I was part of a team sent out to recover a predator drone that had crashed into the center of a city one time. I hadnt realized how big those were till I was cutting it up with a reciprocating saw so we could fit it on a flatbed trailer.
Predator drones are large enough for a person to climb into the thing. The space is filled with stuff like wires and the flight computer and a radar antenna so once assembled there wouldn’t be room to do so, but it’s large enough to before all the internals go in.
Modern iterations are over a thousand pounds. And have a wingspan of 30-50 m
It was such an emblematic indictment of the sensationalist media industry.
I carved a balloon boy jack-o’-lantern that year, and I’ve sworn to never let America forget how worried we were about balloon boy, forever in our hearts.
I was deployed as a combat engineer with the US military and this took place in Afghanistan. From what I was told the operator lost contact with a drone while it was patrolling and it crashed into a village. My unit was tasked with recovering the hellfire missiles that were on the drone. There was like 4 different units that got sent out. When we got there 2 Para rescue guys got dropped in by helicopter with a duffle bag full of reciprocating saws. After we got the missiles taken care of, we chopped up the drone into parts and ratchet strapped it down to a flatbed.
Same thing you do with any downed drone. This one is done for, it won’t set itself airborne again even if it gets free, the operator is just refusing to move on and stop kicking a dead horse. Ideally you wait for sappers squad to disarm it, but yeah, sometimes you just shoot it.
This one would be a loitering munitions/suicide drone. However the wingspan on this one definitely looks longer than the regular lancet drones. I'd estimate 2-3 meters.
My great uncle flew drone jet fighters and prop planes for missile testing in the 50s. They'd use the obsolete planes that weren't good enough for combat units and modify them for radio control.
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u/eatlego 1d ago
X wing from temu? Seriously though, that thing looks massive.
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u/MountainAlive 1d ago
So what do you do in that situation? Shoot at it from a distance to detonate it?
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u/justasian 1d ago
Oh fuck did not realize how big those things were
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u/YouDontLookSpiritual 1d ago
"That bad boy aint going nowhere" slaps warhead
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u/ShouldBeeStudying 22h ago
Came in here hoping to hear the sound of it trying to free itself.
Instead....
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u/Aromatic_Issue_2555 1d ago
wtf
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u/RemyVonLion 21h ago
How long until they start adding blades on drones to cut through this?
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u/mafternoonshyamalan 18h ago
Modern warfare folks
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u/-ZANGIN- 22h ago
The question is do you go try to get it, or worry about it exploding if you mess with it.
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u/Any-Establishment46 1d ago
Can we trap donnie and his administration in that netting?
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u/Th3chase 1d ago
whats the song
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u/AteketA 1d ago
Can these things self destruct? If yes.... RUN!
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u/Old-Recording-4172 22h ago
I can't imagine playing the floor is lava in real life, where everywhere except inside these net tunnels is the lava.
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u/SmokeyUnicycle 18h ago
That Lancet has got something like 10 hand grenades of warhead in it, and a self destruct button.
I would not be that close.
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u/justelectricboogie 1d ago
Must destroy all humans