One of the founders and developers of the Sky Destroyer project, an unmanned aerial platform based on a heavy-lift quadcopter, shared specifics about the drone. The platform will be capable of deploying a wide range of firearms, including rifles, machine guns, and even light grenade launchers.
Roman from Sky Destroyer shared details about the project with the ITC media. According to him, the Sky Destroyer drone is an octocopter equipped with eight engines - two on each of the four axes. It will weigh around 50-60 kg and can fly for about an hour at speeds of up to 90 km/h.
"In most similar large drones, the main task is to drop ammunition and reconnaissance positions. Our main task is the remote and, most importantly, safe use of various types of firearms, which are attached to the suspension and can effectively engage enemy forces from a relatively safe distance for the platform. Moreover, this engagement is with a very high probability, one might say guaranteed. We are talking about a fairly wide range of firearms - rifles, machine guns, and even light grenade launchers," explains Roman.
He added that the platform can also be used for transporting food, ammunition, or medicine.
The Sky Destroyer's weapons will be able to move up and down and left and right for aiming. The sight will adjust automatically using optics, and the video will be stabilized using "gimbals". According to the developers, this will allow the Sky Destroyer to shoot even moving targets.
"If you shoot with a firearm, you can spend 10 or more rounds on one person. And with powerful zoom in the camera, you can see if you hit the enemy. According to calculations, Sky Destroyer will be able to conduct accurate and clustered shooting from a distance of about 300 meters. I'm not sure that even an experienced machine gunner can achieve such results," says Roman.
He says that one of the main problems for an aerial platform with firearms is recoil from firing.
"This moment needs to be spread out over time so that the drone has time to stabilize. This was a difficult challenge, but we found a way out. It's mathematics - the impulse depends on the speed and mass. Accordingly, you need to make the appropriate calculations to understand what force is needed to counteract this recoil. And our whole team calculated this for quite a long time and is now working on this recoil mechanism," explained the co-founder of the Sky Destroyer project.
He says that creating such a development requires funds, so the inventors applied to Brave Inventors, where they passed a "fairly serious selection" and received positive feedback from experts.
According to Roman, drones capable of carrying a load of up to 20 kg are not cheap. Therefore, the basic configuration of the Sky Destroyer will cost around $18,000.
The developer says that similar developments were demonstrated by Turkish inventors who attached a grenade launcher to a drone. However, their product weighs 25 kg and can fly for less than 20 minutes. There is also a Swedish drone capable of lifting a person weighing up to 90 kg and flying for up to 15 minutes. However, it costs $90,000 and has a half-year waiting list. Russians are also working on an aerial shooting platform.
"Sky Destroyer can deliver quite heavy items (up to 20 kg) over a considerable distance. After winning, such a development can be used for the work of rescuers, medics, firefighters. I firmly believe that this is the invention that can change the course of the war," says the Ukrainian inventor.
