In the article below, volunteer and ATO veteran Yuriy Kasyanov expresses his opinion on a new Ukrainian weapon called the "Palyanytsia." The author, in particular, compares modern Ukrainian developments with historical weapons, such as the German V-1 from World War II.
I have been reading with astonishment for several days now reports about the new Ukrainian miracle weapon "Palyanytsia". After all, no missile drones exist, never have existed, and never will exist.
Let me remind you that the first combat "aircraft-projectile", as they said then, or "flying bomb" (as it was classified then), or in the new Ukrainian manner, "rocket-drone", was used by the Germans against Britain (and not only) during World War II.
The German "scorcher" V-1 (Fi-103, "Fieseler-103") had a jet engine, autopilot, launched from a catapult, flew a range of 280 km (later increased to 500 km) and carried a warhead weighing from 500 kg to 1 ton.
From 1944 to 1945, the Germans produced 25,000 of these “rocket drones.” They launched them very intensively – up to 100 per day (compare with our drone launches over swamps – we are still far from such a pace).
10,500 flying bombs were dropped on Britain – in London alone, over 6,000 people were killed, almost 18,000 were injured; 23,000 buildings were destroyed and over 100,000 were damaged. Smollett shells were also fired at Liège (3,141 launches), Antwerp (2,183 launches), Brussels (151 launches), and Paris.
By the way, the German “drone missile” was inexpensive – about 3.5 thousand Reichsmarks. At the 1941 exchange rate to the dollar – 8.8 thousand dollars. In today’s money – about 160 thousand dollars. An adequate price for a cruise missile.
Yes, yes – our miracle weapon – a drone missile – is nothing more than a cruise missile. The German V-1 was the world’s first serial cruise missile, whatever it was called then. In general, there is a very thin line between drone aircraft and cruise missiles – put a jet engine on an aircraft, and you have a cruise missile, or a “drone missile”, according to our new Ukrainian classification.
What are the advantages of cruise missiles compared to Shahed-type kamikaze drones?
– High speed: the missile can reach the target faster, and the enemy may not have time to take any countermeasures or take it out of the way. A cruise missile can potentially carry a more powerful warhead. A cruise missile is more difficult to shoot down, and machine gunners are ineffective here.
At the same time, a cruise missile is not bad at being shot down by anti-aircraft missiles with a thermal homing head - because they have a more pronounced thermal trace. The disadvantages also include the complexity of the design and the higher cost.
By the way, how much can "Palyanytsya" cost?
If we do not take into account the funds spent on development and testing, the cost of the product consists of the cost of electronics - from 3 thousand dollars in the budget version to 50 thousand dollars with a CRPA antenna, redundancy, satellite modem, and an optical navigation module. The glider - fuselage, wings, plumage - will cost 3-10 thousand dollars, depending on the design and technologies used. The most expensive part is a turbojet engine; judging by the video, an engine with a thrust of about 100 kg is used - such an engine can be bought on Aliexpress for 50-70 thousand dollars. Well, let's throw another twenty thousand for the cost of work, rental of premises, compensation for the cost of development, and add the legal 25% profitability established by the state.
In the end, we will get the same $160,000 that the German V-1 “drone rocket” cost. This is, of course, less than $1 million.
Today, Prime Minister Shmyhal said that Ukrainian enterprises have not only increased the production of drones tenfold, and that a million drones will be produced this year (however, more is needed), but he also said that at some enterprises that produce drones, the level of localization reaches 98%. That almost all components are made in Ukraine, and little is imported.
Denis Anatolyevich, this is not true.
Unfortunately, we produce very little in our country – there are no batteries, motors, autopilots, or GPS receivers of Ukrainian production. Not to mention optics, accelerometers, gyroscopes, and other high-tech components.
Production requires billions of hryvnias per year to create an industry. And most importantly, awareness of the problem and making the right management decisions are needed.
