posted on Oct, 7 2024 @ 10:51 AM
a reply to:
grey580
Looks to me like it was shot down from behind at close range with a heat-seeking missile (whatever the Russian version of a Sidewinder is). That kind
of shot usually results in the missile flying up the tailpipe (the hottest part of the aircraft) and blowing the engine apart. That will terminate
the flight, but often doesn't result in the destruction of the aircraft mid-air. The video shows a brief explosion with no big fireball--indicating
that the fuel tanks on the drone didn't seem to be ruptured by the explosion. In fact, the drone kept on flying after the hit--indicating that the
airframe was basically intact. Other photos from this last weekend showed that it seemed to enter a flat spin after it lost power and it was nearly
intact after it pancaked into the ground.
A radar-guided intercept missile would have been a much better choice in this case; they have bigger warheads and they go for a center-of-mass hit.
What I'm getting at is that a shoot-down with this missile isn't a good choice if you want to keep the drone technology from falling into enemy
hands.