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Very detailed article. The Czech TJ100 turbojet would be neat in a serial-hybrid turbine power pack (for ground applications). Physical fabrication of cruise m
by CapricornNoble 7y ago
Very detailed article. The Czech TJ100 turbojet would be neat in a serial-hybrid turbine power pack (for ground applications).
Physical fabrication of cruise missiles (which is basically what modern "kamikaze drones" are) isn't the hard part IMO....I really wanna get a look at their guidance/control software. Somebody get the Houthis on GitLab ASAP.
>>>The idea that impoverished war-torn Yemen would be able to develop a cruise missile without any outside assistance seems far-fetched......Is Iran secretly designing, testing and producing missile systems for exclusive use by its proxies?
I think it's possible the Iranians are doing the design work, then sending the CAD files to the Houthis and telling them "cobble together something like this to the best of your ability." The results have been spectacularly successful, and gets around the problems of the blockade if they aren't sending physical hardware.
- adolph 7y agoYemen has used drones for attacks on Saudi oil facilities before, but with no or limited effectiveness on targets. An earlier, Saturday, August 17, 2019 attack only 29 days ago on the Shaybah Oil Field approximately 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) from the northern boundary of the vast Saudi Empty Quarter, resulted in no injuries or reduction in Saudi oil production. https://theaviationist.com/2019/09/15/everything-we-know-about-the-drone-attacks-on-two-saudi-aramco-oil-facilities/ https://theaviationist.com/2019/09/15/everything-we-know-abo...
- drevil-v2 7y ago> I think it's possible the Iranians are doing the design work, then sending the CAD files to the Houthis and telling them "cobble together something like this to the best of your ability." The article implied that the TJ100 would not be capable of the range required to hit the Saudi targets if launched from Northern Yemen.
- FuckButtons 7y agoManufacturing is an awful lot more than “cobbling together” a cad file. Cruise missiles need some pretty complex components to be made with specialized tooling, none of which are going to last long with Saudi Arabia bombing the fuck out of them on a regular basis.
- razster 7y agoAdditive manufacturing has come a long ways. Still would take some complex electronics, but I’m sure there is a way.
- CapricornNoble 7y agoThe Houthis managed to retrofit an air-to-air missile into a truck-launched surface-to-air missile in order to damage an F-15. [1] Their ability to hack hardware might surprise you. I honestly dunno how they are pulling it off either. [1]https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/now-we-know-how-houthi-rebels-yemen-used-modified-air-air-missiles-attack-planes-ground https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/now-we-know-how-houth...
- mr_overalls 7y agoThe missile in question - the Vympel R-27 - is a Soviet design. Just spitballing here, but how likely is it that the Houthis have covert Russian technical help? Russia's political alignments in the ME (and domestic oil production) certainly mean that it benefits from attacks on Saudi oil & stability.
- sangnoir 7y agoWhy do you assume they need help?
- mr_overalls 7y agoIt's my own bias, but I don't readily think of Yemen as having the kind of highly-skilled military/technical personnel needed to perform such a task.
- SiempreViernes 7y agoYou overestimate the value of randomly blowing up things from far away, the Saudis has been doing that since 2015 and obviously haven't managed to win. Clearly whatever intel gathering they have isn't likely to shut down a distributed manufacturing operation.