UAVs in Russian Armed Forces: News

Seems like it's all the rage in UAV development world-wide,
existing UAVs are even re-engined for diesel engines because of the increase in range/loiter... (and I guess lower maintenance)
Actual fuel used may in some cases be jet fuels for highest fuel energy density but the engine is piston compression ignition ala diesel...

Any news or pics about UAVs from MAKS?

Show's been on for two days and we barely had any news at all. Come to think of it, we barely had any photos of any new stuff.

No UAVs, no spacecraft, nothing but standard stuff...

"Kronstadt": testing a new drone will take place before the end of the year

http://ria.ru/maks/20150827/1210110406.html

1 ton mass, 300kg payload. Should be in predator ballpark...


EDIT:

Also by Kronstadt:

http://missiles2go.ru/2015/08/20/%d0%ba%d1%80%d0%be%d0%bd%d1%88%d1%82%d0%b0%d0%b4%d1%82-%d0%b1%d0%bb%d0%b0-%d1%84%d1%80%d0%b5%d0%b3%d0%b0%d1%82-%d0%bc%d0%b0%d0%ba%d1%812015/

Characteristics:

Promising UAVs require no airfield-based "Fregat"

Swipe - 19 m

Swipe with folded consoles - 10 m

Height - 3.1 m

The flight duration - 10 hours

Practical range - 5000 km

Max. payload at take-off of an aircraft - 1700 kg

Max. payload for a vertical take-off - 1,000 kg

Take-off weight, vertical takeoff - 7000 kg

Flight speed range - 0 ... 600 km / h

Maximum height - 8000 m

That drone in the back could be ''Orion UAV'' from previous post.

Drone supposedly designed by Msyashev

http://nortwolf-sam.livejournal.com/1009188.html

Newly created Russian drones to speed up to 700 km per hour

http://tass.ru/en/russia/817078

The newly developed drone will have an opportunity to fill in a niche between planes and heliopters

ZHUKOVSKY, Moscow region, August 27. /TASS/. Prospective Russian unmanned aircraft, or drones, of the Fregat family will have a capability to speed up to 700 km/h, Nikolai Dolzhenkov, the director of the drone section of the Kronstadt Group told reporters on Thursday.

He addressed the media as part of an official presentation of the Fregat drone at the MAKS’2015 international aerospace show underway in the town of Zhukovsky near Moscow.

"The Fregats will have a speed of 600 to 700 km per hour, which is inaccessible for today’s helicopters," Dolzhenkov said.

He believes the newly developed drone will have an opportunity to fill in a niche between planes and heliopters.

The Kronstadt Group press service said earlier the new promising aircraft is expected to carry 1.0 tons to 1.7 tones and the stay airborne for about ten hours.

The manufacturer plans to cooperate on the project with the Prospective Research Foundation and the Vnesheconombank (VEB) Foreign Trade Bank.

Assembly of these drones will be streamlined in 2022, Dolzhenkov said.

When TASS asked him about the main purposes of the Fregat and Orion-2 drones, Dolzhenkov said Kronstadt was developing them for exclusively civilian uses.

"We don’t plan any utilization of these two families of drones by the military," he said.

Unlike the Fregat, the Orion-2 was not presented at MAKS but spokespeople at the press service of the corporation said it had been designed for monitoring the Earth’s surface in the interests of the manufacturing sector.

"All the projects of the drones are purely civilian," Dolzhenkov told TASS. "Well, they can be militarized of course but in a different life."

Civilian use my

Allegedly, new Russian UAV ''Corsair''

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/1466376.html



Inverted V tail seems to be in vogue with drone designers in Russia.

"Russia, China Developing the World’s First Drone-Carrying Missile

A multiple rocket launcher jointly being developed by Russia and China will feature the world’s first ever missile capable of hauling a drone. “Using this new configuration we’ll be able to reconnoiter far-off targets pretty fast as the drone is carried 90 kilometers away by a missile moving at a tremendous speed… The UAV will then fly for around 30 minutes scouting the designated area in a real time mode and sending obtained information to the operator,” Rostec deputy director Dmitry Rytenkov told RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday. n the Russian side the development work on the 300mm missile is being done by Splav — a Tula-based scientific production association." Source: Sputniknews.com

I suppose this will be one of the payloads available in future for Tornado platform. However i recall seeing commercial for such drone carrying system like decade ago for Smerch, i assume this means it never got materialised?

Militarov wrote:"Russia, China Developing the World’s First Drone-Carrying Missile

A multiple rocket launcher jointly being developed by Russia and China will feature the world’s first ever missile capable of hauling a drone. “Using this new configuration we’ll be able to reconnoiter far-off targets pretty fast as the drone is carried 90 kilometers away by a missile moving at a tremendous speed… The UAV will then fly for around 30 minutes scouting the designated area in a real time mode and sending obtained information to the operator,” Rostec deputy director Dmitry Rytenkov told RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday. n the Russian side the development work on the 300mm missile is being done by Splav — a Tula-based scientific production association." Source: Sputniknews.com

I suppose this will be one of the payloads available in future for Tornado platform. However i recall seeing commercial for such drone carrying system like decade ago for Smerch, i assume this means it never got materialised?

No it isn't. Probably they meant something else?
9K55 Smerch system already had such a projectile with Eniks UAV inisde the 300mm rocket to relay footage of combat area in real time for upto 30 minutes. We can see that demo in videos of Smerch.
http://www.splav.org/en/arms/smerch/index.asp

Dima wrote:

Militarov wrote:"Russia, China Developing the World’s First Drone-Carrying Missile

A multiple rocket launcher jointly being developed by Russia and China will feature the world’s first ever missile capable of hauling a drone. “Using this new configuration we’ll be able to reconnoiter far-off targets pretty fast as the drone is carried 90 kilometers away by a missile moving at a tremendous speed… The UAV will then fly for around 30 minutes scouting the designated area in a real time mode and sending obtained information to the operator,” Rostec deputy director Dmitry Rytenkov told RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday. n the Russian side the development work on the 300mm missile is being done by Splav — a Tula-based scientific production association." Source: Sputniknews.com

I suppose this will be one of the payloads available in future for Tornado platform. However i recall seeing commercial for such drone carrying system like decade ago for Smerch, i assume this means it never got materialised?

No it isn't. Probably they meant something else?
9K55 Smerch system already had such a projectile with Eniks UAV inisde the 300mm rocket to relay footage of combat area in real time for upto 30 minutes. We can see that demo in videos of Smerch.
http://www.splav.org/en/arms/smerch/index.asp

Journalists have been screwing up again, the Smerch UAV has been around for a loooooong time, probably 20 years or more now.

magnumcromagnon wrote:

Dima wrote:

Militarov wrote:"Russia, China Developing the World’s First Drone-Carrying Missile

A multiple rocket launcher jointly being developed by Russia and China will feature the world’s first ever missile capable of hauling a drone. “Using this new configuration we’ll be able to reconnoiter far-off targets pretty fast as the drone is carried 90 kilometers away by a missile moving at a tremendous speed… The UAV will then fly for around 30 minutes scouting the designated area in a real time mode and sending obtained information to the operator,” Rostec deputy director Dmitry Rytenkov told RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday. n the Russian side the development work on the 300mm missile is being done by Splav — a Tula-based scientific production association." Source: Sputniknews.com

I suppose this will be one of the payloads available in future for Tornado platform. However i recall seeing commercial for such drone carrying system like decade ago for Smerch, i assume this means it never got materialised?

No it isn't. Probably they meant something else?
9K55 Smerch system already had such a projectile with Eniks UAV inisde the 300mm rocket to relay footage of combat area in real time for upto 30 minutes. We can see that demo in videos of Smerch.

Journalists have been screwing up again, the Smerch UAV has been around for a loooooong time, probably 20 years or more now.

Hmm, i cant say i ever saw that drone being actually used, i did see like 10 years ago video commercial for it but thats all, i guess this could be some kind of improved version built on that same basics? Coz i doubt these journalists are aware of "previous version" that we all talk here about.

PapaDragon wrote:Also by Kronstadt:

Characteristics:

Promising UAVs require no airfield-based "Fregat"

Swipe - 19 m

Swipe with folded consoles - 10 m

Height - 3.1 m

The flight duration - 10 hours

Practical range - 5000 km

Max. payload at take-off of an aircraft - 1700 kg

Max. payload for a vertical take-off - 1,000 kg

Take-off weight, vertical takeoff - 7000 kg

Flight speed range - 0 ... 600 km / h

Maximum height - 8000 m

That drone in the back could be ''Orion UAV'' from previous post.

IMHO a valuable asset on for sea going fleet - can use decks of helicopter carriers of even bigger helo decks on frigates.

To Watch and to Strike: Russia Developing Multirole Heavy Drone

http://www.sputniknews.com/russia/20150910/1026831134/russia-drone-development.html

Russia is developing a heavy drone that could be used both as reconnaissance and combat aircraft, one of its designers said in an interview Wednesday.

The two ton Avius-1 UAV will bristle with hi-tech gear including an onboard radar and a satellite communications system, Igor Bevzyuk, deputy director of the RTI Holding Company told RIA Novosti news agency.

“This will be a multirole medium-altitude UAV capable of spending up to 35 hours in the air nonstop under any climatic conditions, including the Arctic,” Bevzyuk said, adding that the prototype of the Avius-1 could be ready next year and the first flight was scheduled for 2017.

RTI Plc is an industrial holding company that manufactures over-the-horizon radars, defense, and security systems.

The company also owns research and development infrastructure, implements projects in radio and space technologies, navigation, and microelectronic products.

The company serves industries including aerospace and defense. The company was founded in 2011 and is based in Moscow.

GunshipDemocracy wrote:

PapaDragon wrote:

IMHO a valuable asset  on for sea going fleet - can use decks of helicopter carriers of even bigger helo decks on frigates.

Right, that kind of capability (not necessarily this specific design) is great for high and fast flying AEW&C and ASW without need for carrier.  
Part of why I think carrier(s) are an un-necessary budget nightmare for RuN, even if there is talk of cooperation with Chinese on that now...

Interesting to see what this Avius-1 looks like... Isn't it in the ballpark of the Altus' performance?
What is the story on this RTI Company any way, is it integrated into UAC or Rostec or other defence companies?
Interesting to see so many offices and companies getting involved in UAV design in Russia as well.

Personal observation:

Given the scarcity of any useful info on UAV development in Russia I can draw one of two conclusions:

a) Drone development is not taken seriously at all

or

b) There is insane amount of OPSEC involved

a) Drone development is not taken seriously at all

or

b) There is insane amount of OPSEC involved

yeah, it seems there are alot of work on UAV projects (based on Russian news reports), but little has materialized so far.

PapaDragon wrote:
Personal observation:

Given the scarcity of any useful info on UAV development in Russia I can draw one of two conclusions:

a) Drone development is not taken seriously at all  

or

b) There is insane amount of OPSEC involved

There's plenty of useful info, this thread is just not updated much.

I believe TheArmenian not too long ago posted a link absolutely full of new information.

mutantsushi wrote:

GunshipDemocracy wrote:

PapaDragon wrote:

IMHO a valuable asset  on for sea going fleet - can use decks of helicopter carriers of even bigger helo decks on frigates.

Right, that kind of capability (not necessarily this specific design) is great for high and fast flying AEW&C and ASW without need for carrier.  
Part of why I think carrier(s) are an un-necessary budget nightmare for RuN, even if there is talk of cooperation with Chinese on that now...

Maybe we shouldn´t dump ACs yet, although on Chinese CGI they die pretty fast ) AC has can take enormous number of drones for reconnaissance, AWACS, strike and ASW roles but there is (in RuN even more since scarcity of bases) - fighters. Fighters to protect own fleet on reasonable long distances. Especially if PAK FA will be the one for RuN.

mutantsushi wrote:
Interesting to see what this Avius-1 looks like... Isn't it in the ballpark of the Altus' performance?
What is the story on this RTI Company any way, is it integrated into UAC or Rostec or other defence companies? Interesting to see so many offices and companies getting involved in UAV design in Russia as well.

How many nobody knows, the advantage of this situation is cut-throat competition leaving fittest species alive. Remaining resources - skilled in trade can be assimilated into successful structures.

KRET: Attack drone can be created on the basis of the Yak-130

KRET has everything necessary for the development of unmanned attack aircraft on the basis of training and combat aircraft Yak-130, which will exceed the characteristics of the US MQ-9 Reaper, the adviser said first deputy general director of the holding Vladimir Mikheev.

MOSCOW, September 17 - RIA Novosti. The attack drone, which thrust-weight ratio and flexibility will exceed US MQ-9 Reaper, can be created on the basis of Russian combat training aircraft Yak-130, told RIA Novosti on Thursday, the adviser to the first deputy general director of Russia's largest holding in the electronic industry "Concern Radio-electronic technology" (KRET), Vladimir Mikheev.

"The potential for the modernization of the Yak-130 is still very great. At its base is possible to create an unmanned attack aircraft, which by its thrust-weight ratio and flexibility will exceed US MQ-9 Reaper", - said Mikheyev.

He noted that KRET now has "all necessary for this development, but for the realization of this task will have to make significant changes in the composition of the avionics of the aircraft."

KRET today is developing for the Yak-130 new radars and new optronic sighting and navigation system (OEPNK), which should allow the aircraft to significantly expand the range of weapons used.

Yak-130 - Double jet combat training aircraft of the new generation intended for training and combat training of aircrew and combat use in simple and adverse weather conditions, in air and ground targets. According to its flight performance and maneuverability performance is close to that of modern fighters at subsonic flight, which will solve the problem of pilot training aircraft generations "4+" and "5". He is unpretentious, and based on the conditions able to land on unprepared sites.

"Concern Radio-electronic technology" was established in 2009, it is part of the state corporation "Rostec." Main activities: development and production of complex systems and avionics for civil and military aircraft, radar airborne, the state identification, electronic warfare systems, instrumentation for various applications, electrical connectors, connectors and cable assemblies.

https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=2&hl=en&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://ria.ru/defense_safety/20150917/1258107244.html&usg=ALkJrhjbNB_f5k-XjPl4Kw7C3wHXuLLlHA

George1 wrote:KRET: Attack drone can be created on the basis of the Yak-130

KRET has everything necessary for the development of unmanned attack aircraft on the basis of training and combat aircraft Yak-130, which will exceed the characteristics of the US MQ-9 Reaper, the adviser said first deputy general director of the holding Vladimir Mikheev.

Already posted in Yak-130 threadd

Sounds like an expensive drone.
Would prefer a cheaper solution, and with greater endurance too.

flamming_python wrote:Sounds like an expensive drone.
Would prefer a cheaper solution, and with greater endurance too.

K let me be anadvocatus diaboli - Unit cost f MQ-9 Ripper is more less same as Yak-130. Drone would use existing tech so you make it cheaper. Yak is faster and takes more payload (with manned extra version weight ). Again this can potentially make YAK-130 cheaper for RuAF.

This actually is closer tro X-47 then MQ-9 characteristics. So maybe this choice is not so bad after all?

anyone knows if Russia working in attack drones of high altitude?

The MQ-9 can reach an altitude of 15,000 meters.. THis is beyond manpads range..
that is from 6km to 8km max.. any knows if Russia have drones that fly close to those altitudes
and possibly do airstrikes?