Hacker News Reader

Comment by votingprawn | Hacker News Reader

Its a mugin if anyone is interested (take the manufacturer specs with a handfull of salt) https://www.muginuav.com/product/mugin-5-pro-5000mm-super-la...

View on HN

So manufacturer says MTOW is 90kg, which likely means they barely got it in the air once at freezing temperatures on a very long tarmac strip. Max speed of 170 km/h would indicate that it's happy cruising at around 120-150 km/h. The place they found it in a barn is 170km away from the Morrocan coast around El Hoceima, so about two hours of flight including take-off and climb. Compared to a specified 7hr max flight time, they'd have to fill it up to about one third, so 9 liters of fuel, or 7kg.

An empty weight of 25kg and 7kg of fuel gives us rougly 32kg of empty take-off mass, and you then could load it up with not-quite 50kg of payload. Significant, but a far cry from the 150kg that was reported.

Unfortunately, the 26.5kg empty weight they specify is the bare airframe. That means it excludes the engine, VTOL powertrain (motors + escs + props), general wiring/electronics and VTOL batteries.

Their quoted "25kg" payload is likely about right for a shorter flight.

Yeah, likely. I'd still be confident that it can cross the mediterranean away from the Strait of Gibraltar. But maybe the overpromising is why they found it in a barn in mint condition, and not in the air.

Definitely given enough fuel and decent weather.

I suppose drones could be a backup plan if the authorities ever manage to get a grip on shipping.

This is running on gas, not electric. Their suggested config includes 27 liters of fuel.

Interesting! I was confused by the electric vertical motors in the news story's image... but it looks like the main engine is fuel powered, and an alternator powers the electric motors: https://www.muginuav.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Mugin-60...

90kg is in VTOL mode, it doesn't have wheels for a rolling takeoff

From the motor mounts, it looks more like the discontinued Mugin 4450: https://muginuav.en.made-in-china.com/product/OwqxNGpVLHco/C...

In British English 'mug[g]ins' is a fool being taken advantage of.

only 12k? I want one!

That’s just empty airframe without any electronics or engine.

Yeah I was surprised by that figure too

Seems it's only the airframe though and maybe the fuel tank.

VTOL motors, alternator, engine, props, control system etc. are all extra.

$12k for the airframe. Each engine (4x) is another $8k. I wouldn't be surprised if the out-the-door cost of the airframe, engines, avionics and controls surpasses $50k.

Actually, from their website it looks like there is a bundle package[1] of the necessary guts that brings the full price to about 20k.

1. https://www.muginuav.com/product/power-package-for-mugin-445...

I wonder what they're using as a flight controller? Is it linked to the ground (via cellular or similar) during the whole flight? Or autonomous for part of it?

EDIT: Looks like their ARTF electric version uses the Ardupilot CUAV V2+ - https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-cuav-v5plus-overvie...

I can't find any information on the data link, that they call: "Sprintlink Pro Data link & Video Link". So not sure if this uses cellular networks, or something else during flight. Hybrid products definitely exist: https://www.skyhopper.biz/products/communication-data-links-...

EDIT 2: The ARTF version is wild. For under $20K - you can just buy a drone that can deliver a 3kg package (6.6lbs) anywhere within about a 100 mile range. https://www.muginuav.com/product/mugin-ev350-full-electric-v...

Besides "last mile shipping" and smuggling implications, I'm trying to think of how this could be useful today. Maybe some kind of search and rescue where someone activates a personal locator beacon, and you could send them supplies before you could reach them? A little under a gallon of water?

IDK, seems like a stretch. But I feel like there has to be more practical implications.

I looked up the cost of Warmates and they are also around $20k. Considering APKWS has existed for much longer and has a higher explosive yield and range and the fact that an Apache can carry a whole rocket killer swarm of 38 APKWS I honestly don't see how "slaughter bots" are supposed to be a threat when drones are that expensive.

The myth that drones are cheap should die. Crappy plastic toys with flight times measured in minutes are cheap. The real deal is just as expensive as everything else.

Things become cheap if they are mass-produced.

Most current drones are highly custom, like cars in 1900. They can be much cheaper once a "Ford T" of drone tech emerges.

Just wait till you learn how expensive actual aircraft are.

Interesting and timely article about those crappy plastic toys... https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2021/07/21/israel...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com