I really would love to know what happened. A Ukrainian plane that high shooting it down sounds very unlikely to me. So… Ukraine hacked it and Russia took it down? Or just a plain malfunction and Russia took it down?
And if it was Russia… too bad no Patriot was in range for the high altitude kill.
boohoo3210 on
Nice
Kan4lZ0n3 on
“Stealthy” in almost aspects except a couple that count. One its AI apparently wanted to defect but its decidedly unstealthy rear radar signature gave it away to its wingman.
Reminds me when Serbia shot down the self proclaimed undetectable F-117 Nighthawk in 1999. The NATO tried everything to hide that story.
Skratt79 on
Even the drones want to defect!
banana_cookies on
Pre-production drone fell on a Ukraine controlled territory. russia couldn’t have fucked up more. This is probably already being transported west for analysis. The fact that russia had to shoot it down is no accident. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ll see some news shortly how it was a special operation by HUR to steal an experimental drone, akin to stealing a heli with that dude. russia probably had to shoot it down to not Ukraine have an operational one. Kinda like the best out of the worst outcomes for them.
Intrepid_Home_1200 on
Plainly idiotic of the Russians to send a prototype of a UCAV which represents the pinnacle of their understand of low-observability/stealth along with the materials and design decisions taken in an attempt to realize a LO combat drone.
Ah well, their loss is of course Ukraine’s gain. And hopefully US foreign technology exploitation experts have their hands on some of the wreckage. I’m not expecting the Russians to exactly be at the cutting edge of LO, of unmanned combat aircraft but this is a priceless opportunity to get a good hands-on pulse on the Russians work.
9 Comments
One down, just one more to go and none left.
I really would love to know what happened. A Ukrainian plane that high shooting it down sounds very unlikely to me. So… Ukraine hacked it and Russia took it down? Or just a plain malfunction and Russia took it down?
And if it was Russia… too bad no Patriot was in range for the high altitude kill.
Nice
“Stealthy” in almost aspects except a couple that count. One its AI apparently wanted to defect but its decidedly unstealthy rear radar signature gave it away to its wingman.
Freeonis’s cartoon seems especially apt at the moment: https://x.com/freeonis_/status/1838956629338857736?s=46&t=wShgB3YYDJyDILJZ9i6hpg
Reminds me when Serbia shot down the self proclaimed undetectable F-117 Nighthawk in 1999. The NATO tried everything to hide that story.
Even the drones want to defect!
Pre-production drone fell on a Ukraine controlled territory. russia couldn’t have fucked up more. This is probably already being transported west for analysis. The fact that russia had to shoot it down is no accident. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ll see some news shortly how it was a special operation by HUR to steal an experimental drone, akin to stealing a heli with that dude. russia probably had to shoot it down to not Ukraine have an operational one. Kinda like the best out of the worst outcomes for them.
Plainly idiotic of the Russians to send a prototype of a UCAV which represents the pinnacle of their understand of low-observability/stealth along with the materials and design decisions taken in an attempt to realize a LO combat drone.
Ah well, their loss is of course Ukraine’s gain. And hopefully US foreign technology exploitation experts have their hands on some of the wreckage. I’m not expecting the Russians to exactly be at the cutting edge of LO, of unmanned combat aircraft but this is a priceless opportunity to get a good hands-on pulse on the Russians work.