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"The footage was released during a congressional hearing on Tuesday about unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs. It shows an MQ-9 Reaper drone tracking a g

by eth0up 1y ago

"The footage was released during a congressional hearing on Tuesday about unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs. It shows an MQ-9 Reaper drone tracking a glowing orb off the coast of Yemen before firing a Hellfire missile straight at it. But instead of blowing the object to bits, the so-called “orb” appeared to shrug it off and keep flying. The video was taken in October 2024, but has only just been released to the public. " - https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36642473/ufo-struck-by-us-military-hellfire-missile/ https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36642473/ufo-struck-by-us-mili... Hearing: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4nzlSz3rJBc https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4nzlSz3rJBc

trenchpilgrim 1y ago
> But instead of blowing the object to bits Air to air missiles don't always explode in a fireball like in Hollywood movies. Often it's more like a shotgun blast that peppers the target with holes and relatively minor damage that then causes mechanical failure. The Dutch safety board's analysis video of the shootdown of MH17 has great animations and forensic photos.
- legacynl 1y ago
  Also if you look at the video, there's obvious debris coming of either the missile or the craft. Furthermore the craft does seem to be affected.
- ryanjshaw 1y ago
  Aren’t they supposed to explode just prior to contact? I.e. they aren’t flying hammers? So was this missile not armed or what happened, it’s difficult for me to see on mobile.
  - trenchpilgrim 1y ago
    It's not that simple. Some are designed to fly alongside the target and send a shrapnel ring blasting out. But the ballistics are a complex problem and they can sometimes physically impact the target in certain intercept geometries. You also may not be able to distinguish a direct hit from a shrapnel blast kill in a recording of a FLIR display from a distance, since the shrapnel may not show up well in the IR spectrum + the display is much lower resolution than the camera. (e.g. if you take a photo with a high end camera, but look at the photo on the LCD on the back of the camera, you won't see all the detail captured by the system.) Anecdotally I've heard that pilots can see their targets in far better detail using the debriefing tools after the flight than they can with the cockpit displays.
    - wkat4242 1y ago
      > It's not that simple. Some are designed to fly alongside the target and send a shrapnel ring blasting out Yes many air target missiles do just that but this is a hellfire, normally used for ground targets. So there is no flying alongside its intended targets, it's just a big boom warhead. Because it's meant for ground targets I could imagine the detonator needs something really firm to hit in order to detonate though. A drone might not suffice in all circumstances
      - trenchpilgrim 1y ago
        Hellfires have a selection of available warheads. The newest ones have multi-purpose warheads that have different selectable explosive patterns for different types of target. Even physically twisting the missile to get better hit probability on an air target: https://www.twz.com/usaf-testing-mutant-missiles-that-twist-in-mid-air-to-hit-their-targets https://www.twz.com/usaf-testing-mutant-missiles-that-twist-... This area of defense technology has been moving very quickly in the past few years, many assumptions the general public holds about military weapons and tactics are long obsolete.
        wkat4242 1y ago
        Hmm cool but are these actually hanging under the wing of a drone or fighter yet? This all looks very experimental. Not daily bread & butter.
        trenchpilgrim 1y ago
        Yes, JAGM/Hellfire II/SPEAR are flying. The US military has started deploying weapons much more quickly as of late.
  - trenchpilgrim 1y ago
    After asking around some military friends suggested to me this could be a training exercise with an inert warhead.
  - southwindcg 1y ago
    The Hellfire AGM-114R-9X missiles have bladed bits that slice the target instead of blowing it up. (So, flying swords instead of flying hammers?)
wkat4242 1y ago
Congress has hearings about UFOs now? What's next, flat earth hearings?
- eth0up 1y ago
  Dear bully, The "U" stands for "unidentified". That's all. No need to be abusive I'm sure if you could push that, you would. You probably push the elderly and children. You ought try pushing your intellect, for something other than money and ignorance. PS: since a mod will see (and flag) this comment, please take a moment, if you have the necessary UI, to look at my downvote history. Almost every comment I make gets at least one downvote. I think I've made a friend or two here, but I don't requite. You guys enforce a lot of subtle things; is this encouraged?
DeathMetalHippy 1y ago
it was a missle on missle test like iron dome.

by eth0up 1y ago

trenchpilgrim 1y ago

> But instead of blowing the object to bits Air to air missiles don't always explode in a fireball like in Hollywood movies. Often it's more like a shotgun blast that peppers the target with holes and relatively minor damage that then causes mechanical failure. The Dutch safety board's analysis video of the shootdown of MH17 has great animations and forensic photos.

legacynl 1y ago
Also if you look at the video, there's obvious debris coming of either the missile or the craft. Furthermore the craft does seem to be affected.
ryanjshaw 1y ago
Aren’t they supposed to explode just prior to contact? I.e. they aren’t flying hammers? So was this missile not armed or what happened, it’s difficult for me to see on mobile.
- trenchpilgrim 1y ago
  It's not that simple. Some are designed to fly alongside the target and send a shrapnel ring blasting out. But the ballistics are a complex problem and they can sometimes physically impact the target in certain intercept geometries. You also may not be able to distinguish a direct hit from a shrapnel blast kill in a recording of a FLIR display from a distance, since the shrapnel may not show up well in the IR spectrum + the display is much lower resolution than the camera. (e.g. if you take a photo with a high end camera, but look at the photo on the LCD on the back of the camera, you won't see all the detail captured by the system.) Anecdotally I've heard that pilots can see their targets in far better detail using the debriefing tools after the flight than they can with the cockpit displays.
  - wkat4242 1y ago
    > It's not that simple. Some are designed to fly alongside the target and send a shrapnel ring blasting out Yes many air target missiles do just that but this is a hellfire, normally used for ground targets. So there is no flying alongside its intended targets, it's just a big boom warhead. Because it's meant for ground targets I could imagine the detonator needs something really firm to hit in order to detonate though. A drone might not suffice in all circumstances
    - trenchpilgrim 1y ago
      Hellfires have a selection of available warheads. The newest ones have multi-purpose warheads that have different selectable explosive patterns for different types of target. Even physically twisting the missile to get better hit probability on an air target: https://www.twz.com/usaf-testing-mutant-missiles-that-twist-in-mid-air-to-hit-their-targets https://www.twz.com/usaf-testing-mutant-missiles-that-twist-... This area of defense technology has been moving very quickly in the past few years, many assumptions the general public holds about military weapons and tactics are long obsolete.
      - wkat4242 1y ago
        Hmm cool but are these actually hanging under the wing of a drone or fighter yet? This all looks very experimental. Not daily bread & butter.
        trenchpilgrim 1y ago
        Yes, JAGM/Hellfire II/SPEAR are flying. The US military has started deploying weapons much more quickly as of late.
- trenchpilgrim 1y ago
  After asking around some military friends suggested to me this could be a training exercise with an inert warhead.
- southwindcg 1y ago
  The Hellfire AGM-114R-9X missiles have bladed bits that slice the target instead of blowing it up. (So, flying swords instead of flying hammers?)

wkat4242 1y ago

Congress has hearings about UFOs now? What's next, flat earth hearings?

eth0up 1y ago
Dear bully, The "U" stands for "unidentified". That's all. No need to be abusive I'm sure if you could push that, you would. You probably push the elderly and children. You ought try pushing your intellect, for something other than money and ignorance. PS: since a mod will see (and flag) this comment, please take a moment, if you have the necessary UI, to look at my downvote history. Almost every comment I make gets at least one downvote. I think I've made a friend or two here, but I don't requite. You guys enforce a lot of subtle things; is this encouraged?

DeathMetalHippy 1y ago

it was a missle on missle test like iron dome.