The analysis of terrorists’ drones captured in Syria has shown that they cannot be made in an improvised manner, head of the Russian General Staff's department for the development of unmanned aerial vehicles Maj. Gen. Alexander Novikov said, TASS reports.
"The creation of drones of this class is impossible in an improvised manner. Their development and usage involved specialists, who had undergone special training in the countries manufacturing and using systems with unmanned aerial vehicles," the general said.
The assembly and usage of unmanned aerial vehicles is a difficult engineering task that demands "special training, know-how in various scientific areas and practical experience in creating these devices," he said. Special software is also needed to use these drones, the general noted. For efficient usage of ammunition information on exact target location and such parameters as altitude, flight and wind speed is required. This information cannot be obtained from the Internet, Novikov stressed.
Moreover, the explosives from the bombs carried by drones that attacked Hmeymim and Tartus bases in Syria cannot be made in makeshift conditions. There are several places where this substance is manufactured and one of them is Ukraine, according to Novikov.
"Preliminary analysis has shown that the main explosive used in the bombs was pentaerythritol tetranitrate (also known as PENT, PENTA or TEN), which has a far higher yield than hexogen. This explosive is manufactured in a number of countries, including Ukraine’s Shostka chemical agents plant. It cannot be made in makeshift conditions or extracted from other ammunition," he said.
Novikov said special tests were being made with the aim to find out the country of origin. Drones used by terrorists carried explosives stuffed with ball bearings, according to Novikov. "Drones’ weapons deserve attention. These are improvised explosive devices weighing about 400 grams, and stuffed with striking elements - ball bearings with a striking radius of up to 50 meters," the general said.
