Volunteers discussed the features of wooden drones used by the Russian Federation

The Ukrainian military started recording the Russians using wooden drones. One of their main tasks is likely to trigger air defense forces.

Volunteer Pavlo Kashchuk explained what such a drone consists of.

The drone, which he disassembled together with specialists, was found near the Dnipro. It had no payload and was moving along a predetermined route.

The wooden drone was launched from Berdiansk. It is noted that it flew about 600 km, but its action radius can be greater, up to 1000 km.

The UAV moved at a speed of 100 km/h. After takeoff, it ascended to 1,000 meters, most likely to avoid being shot down by the invader’s air defense forces. After crossing the front line, it descended to 100-250 meters.

In this way, it could probably “cover” the work of drones trying to operate undetected.

What is a drone made of?

The assembly of the plane causes questions, Pavlo Kashchuk noted. For example, batteries of different voltages are used for various electronic elements in a drone.

The plane also uses two engines, probably so that if one of them fails, the other can continue to operate.

“About 600-700 dollars for one motor. Two, respectively, cost 1,500. The reason for having two motors there is an unanswered question so far. Professionals behind the scenes say that this is to duplicate one of the engines in case it fails, but given the specifics of the aircraft, which should be disposable, it is somehow strange,” Pavlo Kashchuk commented.

The aircraft structure has spaces where payload mounts can be located. It is not known whether it could be a camera, radio emitters, or ammunition.

“Maybe these planes perform several functions at the same time. One is the air defense diversion, perhaps. And the second is system testing, its operation, and maybe tomorrow, these planes will be coming either with bombs, or with repeaters, or with EW, with anything,” Pavlo Kashchuk said.

The drone uses the CUAV V5+ flight controller, and the third version of the CUAV Neo GPS module is used for navigation. The chip that uses such a module is not industrial.

“Therefore, you can suppress it with just about anything when the aircraft descends. At the altitude where this plane was flying, there is a question as to whether it can be extinguished with an ordinary portable anti-drone weapon. But there was no intention to make this plane super-passable in terms of EW”, Kashchuk noted.

The drone also has a telemetry module that allows the operator to control the device for a certain time.

“We did not see some tricks or delicate settings in the setup. But in general, it was assembled with a soul. Someone thought out the appearance, the boxes, thought out the fixation. It all goes together easily. I think everything here is quite reliable, but this is the level of a third-year student at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute or a hobbyist who makes foam airplanes,” Pavlo Kashchuk commented.

The approximate cost of such a drone is USD 2.5-3 thousand.

Previously, a Russian wooden drone was shot down in the Sumy region in early May. The drone was made of extruded foam and polystyrene.

At the time, it was also assumed that Russia was using such drones to divert the attention of Ukraine’s air defense radars.