Exposed: First Syrian rebels DIY unmanned aerial vehicle (that may never be able to fly…)

Published on: August 31, 2012 at 8:17 PM

The following video shows what is believed to be the first Free Syrian Army drone.

According to the speaker, the DIY Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is equipped with a camera and is capable of carrying 50 kg of explosive “against Assad forces”.

Three meters in length with a 3 m wingspan, it features a 6-blade (each measuring 10 cm) propeller (that is quite similar to a car radiator fan…) connected to an engine capable of 4HP at  3,600 RPM.

http://youtu.be/8kAeJcWGjSI

Indeed the engine seems to work.

However, the drone lacks an actual airframe and it seems to have been assembled using car parts. Hard to believe it can safely fly, be launched and recovered (look how fragile the landing gear seems to be) and effectively target with a certain accuracy Assadist forces on the ground unless (much) more engineering and development work is done.

H/T to Fred Enaj for the heads-up and thanks to @troublejee for the translation

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.
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