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New Details Emerge on the “Highly Modified Drone” That Outran Police Helicopters

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Re: New Details Emerge on the “Highly Modified Drone” That Outran Police Helicopters

#81

Post by giantrobot »

grecy wrote: post #13

> they believed the drone was highly unlikely to be battery-powered based on the altitude, distance, and speed at which it flew Does that mean it's gasoline powered? Do we have many details on gas powered drones ? i.e. the kind of range, altitude and speed they can achieve?

RC planes can hit speeds over 150mph with the fastest jet powered ones much faster. They can also have flight times of dozens of hours, a modified RC plane made a flight from Canada to Ireland [0]. Drones also don't need real-time control. They can fly a pre-programmed route or have minimal input and just be told to head to a way given waypoint (or series of them). A well positioned direction VHF or UHF can give a control channel from miles away especially if there's no need for real-time imagery.

[0] https://amablog.modelaircraft.org/amamuseum/2017/03/29/trans...

Re: New Details Emerge on the “Highly Modified Drone” That Outran Police Helicopters

#82

Post by barrkel »

sandworm101 wrote: post #77

There are a few inconsistencies that lead me to not believe the numbers. >>It was last seen climbing through 14,000’ and into the undercast, where it disappeared. >>Department's helicopter was unable to observe the drone when looking through night vision goggles. If this was heading up to 14k while being chased by helicopters, it wasn't a battery-powered quad. A medium sized drone would have to be powered by IC to pe…

It's in the article:

> A source with direct knowledge of the incident's details told The War Zone they believed the drone was highly unlikely to be battery-powered based on the altitude, distance, and speed at which it flew.

Re: New Details Emerge on the “Highly Modified Drone” That Outran Police Helicopters

#83

Post by barrkel »

rhacker wrote: post #80

Um, is anyone else thinking how impossible this would be with current tech? 50 miles during one stretch. And on the helicopter that followed it, it logged 1.5 hours of flight time! The radio control tech must have been extremely tuned for that range. Maybe a vehicle was driving below it. I am picturing at least 5KWh battery that should weigh at least 75 pounds (total guestimation)

In the article:

> A source with direct knowledge of the incident's details told The War Zone they believed the drone was highly unlikely to be battery-powered based on the altitude, distance, and speed at which it flew.

Re: New Details Emerge on the “Highly Modified Drone” That Outran Police Helicopters

#84

Post by 10000truths »

pope_meat wrote: post #72
10000truths wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We always were in that realm. “Nation states” are not some god-like, invincible entity. They’re groups of people with a budget.

Seeking friends with a budget for nuclear submarines, and hypersonic missiles. I personally got $5 on it.

You joke, but for a high enough price, I’m sure you can find someone willing to sell. ISIS didn’t manufacture their own missiles or guns.

Re: New Details Emerge on the “Highly Modified Drone” That Outran Police Helicopters

#85

Post by rhacker »

barrkel wrote: post #83
rhacker wrote: post #80

Um, is anyone else thinking how impossible this would be with current tech? 50 miles during one stretch. And on the helicopter that followed it, it logged 1.5 hours of flight time! The radio control tech must have been extremely tuned for that range. Maybe a vehicle was driving below it. I am picturing at least 5KWh battery that should weigh at least 75 pounds (total guestimation)

In the article: > A source with direct knowledge of the incident's details told The War Zone they believed the drone was highly unlikely to be battery-powered based on the altitude, distance, and speed at which it flew.

Thank you, missed that.

Re: New Details Emerge on the “Highly Modified Drone” That Outran Police Helicopters

#86

Post by sandworm101 »

barrkel wrote: post #82
sandworm101 wrote: post #77

There are a few inconsistencies that lead me to not believe the numbers. >>It was last seen climbing through 14,000’ and into the undercast, where it disappeared. >>Department's helicopter was unable to observe the drone when looking through night vision goggles. If this was heading up to 14k while being chased by helicopters, it wasn't a battery-powered quad. A medium sized drone would have to be powered by IC to pe…

It's in the article: > A source with direct knowledge of the incident's details told The War Zone they believed the drone was highly unlikely to be battery-powered based on the altitude, distance, and speed at which it flew.

Or the reported speeds/altitudes are simply incorrect and rather than a low-IR stealth superweapon this was a smaller battery-powered drone at lower altitudes/speeds.

Re: New Details Emerge on the “Highly Modified Drone” That Outran Police Helicopters

#87

Post by csa »

asdff wrote: post #75
openasocket wrote: post #60

My money is on a foreign hostile entity, but not for a scouting operation, this is an exercise in deterrence. This is someone who wanted to let the US know that they are capable of getting a high-end drone into the country and launch it near important civilian and military infrastructure. Which is also why they would affix it with a bright LED light, they wanted to get noticed and then show off its capabilities. It m…

Why not do it like the U.S. and just show off the weapon on soil with domestic press coverage and not risk a diplomatic incident? You don't have to show your whole hand, iirc when they showed the press the B2 they didn't let them see the rear of the plane.

> Why not do it like the U.S. and just show off the weapon on soil with domestic press coverage and not risk a diplomatic incident

Because then you can’t probe unannounced/classified defensive abilities, strategies, and tactics.

Re: New Details Emerge on the “Highly Modified Drone” That Outran Police Helicopters

#88

Post by some_random »

sandworm101 wrote: post #77

There are a few inconsistencies that lead me to not believe the numbers. >>It was last seen climbing through 14,000’ and into the undercast, where it disappeared. >>Department's helicopter was unable to observe the drone when looking through night vision goggles. If this was heading up to 14k while being chased by helicopters, it wasn't a battery-powered quad. A medium sized drone would have to be powered by IC to pe…

> If it was IC, or even high-powered batteries, it would have been hot enough to look like a flare under night vision goggles.

I think you're thinking of thermals, unless it's on fire or something it's not going to emit the NIR/visible spectrum light that would be picked up by night vision.

Re: New Details Emerge on the “Highly Modified Drone” That Outran Police Helicopters

#89

Post by oxymoran »

How is a “rich idiot” smart enough to build a cutting edge drone but dumb enough to accidentally fly it over an Air Force base? It doesn’t make any sense.

If it’s a foreign entity, how do they get it to Arizona in the first place? Why risk starting a war to test out your drone? If China or Russia has this capability, you know damn well the US does too so showing off seems unlikely.

And neither of these theories can identify a motive. Why would a rich idiot be flying near pipelines and air force bases to begin with. Why would a foreign country be doing a dry run so far from home at so much risk?

The only possibilities that I find compelling are domestic terrorist, the US government itself, or something spooky.

Re: New Details Emerge on the “Highly Modified Drone” That Outran Police Helicopters

#90

Post by EMM_386 »

I've always been curious if you can combine small turbine engines [1] with a drone to get something with some ridiculous performance aspects.

I'm not an aerospace engineer so I don't know what something like this would look like, what the range/ceiling would be. But these are used on some crazy model aircraft.

[1] https://www.pbsaerospace.com/small-turbine-engines

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