Such shells are usually carried by heavy hexocopectors and locally production, collected from imported components. The two most famous types are "bat" and "vampire", both of which were presented as part of the initiative "Army of Drones", headed by the Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov.
Mortar bombs are very effective against armored vehicles, but more complex goals, such as bunkers and concrete firing points, require something more powerful, something that uses most of the amount of the bombard load for one large ammunition. And here they come to the rescue TM-62: a convenient, ready-made ammunition, which can carry a vampire or bat. "They have a significant explosive effect, so they are useful for demonstration work," says British military historian Matthew Moss.
He notes that heavy mines, apparently, are used solely against static purposes, such as bins and checkpoints, and mortar mines and other ammunition are used against vehicles. Their advantage is that they give several shots: if the first bomb is missing, the operator can adjust the position for the next shot. The mine works on the principle of "everything or nothing", but the 25-fuel mine has much more devastating power than a 7-fuel mortar bomb.
In part, this is due to the fact that the mortar bomb is primarily intended for splashing anti-personnel fragments, so it mostly metal and contains no more than 20% of the explosive, while 80% of TM-62 weight is the explosion of TNT or Hexogen. Moss studied the TM-62 discharged from the air and noted how the ways of their explosion and dumping developed.
In one of the variants, a hole is cut in the mine housing so that a manual grenade detonator can be inserted directly into the mines' explosive substance. This mine is simply dropped from a tray suspended under the drone. In another version of the mine is depicted with a makeshift tail penalty made of a piece of pipe and a plastic bottle of water, so that it falls straight down, and next to the tail is a larger detonator.
It seems that it is reset through the belt system and is more accurate than the previous version. The TM-62 power can make it dangerous for drone that drops it: a massive mine has a much larger danger radius than a small pomegranate. Operators are clearly aware of this, and the time spent by mines on the target on video bombing TM-62, suggests that they are dropped from a height of several tens of meters. This ensures the safety of the drone.
Experts say that before the start of a full-scale invasion of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, no heavy bombard-artist was never used in the war. The SkyFall engineers team started working on a driver drone in June 2022, already having experience in creating a reconnaissance model. The first two prototypes had an unconvincing appearance, but subsequently the company corrected the shortcomings, including a lung carbon fiber and a more reliable communication system.
Some of the parts are printed on their own 3D printers, which reduces the cost of production. But even at the same time, the price of one UAV starts from $ 10 thousand Vampire is a fairly large hexacopter, which raises a payload weighing up to 15 kg to a height of 400 km.
Due to this, he can dump different types of ammunition on the enemy: thermobaric, cumulative and fragmental-fugas, to effectively strike different types of goals, including tanks and other armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Engineers equipped the Vampire thermal imager for work at night. The first generation of drones received a 320x240 thermal imaging module, which allows you to look at the goals in the dark at a distance of about 120 meters.
Hexacopter uses both radio frequency and GPS for communication, the operator controls the device with a special remote control. Vampire autonomy corresponds to two batteries located on the sides, at the bottom there is a system of resetting ammunition. The drone itself is quite heavy, so it has to be transported on a truck, but propeller racks are formed, providing compactness.
The unmanned hexacopter raises and dumps ammunition weighing up to 20 kg, designed to defeat combat equipment and the living force of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. These can be 82mm and 120 mm mines, as well as anti-tank mines. The reset system allows the "bat" to arrange a bombing, striking directly for the enemy's goals, or remotely changing the territory. Despite its large size, the "bat" develops speeds up to 120 km/h, so it is difficult to get in small arms.
The drone is easy to operate, but engineering skills are needed to effectively maintain pilots. The UAV is equipped with an optical day vision with a 10-fold magnification, as well as a camera with a thermal imaginary for night. We will remind, in April in Ukraine a new drone bomber was tested, which can carry a health load, weighing 5 kilograms. The drone is intended for the destruction of living strength, technology and positions of the Russians.
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