Altius UAV program

The prototype of the unmanned aerial vehicle "Altair" will resume tests in 2017

As reported on March 6, 2017 by the news agency RNS, the development of an unmanned aircraft of the heavy class "Altair", which is conducted in the Design Bureau named after M. Simonov (Kazan), in 2017 will enter the decisive phase. This was reported by RNS source in the defense industry.

"Last year, an experimental model of a heavy drones created under this program performed a series of successful test flights. In December, flights were suspended. It is planned that in the spring and summer test flights will be continued by the first experimental devices, modified according to the results of flights of the prototype, "the source said.

According to him, in the high stage of readiness there are already two experimental devices.


The first prototype-demonstrator of the UAV "Altair" (Altius-M) in the assembly shop of KAPO-Composite JSC. Kazan, 03/25/2014 (с) The frame of the news program / militaryrussia.ru

"Thanks to the experimental model, the ground part of the unmanned complex, the control system, communications, take-off and landing schemes have been worked out," the agency's interlocutor said. He noted that the take-off and landing of heavy drones are fully automated, take place according to the developed software algorithm, with the possibility, if necessary, of the manual control of the operator from the ground.

In parallel with the manufacture of experimental vehicles, he said, the development of weapon systems for a new reconnaissance and impact drone is underway. "At the same time, the mass of the device allows you to place on it a number of existing weapons systems," the source said.

In the summer of 2016, the media reported the start of flights in Kazan, of the first Russian heavy-duty drones. Later, in the autumn, satellite images of the device on one of the Kazan airfields appeared on the Internet. According to experts, the mass of the new device is 5 tons. It is equipped with two diesel engines RED A03 / V12 takeoff power of about 500 liters. With propellers. The device can be in the air for two days without refueling. The maximum height is 12 km. The total length is about 12 m, and the wingspan is about 30 m. The maximum range is 10 thousand kilometers.

It was reported that a new drone can be used, in particular, to monitor the situation in the Arctic. It is planned that mass production will begin in 2018.

While Russia does not have devices of this class. Similar reconnaissance and strike drones are created and serially built only in USA.

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/2476676.html

two 500 hp engines and endurance of 48 hours??? no wayy. how much fuel does it cary.! just doesnt add up.

Rmf wrote:two 500 hp engines and endurance of 48 hours???  no wayy. how much fuel does it cary.! just doesnt add up.

It's all guesswork at this point but given that wingspan I would say that fuel tanks are pretty damn big.

High power would allow a very heavy aircraft to get airborne... very heavy with fuel no doubt.

In flight it would use rather low throttle settings for low speed cruising... perhaps even feathering one prop and only running one engine... which would also reduce noise and IR signature...

Rmf wrote:two 500 hp engines and endurance of 48 hours???  no wayy. how much fuel does it cary.! just doesnt add up.

Actually flying at a very high altitude and a very low subsonic speed with prop engines could make it work. Flying at something like 210 km/h over a span of 48 hours will get you just over 10,000 km in range.

its not that heavy , it is 5t class.
propeller driven reaper is 4,8 tonns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Atomics_MQ-9_Reaper and 14 hours endurance , and it has 1 engine instead of fuel thirsty 2.
this thing does have longer wingspan 28m vs 20m.

If you want to fly high then you need thrust.

And what is this thirsty two engine crap?

Fuel consumption has more to do with power setting than number of engines... fuel consumption is energy(thrust) generated per gramme of fuel it does not matter if that energy is coming from one engine or ten. High power settings means more fuel burned per second... one engine on its own has a much higher power setting than two engines doing the same job... otherwise twin engined aircraft would not exist.

those 2 engine consume 210 gr of fuel per kw/h each , 420 gr combined , while garret turboprop in reaper consumes 320 gr/kw/h.

those 2 engine consume 210 gr of fuel per kw/h each , 420 gr combined , while garret turboprop in reaper consumes 320 gr/kw/h.

Duh....

Those two engines burning 210 grammes of fuel per kw/h does not double the fuel consumption.

If the UAV needs 150kw/h to cruise at normal speed then one engine will generate 75kw/h and the other will generate 75kw/h so each engine will be burning 210 x 75 grammes per hour of fuel each... About 15.75 litres of fuel an hour each engine so two engines running will burn 31.5 litres of fuel an hour.

The Garret burns 320 grammes of fuel per kw per hour so generating 150kws for an hour means it burns 48 litres of fuel per hour...

Of course it is not actually as simple as that because at the higher thrust settings an engine tends to be less efficient and burn more fuel at higher thrust settings so a two engine arrangement is often even more efficient...

Of course two engines also adds mass and complication in two fuel systems and two engine mounts but it also adds redundancy which makes things safer.

The two wing mounts also often means more frontal area and therefore more drag, but the extra thrust margin usually makes up for that at takeoff and at high altitude cruise in the lower drag thinner air it is less important than the increased thrust to hold speed.

that reaper turboprop is in fuselage so it makes no drag but it takes volume inside which then cant store fuel. i guess diesel have good efficiency at 20-30% cruise power  unlike gas turbine so thats the difference.

The flight profile will have even more impact on flight speed and range performance... flying low and fast will always burn more fuel than high and cruising speed.

Well look who finally showed up....

Altus UAV

Its about time! 

I wish they release a video footage 

Interesting how short the aircraft body is compared with its enormous wingspan.

Obviously intended for long flights at high altitudes.

Will be interesting to see what armaments it might end up carrying.

Would also be interesting to see if they put targeting pods in underwing positions to allow target marking and data collection to be expanded.

Such a platform flying over a point on the battlefield with two or four targeting pods allowing four separate specialists scan for and mark targets of interest at one time would allow local artillery firing laser guided shells to rapidly take out enemy positions in relative safety.

Dat wingspan

Definitely high altitude and long endurance.
Perhaps with maritime applications.

Don't think it is a UCAV. Although in theory it can drop Precision Guided bombs from high altitude.

I agree, it's strategic reconnaissance type most likely geared towards naval and arctic application, hence 2 props instead 1 or 2 jets.

And any tech from targeting pods will probably be integrated into the final product's body from the get go.

Smaller stuff like Orion will be used as UCAVs.

While strategic recoinance might be its primary role i find it very stupid not to exploit its advantages of long rage (we hope so) and high payload cappacity (we hope so) for strike roles too. So i sort of expect to see it being used as UCAV, if not as primary then as secondary role in times of need, with some maybe removable hardpoints.

When its about optronics package i was always fan of auxilary pods as you can very fast remove them, place something else, plug-and-play in case of malfunction etc, etc. Further modifications and modernisations are also quite alot easier that way. Naturally that works only with platforms of certain size that can deal with external payload.

Militarov wrote:While strategic recoinance might be its primary role i find it very stupid not to exploit its advantages of long rage (we hope so) and high payload cappacity (we hope so) for strike roles too. So i sort of expect to see it being used as UCAV, if not as primary then as secondary role in times of need, with some maybe removable hardpoints.

When its about optronics package i was always fan of auxilary pods as you can very fast remove them, place something else, plug-and-play in case of malfunction etc, etc. Further modifications and modernisations are also quite alot easier that way. Naturally that works only with platforms of certain size that can deal with external payload.

Well putting stuff on is easy if you have space and this thing definitely has it. USAF Global Hawk has no weapons so it would hardly be unusual.

Here is tech data:

Take-off weight of approx. 5 t, length 11.6 m, wingspan 28.5 m, approx. 2 tons, the maximum speed is unknown, the range is up to 10000km, the ceiling is up to 15000m, the maximum flight duration is up to 48h.

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/92527/

Some call it Altus other call it Altair. So which is it?

PapaDragon wrote:

Militarov wrote:While strategic recoinance might be its primary role i find it very stupid not to exploit its advantages of long rage (we hope so) and high payload cappacity (we hope so) for strike roles too. So i sort of expect to see it being used as UCAV, if not as primary then as secondary role in times of need, with some maybe removable hardpoints.

When its about optronics package i was always fan of auxilary pods as you can very fast remove them, place something else, plug-and-play in case of malfunction etc, etc. Further modifications and modernisations are also quite alot easier that way. Naturally that works only with platforms of certain size that can deal with external payload.

Well putting stuff on is easy if you have space and this thing definitely has it. USAF Global Hawk has no weapons so it would hardly be unusual.

Here is tech data:

Take-off weight of approx. 5 t, length 11.6 m, wingspan 28.5 m, approx. 2 tons, the maximum speed is unknown, the range is up to 10000km, the ceiling is up to 15000m, the maximum flight duration is up to 48h.

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/92527/

Some call it Altus other call it Altair. So which is it?

Armed global hawk was proposed but rejected due to availability of other platforms in US.

Apparently both names are legit.

Even if it does not carry weapons itself, its ability to fly at above 12km altitude for long periods means it can loiter over a front line all day looking for targets.

Of course it will have its own optronics package but bolting 2 or 4 targeting pods under the wings means potentially 2 or 4 extra operators able to individually mark targets independently.

For troops on the ground that means up to 5 targets can be marked at one time with laser beams for precise attack by artillery or lower flying UCAVs that can fire and move without worrying about marking the target or observing the results of the attack.

The high flying UAV can find and mark targets and determine the success or otherwise of each attack.

Laser guided weapons can be fired ballistically into the front line... Gran and Kitolov and even the guided 240mm mortar rounds and guided 152mm Krasnopol and guided 203mm rounds could be used with a target marker invulnerable to normal ground fire.

Front line units could use real time imagery of the battlefield from the UAV with up to 5 independent channels available to look where they want when they want it... the video beamed into every tank and IFV and helo nearby.

Any weight for weapons could be replaced by fuel on the UAV to extend range... 4 targeting pods could be joined by 2 large external fuel tanks to add persistence. Two UAVs could provide, say 36 hours of coverage each, meaning a rotation with the two aircraft providing 72 hours coverage at a time.

36 hours on and then return to base and refuel and then 36 hours later back on duty.

For the troops on the ground that means 24/7 coverage.

Altius is shown in Kazan

So this comes in two sizes?

Also, Arctic marking.

Second Altius/Altair prototype unveiled

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/93663/