I’ve been wondering about how practical it is to extend FPV drone range by also deploying them from larger vehicles.
Like, remember that fixed-wing foamboard drone that Australia shipped some of to Ukraine a while back? Those are pretty expendable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sypaq_Corvo_Precision_Payload_Delivery_System
That thing can haul 6kg 80km.
https://www.politico.eu/article/future-warfare-400-army-strike-drone-unit-2m-tank/
A typical FPV weighs up to one kilogram, has four small engines, a battery, a frame and a camera connected wirelessly to goggles worn by a pilot operating it remotely. It can carry up to 2.5 kilograms of explosives and strike a target at a speed of up to 150 kilometers per hour, explains Pavlo Tsybenko, acting director of the Dronarium military academy outside Kyiv.
So that’s up to 3.5kg.
The FPV is more-maneuverable, cheaper, and faster than the PPDS.
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/UKRAINE-CRISIS/DRONES/dwpkeyjwkpm/
The FPV drones take off from improvised platforms several kilometres from the front line. Depending on their size, battery and payload, range varies from 5 km to 20 km or more.
That’d be a substantial range increase.
I don’t know what risks might be associated with having a non-one-use drone, though. Like, if you want to use the “carrier” drone multiple times, it might be possible for a reconnaissance drone to follow it back, wait for someone to retrieve the thing, and then drop artillery on the spot or something.
Could also just expend the fixed-wing drone as a single-use weapon, though then it increases the cost of the drone by a factor of several times.
I remember seeing some testing videos of Baba Yaga’s being used as launch platform for other drones and according to Wikipedia, it can function as a control repeater as well.
But yeah, the concept is solid regardless of the “how”. If your carrier drone is only half way to the front (or just over) and used to launch kamikaze drones, the risk is probably minimal but probably more time consuming than anything else.
