At about 7 p.m. Moscow time April 20, “an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using two small-sized balloons on objects on the territory of the Russian Federation was stopped,” the Russian Defense Ministry reported on its Telegram channel. The balloons were “destroyed over the territories of the Tula and Moscow regions.”
The Russian MoD also claimed its forces downed five Ukrainian balloons on April 18. "According to Russian news reports, the Ukrainian balloons are equipped with a GPS module and carry explosives," The Associated Press reported.
These claimed balloon shootdowns follow the discovery last month of a converted Ukrainian weather balloon “carrying a kilogram of TNT” that “fell in the forest near the village of Novaya Slobodka,” about 40 miles from the border, the Russian MASH news agency reported at the time.
“They must fly over cities and drop bombs based on GPS signals,” according to the publication. “Weapons are intended for terror.”
Ukraine is increasing the frequency of its cross-border balloon launches, MASH added.
H2 will not last long in the balloon. To compensate loss in buoyance over time the bottle might indeed be filled with volatile liquid. It's complicated though: Liquid volatility decreases strongly with Temp which cools about -10°C per km alittude. 1/2
@ISIDEWITH1wk1W
Should international laws on warfare be updated to address the use of innovative but potentially indiscriminate weapons like balloon bombs?
Empty pop bottle is a floating device to recover the payload in case it falls on water
They should attach wings to munition with simple rc sailplane flight controller, this will turn them into mini gps glide bombs. With planing ratio of 1:10 if released from altitude of 20km they can travel 200km at their own
Not sure what weight they could carry. But could they also transport drones, and then act as a drone repeater. To give much greater range for the drones.
@ISIDEWITH1wk1W
How does the idea of weaponizing everyday objects like balloons change your perception of safety in your everyday surroundings?
@9LVXJRS1wk1W
Its definetly a cause for concern as we dont know what would be considered a harmful object and what not.
@ISIDEWITH1wk1W
Is there ever a justified reason for one country to launch attacks on civilian areas of another country?
@9LVWYB41wk1W
No, because i don't believe that there should be any good reason to destroy or kill civilian areas in a different country even if the president did something doesn't mean the citizens should suffer and die just because of there president.
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