South African Bat-Hawk light sport aircraft, modified for “hillbilly close air support” by anti poaching rangers

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VonThing@reddit

Step on it? I aint going anywhere near it, I like living too much to risk it.

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fishsalads@reddit

Black text on a yellow background. Made me think of it

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ld987@reddit

Goddamn this thing's straight out of Far Cry. Wonder if this is one aircraft that can be fitted with either a PKM or Minimi or if they're working on a whole squadron.

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CaptchaSolvingRobot@reddit

Imagine a whole squadron of those coming over the horizon - Ride of the Valkyries blasting on speakers for tactical reasons.

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ViperRFH@reddit

We Saffers actually use this: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gfnPKLdR65I

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Roompastei@reddit

Ooh ek wil huis toe gaan na mamma toe

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Proudjew1991@reddit

They must’ve got the idea from far cry for sure. I mean it’s gotta work………………………………… right?

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Ultralights and ultralight-style aircraft have been used for anti-poaching activities for decades. This is the most heavily armed couple I've seen though for sure. It has a fucking grenade launcher for crying out loud

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Proudjew1991@reddit

I genuinely did not know it has been used for that long. Is it a tear gas launcher or an actual HE grenade launcher? You would think it would not be a good thing for the environment they are trying to protect.

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squidkid3@reddit

Idk, removing a small circle of shrubs and grass could save potentially dozens of endangered animals, seems like a worthwhile trade to me

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Timelordwhotardis@reddit

Exactly, perfect to drop a couple HE rounds in the brush. turn that “cover” into concealment. Make them move and spot.

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Any-Meet3721@reddit

Considering the different seats and paint, that's at least 3 different aircrafts

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Misericorde428@reddit

I’m rather curious about how you would aim with this.

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OneFrenchman@reddit

Tracers. The grenader launcher is probably used for marking launches or sending ammo that will frighten the big animals away from the poachers.

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bobbobersin@reddit

Cpuld have flairs for night fighting

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Ancient_Boner_Forest@reddit

What does marking launches mean?

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OneFrenchman@reddit

You use smoke grenades to mark a point for targetting or other purposes.

Like marking a target for artillery, your own troops to make sure air support doesn't hit them, to show a helicopter where they should be landing, etc.

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Ancient_Boner_Forest@reddit

That’s what I assumed, but what would be the propose in this context? Surely they aren’t going to shell the poachers lol

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OneFrenchman@reddit

Marking the spot where the poachers are for ground troops is my guess.

Easier to spot smoke from afar on flat land than dropping GPS pins.

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Stairmaker@reddit

Maybe stationary vehicles too. With some practice, a gunner should be able to launch them with resonable accuracy.

Also, just having explosions near their vehicle will make them less inclined to continue towards their vehicle.

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Misericorde428@reddit

This actually sounds reasonable. I kept imagine them being primarily used against poachers, but was somewhat puzzled at how you would aim and fire at poachers while also piloting the aircraft.

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Acceptable_Loss23@reddit

I can't really see any other use for grenades against poachers. Was wondering myself.

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OneFrenchman@reddit

Considering the issues with reloading, I'll bet smoke grenades to mark spots for rangers on the ground to see from afar or screening animals to mess with the poachers.

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thepoddo@reddit

Goo also for tear gassing poachers and smoke screening

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OneFrenchman@reddit

Yep, marking or screening.

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GoofyKalashnikov@reddit

With tracers :')

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Misericorde428@reddit

Makes sense, although I was wondering how you would pilot this and fire these weapons with reasonable accuracy.

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raznov1@reddit

goal is not necessarily to hit, but to scare off.

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tacticsf00kboi@reddit

Fuck that, poachers should feel exactly like the animals they murder

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raznov1@reddit

That just leads to an all out war

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Distinct_Economics57@reddit

Yeah that's about what SA is like

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F0rsythian@reddit

So the grenade launcher is for what? A light peppering?

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raznov1@reddit

making loud bangs approximately in the general vicinity of them. if you hit, well, no problem. but it's not necessarily the required outcome.

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F0rsythian@reddit

Ah, yeah didnt consider that bit lmao

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tomwhoiscontrary@reddit

They are all two-seaters, so you have one person flying and one person shooting. Seems they have dual controls, sharing a stick in the middle, so either person can fly.

So you can fly past some perps to port, have lefty pop grenades at them while righty flies, then do a 180, lefty takes the wheel, and righty opens up with the GPMG.

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Misericorde428@reddit

Thanks! I only noticed it just now! Sounds quite a handful, but it does seem fairly feasible!

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Pattern_Is_Movement@reddit

There are two seats

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Misericorde428@reddit

Just noticed that, thanks!

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Stairmaker@reddit

That's why they use a belt fed gun. You basically use them like how you point at something with a laser pointer. You walk it in.

Also in a desert or dry area like much of SA is you see the hits in the dirt/sand.

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primarycolorman@reddit

Circle the target probably, also max their rotation rate/lead to fire at you while minimizing yours

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JJohnston015@reddit

Looks to me like both weapons are on swiveling mounts. The gunner has the luxury of a high rate of fire and tracers, and the pilot gets to take advantage of the old "horseshoes and hand grenades" adage.

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tomwhoiscontrary@reddit

The things have dual controls, so either side can fire without distraction. Switch weapons by turning 180 degrees!

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Potato-Engineer@reddit

The version I grew up with had horseshoes, hand grenades, and tactical nuclear weapons.

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wicket-maps@reddit

i'm not sure you aim

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freedom_viking@reddit

Aiming down sights in aerial gunnery is dumb

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Vaguswarrior@reddit

After way too much ARMA 3, I agree 100%...I also found screaming "GET SOME!!! GET SOME!!" really loudly helps immensely for accuracy.

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smokinjoev@reddit

This is a glorious technical

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buddboy@reddit

I would like to see some armor, at least some armored seats, but otherwise yeah this will give you a huge leg up over poachers. And they mention CAS but I'd imagine its excellent for scouting as well.

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bobbobersin@reddit

I fucking want an asemetric video game about this, one team is a bunch of dudes with AKs and elephant guns, the others are kitted out and have one of these, there's also wildlife you need to poach/protect, fuck why has this not been made?!?

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tomwhoiscontrary@reddit

I would like to see three more grenade launchers.

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LordMarcusrax@reddit

And speakers to blast the Ride of the Valerie's while you strike at dawn.

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AmIAdultingYet7@reddit

Yo grenade launchers would be awesome. Build a side car with a mk19 attached

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ThebrokenNorwegian@reddit

I mean it has one! How many does it need lol

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AmIAdultingYet7@reddit

I want three on each side

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420toker@reddit

I want a 4 barreled 40mm bofors cannon

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tomwhoiscontrary@reddit

Three more.

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buddboy@reddit

I would like to see big old titties painted on the side like in the good old days

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Rialas_HalfToast@reddit

Indeed!

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ChadThunderStonks@reddit

This is one of the moat beautiful things I have ever seen.

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JP-ED@reddit

I want to see video of this thing in action!

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Rightfullsharkattack@reddit

Is that a tent in the back?

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Feisty-Barracuda5452@reddit

Is anyone else hearing 'Ride of the Valkyries'?

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LordMarcusrax@reddit

Yes, but the Sea of Thieves version

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Feisty-Barracuda5452@reddit

"Avast ye scurvy dogs! Prepare to be strafed!"

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MrsGenevieve@reddit

Yes, but I’m also hearing Metallica Seek and Destroy.

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Same_Reference1847@reddit

Closest thing to a South African Air-force in the last 40 years.

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Villhunter@reddit

Those seats seem leaned really far back don't they?

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otusowl@reddit

Gangsta

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polar_boi28362727@reddit

Anti-poachers are the most rad combat force ever

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RetroGamer87@reddit

Looks like something Octoboss was working on

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StaticDet5@reddit

It carries reloads! Love it

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tredbobek@reddit

AC-130 ABOVE!

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Super_Kent155@reddit

thats actually wild, how does the pilot aim the grenade launcher while flying the plane?

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Machete_Metal@reddit

Probably just walks it onto target like artillery!

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miko187@reddit

How crazy is the yaw rate when that PKM is humming?

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Maar7en@reddit

Huge fan of their enthousiastic amount of spare ammo.

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blazeweedm8@reddit

Oh, I just used up 100 rounds of 7.62x54mmR, luckily I have 400 more.

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Crq_panda@reddit

Don't worry about CG change when used. It cannot hurt you.

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ShepPawnch@reddit

This thing is a coat of red paint away from being an Ork vehicle, they don’t have to worry about shit if they believe

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maleia@reddit

No longer is the A-10 the only airframe that can produce enough thrust from recoil that it can hit stall speeds. 😂

(Also, I think this is really cool looking)

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hesapmakinesi@reddit

There was a soviet Attempt with two guns. The pilot had to keep gun bursts pretty short if they want to keep flying in one piece.

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VonThing@reddit

Off topic does that happen with the A-10? Badass.

Then again the A-10 is basically just the 30 mm gun, wrapped in aircraft.

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montananightz@reddit

Technically, it could if you had unlimited ammo and the barrels couldn't overheat, but that obviously isn't practical. In reality, it has a few knots per hour effect for a second but the aircraft doesn't really notice and the pilot doesn't notice or correct for it at all.

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an_older_meme@reddit

Cowboy up

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misalanya@reddit

sure hope the pilot is squirrely and wearing some bullet proof gear -- what it has in possible element of surprise and agility, it sorely lacks in armor and speed.

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UnderPressureVS@reddit

For some reason all I can think about is that just one of these could probably have had the American Civil War wrapped up in a year.

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PanzerGun@reddit

i want to see this bird in flight, it's gotta be beautiful.

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Gun_Nut_42@reddit

Any burst longer than 3 seconds causes the plane to start stalling out.....

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Indigo_Sunset@reddit

Juuuust a little sideslip

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ShodoDeka@reddit

Not just flight, I want to see it fight.

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PanzerGun@reddit

oh yea, that's a given - but I didn't want to get my hopes up too far.

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loganroll@reddit

Well, a CAS does what a CAS do.

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LukaRaphael@reddit

i wonder what rounds they shoot out of that 40?

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ConsiderationFar6076@reddit

This looks like something my brothers and I would have come up with! I love it! I did not know that the anti-poachers were able to use machine guns in South Africa now.

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Cold_Piece_5501@reddit (OP)

The aircraft was South African made but is being used in Mozambique, sorry if the title was unclear

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ConsiderationFar6076@reddit

I see that makes a lot more sense given South Africa’s restrictions concerning fully automatic weapons and the general public.

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P1tzO1@reddit

Farcry if it wasn't mid

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wicket-maps@reddit

Ubisoft doesn't have the courage to put one of these in

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yummers511@reddit

Far cry 6 has one but it only has the grenade launcher actually

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Neoaugusto@reddit

Rodhesia is that you?

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joshuatx@reddit

Nah this has Biafra MFI-9 energy

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ActiveRegent@reddit

I wonder if they're loading Tracers in that thing lmao

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NotAllDawgsGoToHeven@reddit

That’s carrying way too much weight for a ultra light, there’s no way that thing can fly easily.

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Cold_Piece_5501@reddit (OP)

Yeah the source of the images is saying that all 3 of theirs have been lost

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Cold_Piece_5501@reddit (OP)

Update:

Minor inaccuracy, this is Mozambique, not South Africa

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harryrichard69@reddit

How does one join?

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imgoodatpooping@reddit

Is this shitty? Ukraine could use something like this to take out drones

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VonThing@reddit

I love how it says “NO STEP” on that bar while the whole contraption is on the brink of collapsing into itself and barely held together by hopes and duct tape

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tomwhoiscontrary@reddit

Got a source for this, OP? The only mention of armed Bat-Hawks i could find was those of the Botswana Defence Force.

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Cold_Piece_5501@reddit (OP)

I found it posted on Twitter from an account ran by a man working in the anti-poaching industry. I didn't mention the source in the post because I assume the guy doesn't want a bunch of redditors flocking towards him. but here's the post I found the images in

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tomwhoiscontrary@reddit

Thanks. And very reasonable caution! He seems like quite a character.

Somewhere in some replies he mentions

Terrible design tbh i think all three besides the test airframe have been lost.

:(

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JockeyFullaBourbon@reddit

IRL PUBG update...

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Accomplished_Alps463@reddit

I want one for Dunstable Downs, Wallaby hunting 😎

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Opening_Dingo2357@reddit

Far cry helicopter

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RabbitSlayre@reddit

Fucking grenade launcher on the left side, lmao

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Tankaussie@reddit

Redneck engineering at its finest

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Unionpacifbigboy4014@reddit

I thought that was the Demoman’s grenade launcher 😭

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Halfbloodjap@reddit

Looks like a Milcor MGL Mk-1 which would make sense as they're made in SA. The USMC and SOCOM uses a modernized variant, as do a bunch of other countries.

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PineappleMelonTree@reddit

I wonder if tourists could pay to shoot poachers

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13vivalarevolucion12@reddit

A good way to cover the Ammo costs:)

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McMoustache2020@reddit

I love everything about this aircraft

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IDEKWIDWML_13@reddit

This is that thing the Wookiee’s flew whilst defending Kashyyyk

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PixelIsJunk@reddit

5 belts of ammo they think they will be up long enough to shoot all that without getting shot first?

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Science_Logic_Reason@reddit

So, this thing stalls if you fire the gun in straight and level flight, yes? It seems like it would be functionally equivalent to an (albeit very angry) airbrake.

Aside from that it is fucking awesome.

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