[grecy]

> they believed the drone was highly unlikely to be battery-powered based on the altitude, distance, and speed at which it flew

Does that mean it's gasoline powered?

Do we have many details on gas powered drones ? i.e. the kind of range, altitude and speed they can achieve?

[spoonjim]

Several hobbyists have built them so I’m sure that commercial versions exist. They can’t really do any better than electric in altitude and speed (electric drones can get to 14,000 feet despite the article) but their endurance is measured in hours

[giantrobot]

RC planes can hit speeds over 150mph with the fastest jet powered ones much faster. They can also have flight times of dozens of hours, a modified RC plane made a flight from Canada to Ireland [0]. Drones also don't need real-time control. They can fly a pre-programmed route or have minimal input and just be told to head to a way given waypoint (or series of them). A well positioned direction VHF or UHF can give a control channel from miles away especially if there's no need for real-time imagery.

[0] https://amablog.modelaircraft.org/amamuseum/2017/03/29/trans...

[klyrs]

You can buy jet engines for RC airplanes. A quick search shows that folks have clocked their RC jets at ~750km/h, about half the speed of sound.

[_Microft]

Wow, now that's impressive:

https://youtu.be/DPGDAZyQ44k?t=139

[TchoBeer]

Or is it nuclear powered?