UAVs in Russian Armed Forces: News

Russian defense firm to deliver 1st Orion reconnaissance drone to troops by year-end

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko earlier said that the latest drone Orion would start arriving for the troops in 2019

ZHUKOVSKY /Moscow Region/, August 29. /TASS/. The latest Orion air reconnaissance drone is at the final stage of its trials and the Russian Defense Ministry will receive the first model of this unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) by the end of this year, Kronshtadt Group Chief Designer Nikolai Dolzhenkov told TASS on Thursday.

‘We are at the final stage of trials under a contract with the Defense Ministry. We are planning to deliver the first UAV system in the immediate future, possibly, even this year," the chief designer said.

The timeframe of launching the drone’s serial production will depend on the Defense Ministry’s decision, he said.

Kronshtadt CEO Sergei Bogatikov told TASS at the MAKS-2019 aerospace show that the company was planning to deliver the first Orion drone to the Defense Ministry by the end of this year.

"We are sure that we will make the first deliveries at the end of this year," the chief executive said.

Orion air reconnaissance drone

The Orion is Russia’s first air reconnaissance UAV with a long-duration flight capability, which corresponds to the MALE (medium-altitude long-endurance) international classification category. The system is designed to conduct air reconnaissance and patrols, determine the coordinates of ground and naval targets and carry out topographic mapping of the terrain.

The Orion drone, which is being developed by Kronshtadt Group, has a maximum takeoff weight of 1 tonne and a maximum payload weight of 200 kg. The Orion is the first MALE-class drone fully developed in Russia and made of domestic components. Its flight duration is 24 hours.

GarryB wrote:That Sarych drone looks interesting.... any other information?

Is it supposed to have skin over the wings or is that how it looks in use?

Hard to tell from that angle but looks either like it uses wing warping for flight control and to optimise lift during flight, or it has small jet engines in the wing leading edge which blow air through the wing structure and can be angled like vectored thrust in flight to enhance manouver or lift performance...

Or is it just a honeycomb wing structure?

GarryB wrote:That Sarych drone looks interesting.... any other information?

Is it supposed to have skin over the wings or is that how it looks in use?

Hard to tell from that angle but looks either like it uses wing warping for flight control and to optimise lift during flight, or it has small jet engines in the wing leading edge which blow air through the wing structure and can be angled like vectored thrust in flight to enhance manouver or lift performance...

Or is it just a honeycomb wing structure?

So apparently, UAE wants to test Russia's newest Orion-A UAV. Do they hope it will be better than Chinese military drones it already has?

Another "proof of concept" thing. A wing for UAV (or anything else) with variable geometry. Like, highly variable. However, the guy from the company could not explain what are they trying to achieve

Calculation: army drones will find the target on a cellular signal



In the Russian army, drones have appeared that can find the enemy by the signal of a cell phone and direct artillery or aircraft at him. New drones became part of the Leer-3 electronic warfare complex. These devices are able to calculate the subscriber, not only when making a call or sending SMS-messages, but also if the mobile phone is turned off. The equipment has already been tested at the training grounds of the Orenburg region and in Tajikistan, Izvestia sources in the Defense Ministry said. According to them, the first exercises using the new Orlan-10 drones were held this summer and were considered successful.

In the Russian army, drones have appeared that can find the enemy by the signal of a cell phone and direct artillery or aircraft at him. New drones became part of the Leer-3 electronic warfare complex. These devices are able to calculate the subscriber, not only when making a call or sending SMS-messages, but also if the mobile phone is turned off. The equipment has already been tested at the training grounds of the Orenburg region and in Tajikistan, Izvestia sources in the Defense Ministry said. According to them, the first exercises using the new Orlan-10 drones were held this summer and were considered successful.

In the Orenburg region, camouflaged positions of a conditional enemy were detected by drones using cellular signals. "Eagles" in real time transmitted coordinates to the mortar and howitzer units, after which the gunners successfully destroyed the conditional enemy. In Tajikistan, the calculations of the Leer-3 and the mortars of the 201st military base complicated the task. They had to detect and destroy in the foothills of the Pamirs a highly maneuverable group of the enemy. The technician and the calculations coped with the task without any problems - the "pickup" of conditional militants was found and rendered harmless on a mountain serpentine.

Orlan Analyst

The Leer-3 complex consists of three Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and a control post on the KamAZ-5350 high-pass truck. Until recently, the main task of drones was the suppression of cell towers. To do this, they installed special "jammers" and disposable jammers that are dumped to the ground near the towers. By suppressing base stations, drones could, under certain conditions, replace them and send SMS messages to subscribers. New equipment installed on the Orlan-10, has seriously expanded the capabilities of the complex. Now they can connect to the stations of mobile operators while in flight. At the same time, drones "taught" not only to control all incoming and outgoing traffic, but also to analyze it.

“The new army system is operating quite simply,” Denis Kuskov, general director of the Telecom Daily analytical company, told Izvestia. - The equipment installed on the drones is remotely connected to the base station and intercepts the flow of information. If the mobile phone is turned on, its location with an accuracy of several meters can be recognized immediately - by number. Then, in real time, the drone transmits the coordinates of the subscriber to the Leer base station.

From there, the coordinates fall into the automated command and control system (ACS), to which artillerymen, pilots, and operational-tactical missile systems are connected.

“Electronics will help you choose the weapon of destruction and the time of an artillery, air or missile strike,” Viktor Murakhovsky, editor-in-chief of Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, told Izvestia. - New opportunities for EW tools will be especially in demand during local conflicts. It should be noted that elements of the strike system were previously tested in Syria.

In this case, getting away from the blow is almost impossible. In minutes, a few minutes will pass from the raid, and while the gunners, rockets or pilots prepare for the attack, the drone will continue to update the coordinates of the target in real time.

Work at a distance

Technical characteristics of the Orlan-10 UAV allow for covert and lengthy search and reconnaissance operations. This drone belongs to the medium class, its radius of action is up to 120 km. The machine is able to stay in the air for up to 14 hours, rising to a height of up to 5000 m. Moreover, the drone does not have to approach the cell tower - it can "take" all the information at a considerable distance from it.

In addition, the "Eagles" can be used in groups of two to three cars. In this case, one of the devices conducts visual reconnaissance at a distance of 1–1.5 km from the ground, the second carries electronic warfare equipment or wiretapping, and the third - from a height of 4.5–5 km, relays information to the base. This tactic allows you to take the detected target also for visual accompaniment, and after striking to make sure that it is destroyed.

The Russian armed forces are now actively forming new units of drones. This year, separate UAV units were deployed in Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands. They will help the combined arms formations, coastal anti-ship missile systems "Bastion" and "Ball", as well as the Marine Corps. New drones will have to patrol the coastal and near sea zones, as well as provide assistance to rescuers in search of ships in distress and to monitor the environmental situation.

https://vpk.name/news/323529_abonentskaya_rasplata_armeiskie_dronyi_naidut_cel_po_signalu_sotovogo.html

Isos wrote:Samuel Bendett
@SamBendett
·
2h
So apparently, UAE wants to test Russia's newest Orion-A UAV. Do they hope it will be better than Chinese military drones it already has?

https://ria.ru/amp/20190830/1558063892.html?__twitter_impression=true

Iraq is struggling to maintain its airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability, especially its Chinese-made CH-4 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), according to a US inspector general report released on 6 August to review Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR).

The report cited CJTF-OIR as saying that Iraq had acquired more than 10 CH-4s, but only one was fully mission capable because of maintenance problems.

The Iraqi Ministry of Defence unveiled armed CH-4B variants in October 2015 but did not state how many it had acquired. Jordan also acquired CH-4s but put them up for sale earlier this year for unspecified reasons.

Isos wrote:Russian drones in Syria are either the small ones like orlan 10 or israeli Forpost. MALE and HALE are not used by them and they have none in service.

PapaDragon wrote:
Orion UAV on Center 2019 exercises

archangelski wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=-tKX-Myo7iE

archangelski wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=-tKX-Myo7iE

Беспилотник «Орион» поступил в опытно-войсковую эксплуатацию в ВКС России. Об этом агентству ТАСС сообщил источник в оборонно-промышленном комплексе.

По его словам, до этого БПЛА прошел испытания в Сирии. В частности, в ударном варианте беспилотник, способный нести до четырех ракет, успешно поразил все цели.

По завершении опытной эксплуатации будет принято решение о запуске серии и принятии аппарата на вооружение.