• Pyr@lemmy.ca
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    4 days ago

    Do drones explode as soon as they feel resistance? I always thought it was more like kamikaze style where they fly into something completely and then the impact detonates the munition, not a bunch of sensors that trigger it as soon as it touches something like a landmine.

    • hperrin@lemmy.ca
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      4 days ago

      From the videos, it looks like there are two wires in the front that connect when they hit something. My guess is that’s what detonates it.

      • IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        That’s just one way a drone can detonate. It’s simple & effective. The two wires you see in some drone videos are part of the detonator circuit. When the wires touch the circuit is complete and the explosive is detonated. So just crash the drone into pretty much anything and up it goes.

        But you can also rig a drone to detonate remotely, which can be helpful in certain situations. Drones that are controlled fiber-optically can be used for precision attacks where you might want to fly them into buildings, etc. and not have them detonate prematurely by bumping into something.

        The Ukraine attacks on Russian bombers 4-5 months ago likely used a combination of these. They would want the drones to detonate when they crashed into the aircraft, but wouldn’t want to risk them detonating while they were being transported to where they were eventually launched. When the drones launched near the targets they were likely remotely armed, so that when they crashed they would detonate, but not before then.

      • Pyr@lemmy.ca
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        4 days ago

        Interesting. I feel like this defence would be easily defeated if instead of two wires, it’s more of a cantilevered wire on a plastic/metal arm that requires a specific amount of force to bend, located on the nose of the drone, and the Secord contact point inset into the body of the drone, so when it crashes head on into something the two points connect but only if it really makes contact with something solid