between this and a regular cruise missile is that this has manual control and can be more than just a explosive payload delivery system. A cruise missile usually has an assigned target that when fired it will fly to and hit, this can do more complex things like reconissaince.
7i guess this one can chase you if it sees you running
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I hope these drones fill the skies in Moscow soon.
12It's not a cruise missile. It's ECM and reconnaissance/intelligence gathering.
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Isn't that just a maneuverable cruising missile?
12I was going to say that: a guided missile essentially. But drone makes more hipe I guess.
3It's a bit of a grey area honestly. I believe I saw that this UAV can carry a 10kg payload. In contrast to Storm Shadow/SCALP EG, which delivers a 450kg dual stage warhead, it's hard to classify this directly as a "cruise missile". It's possible that there will eventually be a settled terminology for this classification of range and payload that makes more sense, since the use case and application are very different than traditional cruise missiles.
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Isn’t this the drone in the pics? https://www.ukrspecexport.com/uploads/redactor/6%20USE_UMEX_Topaz_PRINT.pdf
8As far as I can tell, yes.
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I believe that’s called a cruise missile
8How many cruise missiles are flown with joysticks by humans? :)
18Only if it's meant for a single one-way flight that ends with a big kaboom. Presumably since they're calling it a drone it's meant to fly somewhere, do something (deliver ordnance or just surveil an area) and come back for refueling, repairs, and redeployment.
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With all the confusion I think it's time to bring back the term UAV
5We sent them all through the Stargate, there aren't any more.
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The cabin is inside a van folks (just before anyone asks)
The photo sequence makes it funny tho 😂
5The fake progressive neocons of lemmy should get a hard on at this. enjoy the proxy war
-17Sir if you don't support defending Ukraine from fascist right-wing states like Russia then are you even left?
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