Now the world knows how to down an American drone simply and cheaply. No missiles needed.
I don't think the MIT PHD design engineer ever thought hosing down the drone with jet fuel was a viable attack strategy.
I noticed the jet didn't just settle down in front of the drone and just throw up a cloud of fuel in front of it. Too much risk of creating a fuel air bomb using the drone as an ignition source. Very smart. Also, if it did what they planned it to do, overspeed the turboprop engine, the drone would end up in the back seat of the fighter. Very smart again.
There was a time they said they lost video for 30 seconds or something. The turbine engine probably over sped due to a massive increase in fuel in the combustion chamber and circuit breakers started tripping and safety shut offs kicked in. So, either the turbine would start throwing ceramic metal blades through the engine casing or... it would severely over torque the propeller, bending and throwing blades there.
No fighter pilot in their right mind would risk their aircraft or themselves rubbing against a high speed turboprop with the aircraft belly. I think the unlikely scenario of dousing the drone with fuel caused an overspeed condition that destroyed the propeller.
They did this over water. More and larger parts to recover vs scattered across a few miles of dirt and be about the size of a pinky fingernail. I also wonder if the same engineer that designed the drone designed the self destruct, if it has one. Why would you need to waterproof the detonator, its an aircraft not a submarine. So, critical components are probably intact.
The Russian officer that came up with this attack strategy is going to get a medal. This was not amateurish or unprofessional pilot behavior. I think someone carefully thought this all out and implemented it to snag a drone.
Now the world knows how to down an American drone simply and cheaply. No missiles needed.
I don't think the MIT PHD design engineer ever thought hosing down the drone with jet fuel was a viable attack strategy.
I noticed the jet didn't just settle down in front of the drone and just throw up a cloud of fuel in front of it. Too much risk of creating a fuel air bomb using the drone as an ignition source. Very smart. Also, if it did what they planned it to do, overspeed the turboprop engine, the drone would end up in the back seat of the fighter. Very smart again.
There was a time they said they lost video for 30 seconds or something. The turbine engine probably over sped due to a massive increase in fuel in the combustion chamber and circuit breakers started tripping and safety shut offs kicked in. So, either the turbine would start throwing ceramic metal blades through the engine casing or... it would severely over torque the propeller, bending and throwing blades there.
No fighter pilot in their right mind would risk their aircraft or themselves rubbing against a high speed turboprop with the aircraft belly. I think the unlikely scenario of dousing the drone with fuel caused an overspeed condition that destroyed the propeller.
They did this over water. More and larger parts to recover vs scattered across a few miles of dirt and be about the size of a pinky fingernail. I also wonder if the same engineer that designed the drone designed the self destruct, if it has one. Why would you need to waterproof the detonator, its an aircraft not a submarine. So, critical components are probably intact.
The Russian officer that came up with this attack strategy is going to get a medal. This was not amateurish or unprofessional pilot behavior. I think someone carefully thought this all out and implemented it to snag a drone.