Maybe I'm old, or maybe because of where I was during my time, but if a soldier is having a hard time carrying a drone that weighs less than 10kgs, there is a problem with fitness in the army. Although, I'll admit no idea how much the case itself weighs, so let's call it 15, but my point is, a soldier should be able to carry that as long as necessary, along with their usual load, since they won't give it to the machine gunner or marksman or poor sob who is carrying the rocket or grenade launcher.I am not even talking about Shaheds. There are many different designs used in Syria basically made from trash that work better than Kargu when it comes to their purpose: To kill people. Iranians, SAA, HTS, all they are moving forward with innovation that suits them and meet their expectations.
For example currently there is a high in the usage of FPV drones against opposition targets with great success. Unfortunately it is the forces we support that are giving casualties to drones and these same drones will be used against TSK positions very soon as well. They are from a Russian origin and are mass produced for cheap.
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Nobody should get me wrong. Kargu looks good enough in terms of a platform (the quadrocopter itself), its specs and software may be very good, but the results we see, concerning lethality are nowhere near satisfying for a drone of this price and specs. In the end of all our discussions we concluded that most probably the factor which is limiting Kargu's lethal outcomes is the warhead. Well, there are other warhead options which we don't see being delivered and used as this configuration below. We have a drone which is capable to operate without GPS, autonomously, uses AI, can operate in a swarm. What we see is a single drone used somewhere in Syria against a terrorist, blowing itself to pieces, all the AI, software, cutting edge technology gone without even wounding him. We are talking about tens of thousands of dollars here. I don't accept this.
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I also find it wrong to use such a thing against a threat like we see in Syria. Drones that are used in this role must be simple enough to mass produce, mass deploy, simple cheap drones. Their package also must be light and compact enough for a soldier to carry around. I am not talking about Ukraine grade simple/cheap, I am talking about simple, cheap, safe and refined drone that is plain enough to use without fear of bankruptcy in scenarios that we face in Syria for example.
Upgrade the warhead on Kargu, deliver it in swarms to relevant units and leave them on stand by for different cases where we face EW threats, need the sophisticated software, swarm capability and call it a day.
What I am thinking about for the budget drone is a simplified, low cost version of Rafael's Spike Firefly. It is low in weight, compact and one man deployable in a practical way. It can be carried within a platoon without a problem compared to the giant carrying package of Kargu which is an absolute nightmare.
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Pair it with a little bigger battery than that of the Firefly, a cheap EO made by Aselsan, slightly enlarged version of the explosive part of the MKE Ozok hand grenade and that's it. Also important: Don't make it with a directed charge! I suspect that the low lethality of Kargu may be due to the enemy seeing the drone and running (instinctively) to the side where the warhead is not effective.
If the 40mm simple VOG-25 which doesn't have either proximity fuses, directed charges or anything else is enough to obliterate almost everything it falls close to, then I think a modified version of Ozok will be enough to obliterate infantry and even lightly armored vehicles easily.
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And again, you're comparing apples to oranges mate, or rather, comparing Kargu to what it isn't. Grenades have a certain radius that'll kill everyone outright simply because of the blast pressure, outside of that, it's up to the shrapnel to finish to job, or not. A simple 40 mm exploding on the ground next to the target will kill anyone within, damn I can't remember the exact numbers, let's say 5 or 10 meters. Kargu will most likely not have that, or, that radius will be smaller and as you said probably directional, since it has a proximity fuse/sensor.
A modified rpg round, or a mortar round, or a grenade dropped on top of someone or something could have a greater impact I don't disagree with that. I also agree with you that a cheaper alternative to use against terrorists makes a lot of sense, like the one you described. But I still don't believe it is as useless or terrible as you seem to believe, we disagree on that.
Btw, the configuration you showed is actually an RF seeker as far as I know, not an rpg or anything else and I don't know if it has passed beyond testing phase yet, or any of the other warheads.