As a citizen of a country currently defending in a war, unmanned systems are a literal lifesaver. We can send an armed robot where we previously would have to send a soldier. This is a good thing and before the war many had the same pacifist sentiment in the tech sector, but it's completely reversed now.
Though I can understand your position being in a country that's not defending itself currently.
There are different calibers of mortar shells, bigger size has more range and power.
I think author of the article has cheated by not specifying the caliber, because a 155mm artillery shell cost is more than a $1000, precision guided one cost is tens of thousands. While a drone capable of reaching 10km+ costs less than $1000, without payload.
Yes, it doesn't have to be very flexible. But every pipe is flexible to some extent. I'm thinking about my 25m deep well, with 32mm PE pipe, scaled up. It is flexible enough to be forcefully rolled up into a 5m diameter circle. When I've pulled it out, it has naturally bent into a big arch across my yard, under it's own weight. Scale that up in your imagination.
In my country the car registration document has the weight number but not the width number. I suspect in France it's the same, and that's the reason they went by weight instead of width – it's easier to administer that way.
Russian citizenship is not something that people cherish or want. Most of the Russian territory and population has been occupied at some point: Siberia long time ago, Caucasus in the past centuries, Crimea in 2014. Russians don't care about those people the same way the care about their own.
I've got a source for you: this Ukrainian is serving in Bakhmut right now. He's a "YouTube guy" in his unit, consistently uploading good quality footage. Skip the talking part and watch
https://www.youtube.com/@MotoLifeUA/videos
You've chosen a wrong place to disinform. Tech people understand that having russian CA certificates installed allows russia to MITM all your traffic, if they can access it.
Though I can understand your position being in a country that's not defending itself currently.