It is unlikely that someday robots will have to completely replace humans in those areas of activity that require the rapid adoption of non-standard decisions both in civilian life and in battle. Nevertheless, the development of drones in the last nine years has become a fashionable trend in the military aircraft industry. Many militarily leading countries mass-produce UAVs. Russia has so far failed to not only take its traditionally leading positions in the field of weapons design, but also to overcome the backlog in this segment of defense technologies. However, work in this direction is underway.
UAV Development Motivation
The first results of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles appeared in the forties, however, the technique of that time was more consistent with the concept of “projectile-projectile”. The Fau cruise missile could fly in one direction autonomously, having its own heading control system built on the inertial gyroscopic principle.
In the 50s and 60s, Soviet air defense systems reached a high level of efficiency, and began to pose a serious danger to the aircraft of a potential enemy in the event of a real confrontation. The wars in Vietnam and the Middle East caused a real panic among the pilots of the USA and Israel. Failures to carry out combat missions in areas covered by Soviet-made anti-aircraft systems became frequent. Ultimately, the reluctance to expose the lives of pilots to mortal risk prompted design companies to seek a way out.
Start of practical application
Israel became the first country to use unmanned aircraft. In 1982, during a conflict with Syria (Bekaa Valley), reconnaissance aircraft appeared in the sky, working in a robotic mode. With their help, the Israelis managed to detect the battle formations of the enemy’s air defense, which allowed them to launch a missile strike.
The first drones were intended exclusively for reconnaissance flights over “hot” territories. At present, shock drones are also used, having weapons and ammunition on board and directly delivering bombing and missile attacks on the alleged enemy positions.
Most of them are in the USA, where “Traitors” and other types of combat aerial robots are mass-produced.
The experience of using military aircraft in the modern period, in particular, the operation to pacify the South Ossetian conflict in 2008, showed that Russia also needs UAVs. It is risky to conduct reconnaissance with heavy jet aircraft in the face of enemy air defense and leads to unjustified losses. As it turned out, there are certain flaws in this area.
Problems
The dominant idea of modern military doctrine today is the opinion that Russia needs less shock drone than reconnaissance UAVs. It is possible to strike a fire at the enemy by a wide variety of means, including tactical precision missiles and artillery. Much more important is the information about the dislocation of his forces and the correct target designation. As shown by American experience, the use of drones directly for shelling and bombing leads to numerous errors, the deaths of civilians and their own soldiers. This does not exclude a complete rejection of impact models, but only reveals a promising direction in which new Russian UAVs will develop in the near future. It would seem that a country that has recently held leading positions in the creation of unmanned aerial vehicles is doomed to success today. Even in the first half of the 60s, aircraft were created that flew in automatic mode: La-17R (1963), Tu-123 (1964) and others. Leadership continued in the 70s and 80s. However, in the nineties, the technological lag became apparent, and the attempt to eliminate it in the last decade, accompanied by the cost of five billion rubles, did not give the expected result.
Current situation
At the moment, the most promising UAVs in Russia are represented by the following main models:
| Name | a brief description of |
| "Pacer" | An approximate analogue of "Predator" MQ-1 |
| Altair | An approximate analogue of Reaper MQ-9 |
| Dozor-600 | Medium high heavy. Long duration and range |
| "Hunter" | Heavy Impact UAV |
| "Orlan-10" | Short Range Reconnaissance |
In practice, the only serial UAVs in Russia are now represented by the Tipchak artillery reconnaissance complex, capable of performing a narrowly defined range of combat missions related to target designation. The Oboronprom agreement signed in 2010 with IAI for the large-assembly assembly of Israeli drones can be regarded as a temporary measure that does not ensure the development of Russian technologies, but only covers a gap in the assortment of domestic defense production.
Some promising models can be considered individually within the framework of publicly available information.
"Pacer"
Take-off weight is one ton, which is not so small for a drone. The company "Transas" is engaged in design development, flight tests of prototypes are currently underway. The layout, V-plumage, wide wing, take-off and landing method (aircraft), and general characteristics approximately correspond to the indicators of the most common American “Predator”. UAV of Russia "Ambler" will be able to carry a variety of equipment that allows reconnaissance at any time of the day, aerial photography and telecommunication support. The possibility of producing shock, reconnaissance and civilian modifications is contemplated.
"Watch"
The main model is a reconnaissance one, it is equipped with a radar station, video and photo cameras, a thermal imager and other registration equipment. Based on a heavy glider, strike UAVs can also be produced. Russia “Dozor-600” needs more as a universal platform for testing the production technologies of more powerful drones, but it is also impossible to exclude the launch of this particular drone in a mass series. The project is currently under development. The first flight date is 2009, at the same time the sample was presented at the MAKS international exhibition. Designed by Transas.
Altair
It can be assumed that at the moment, the largest strike UAV in Russia is Altair, developed by the Sokol Design Bureau. The project also has another name - Altius-M. The take-off weight of these drones is five tons; it will be built by the Kazan Gorbunov aircraft plant, which is part of the Tupolev Joint Stock Company. The value of the contract concluded with the Ministry of Defense is approximately one billion rubles. It is also known that these new Russian UAVs have dimensions commensurate with the dimensions of an interceptor:
- length - 11 600 mm;
- wing span - 28 500 mm;
- the range of plumage is 6, 000 mm.
The power of two screw aviation diesels is 1000 liters. with. In the air, these reconnaissance and strike UAVs of Russia will be able to stay up to two days, covering a distance of 10 thousand kilometers. Little is known about electronic equipment, one can only guess about its capabilities.
