UAVs in Russian Armed Forces: News #3

American Institute for the Study of War

JohninMK wrote:Victor vicktop55
@vicktop55
The subsidiary holding Ruselectronics presented a new small-sized transponder to designate drones.

The product operates on the “friend or foe” principle and automatically marks friendly drones at an altitude of up to 5 km and a distance of up to 100 km from the radio interrogator.
The authenticator weighs no more than 150 g and has a power consumption of 100 mV.  

https://t.me/vicktop55/18762

Finally.

A miniature “friend or foe” system has been created to identify drones
29.11.2023

A new small-sized transponder for identifying drones, presented at the Electronics of Russia exhibition by the Ruselectronics holding, is capable of revolutionizing the unmanned aerial vehicle industry. The device, developed by NPP Pulsar, operates on the “friend or foe” principle and automatically marks friendly UAVs at an altitude of up to 5 km and a distance of up to 100 km from the radio interrogator. This was reported in the press service of the holding.

One of the key features of the innovative miniature device is its ability to work with the Russian Password identification system. Such devices are widely used in aviation to identify differences between their own equipment and that of the enemy. With the development of unmanned aircraft systems and the presence of a large number of them in the zone of a special military operation, there is a need for devices that can determine the identity of the UAV.

The identification device is designed taking into account the requirements for mobility and versatility. Its light weight, not exceeding 150 grams, and low power consumption of 100 mV allow the device to be integrated into a wide range of civil and special-purpose drones, such as reconnaissance ones. This opens up new opportunities for the use of drones on the battlefield, where they serve as fire spotters, as well as surveillance and fire weapons.

General Director of NPP Pulsar Sergei Borovoy emphasized the importance of such identifications in modern conflicts, where both sides often use the same models of drones. This makes their visual identification difficult - often in the reports of Russian military officers, soldiers on the front line note that they hear a drone, but it is impossible to understand whether it is one of their own or someone else’s.

The use of a new identifier will make it possible to reliably distinguish the identity of a UAV, which will increase the efficiency and safety of the actions of Russian units.

https://aviation21.ru/sozdana-miniatyurnaya-sistema-svoj-chuzhoj-dlya-identifikacii-bespilotnikov/

GarryB wrote:This video shows a couple of helicopter drones, and one has three launch tubes for 80mm rockets with an S-8 laser guided rocket loaded with its nose sticking out the end of the tube.

If you watch carefully there is another helicopter drone with a four tube rocket pod mounted on the wingtips that appears to be able to be aimed up and down and I think I saw a spec sheet showing the four tube launcher was 57mm calibre. Edit: It called them unguided 57mm rockets with a range of 1.8km so they are just dumb unguided rockets for direct fire at targets.

If they have laser guided S-8 rockets that really would make these helicopter drones rather potent... on one of the spec sheets for the model with two four tube 57mm unguided rocket pods on wingtips it also mentioned a 7.62mm machine gun with 550 rounds of ready to use ammo... for use out to 1.5km, these things are getting more fun all the time.

The guided 80mm rockets could take out vehicles of all types with precision at 6km range, which is pretty much out of return fire range for most weapons, while the 57mm rockets could be used to hit enemy troops in bunkers and would probably be fired at targets at 1-1.5km where the machine gun would also be effective too...

With thermals they will be fun during winter.

also to add we had news reports like 2 weeks ago of new 80mm rockets in development of new highly efficient engines that might push the range farther than 6kms to maybe ranges passed hellfire missiles.

For example, the American Institute for the Study of War, having analyzed available videos, believes that Russia has managed to create a “swarm of drones” capable of exchanging information and using artificial intelligence to independently determine targets.

Did they work it out from watching videos or did they listen to the press releases where they specifically mention that they are using swarm technology, first with their new model Lancet suicide drones and if you watch the last video I posted the spec screen right near the start of the video it mentions detection and identification ranges for different things, so they are including it in their helicopter recon drones too.

To be clear, they are using swarm code for their suicide drones and their recon drones... so their recon drones will fly around and automatically detect and classify potential targets on the ground and pass that information to HQ and their suicide drones can be launched either directly to a known or suspected target or to fly around an area that perhaps enemy fire has been detected and it can search by itself for enemy platforms and resources and equipment to hit.

Russia now seems to have the Drone capacity that the west has been claiming to have for a while now... but there is a critical part missing in the west... the air defence component.

No point having attack and recon drones if you can't defend yourself from the same.

It is hard to underestimate the effect of massive drone use by either side has on air defence... before when it was just planes and helicopters and the odd missile they all had IFF transponders so you knew what was what most of the time, but add a layer of hundreds or perhaps even thousands of drones going back and forth all over the battlefield and it becomes a nightmare... you don't want to be shooting down your own drones but then you don't want to be letting enemy drones in either.

A drone might find an enemy helicopter and follow it back to its own base... following closely behind so it might not be noticed because of the noise of the helicopter... the helicopter is unlikely to notice a target flying very closely behind it unless it is actually looking by changing course etc.

The sort of thing submarines do with civilian shipping to get into places they shouldn't be...

Adding a cheap light simple IFF system to your drones that you make yourself will mean you will be much better able to discern friend from foe or home made from shop bought... this can further improve their ability to shoot down drones or defeat them electronically.

Drones that attack other drones could be fitted with these IFF systems so they don't waste time chasing their own.

Of course enemy forces will capture damaged or destroyed drones and try to copy them for their own drones to pretend to be Russian drones, but it should be rather interesting...

Russian drones are clearly at a level above western drones when it comes to the practical battlefield weapons, which will be the most dangerous.

The HALE and MALE and murder bots the west have are too big and vulnerable to operate in contested airspace and would be easily destroyed in actual combat.... essentially western HALE and MALE technology was developed because the manned equivalents of these platforms are just too expensive to use or they want to use them illegally outside international airspace and they don't want to worry about POWs.

First they say it was a training mission that got lost, and then it was a weather balloon, and it was always in international waters and they can show us the tapes as soon as they have doctored them to prove their claims are true.

also to add we had news reports like 2 weeks ago of new 80mm rockets in development of new highly efficient engines that might push the range farther than 6kms to maybe ranges passed hellfire missiles.

That would be interesting.

The S-25L laser guided rocket, which is the huge single rocket in a pod but with a laser homing head is normally stated to have a range of 3-4km for the unguided model but 10km for the laser homing model which makes me think the laser guided model is lofted at the target area and the laser guidance allows it to hit its point target and I would expect the S-8L would be the same.

The old S-8 rockets had ranges between 2-4km in direct fire mode so I suspect the 6km for the S-8L is already the extended range.

For hitting targets like vehicles or bunkers or strong points 6km is plenty of range... you would not be using these rockets against Tunguskas and Gepards and other air defence vehicles... this is for hitting trucks and cars and MRAPs and other light vehicles that the enemy uses to move stuff around the battlefield... being cheap and mass produced means you have plenty to loose off at targets that appear by surprise... these helicopters might carry three rockets but a Hokum or Havoc with two x 20 shot rocket pods might be carrying 40 or more.... and Su-25 could carry 160 rockets, of which 20 might be guided and the rest used against spread out targets like troops or an artillery battery that is firing. A volley to spread fragments and damage things and then aimed guided rockets to pick out towed guns and trucks carrying ammo or troops etc etc.

Since the fall of 2023, universal combat units for FPV drones have been supplied to Russian troops. Two sources in the military department told Izvestia about this and it was confirmed by an interlocutor in the military-industrial complex (DIC). According to them, they are now equipped with universal mounts that allow them to be suspended under almost all types of FPV drones.

“Their serial production has been established at several enterprises of the Russian defense industry responsible for the production of ammunition. Now the troops are receiving fragmentation, high-explosive fragmentation and cumulative warheads. But in the future, their line will be expanded,” said one of the publication’s interlocutors.

Experts confirm that the appearance of a standard ammunition box will simplify the work of military personnel and make it safer.

“Previously, we had to independently manufacture, adapt, and “collectively farm” ammunition. All this is unsafe. I would like there to be different types of ammunition, for example, thermobaric and others,” Dmitry Uskov, a volunteer and author of the 13tactical Telegram channel, told Izvestia.

Experts also clarify that the main advantage of standard ammunition is that it is produced by a factory and does not need to be “chemically mixed” with a fuse.

“Some of the crews were blown up by their own ammunition, which they were making for dumping. Now there is a specially designed ammunition with a fuse created for use from a drone, which, I hope, will be delivered to the front,” Sergei Parshikov, a militia veteran and volunteer working with drones, told Izvestia.

The peculiarity of an FPV drone is that the operator controls such a device while wearing virtual reality glasses. This allows, with the proper skill, to deliver a drone with a warhead precisely to the target, for example, to the door of a dugout or a vulnerable projection of an armored vehicle.

Read more in the exclusive material from Izvestia:

Take it easy: standard ammunition has begun to be produced for FPV drones

https://iz-ru.translate.goog/1613796/2023-12-01/v-rossii-nachalsia-seriinyi-vypusk-boepripasov-dlia-fpv-dronov?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Scalpel drone

A compact gas turbine power plant for unmanned aerial vehicles is being tested in Samara. The engine, which received the model number MGTD-22 and the name “Hummingbird,” is expected to equip high-speed domestic heavy-duty UAVs.

According to preliminary information, testing of the new model, equipped with an experimental control system, can last up to three months. During this time, the developers intend to confirm that the characteristics of the new engine correspond to the design data under different operating modes.

According to the developers, the unmanned aerial vehicle, equipped with a Hummingbird engine, will weigh about 45 kilograms and will be able to reach speeds of up to 800 km/h, reaching altitudes of up to 9000 meters. Such a drone will fly on aviation kerosene.

At the same time, Samara University, whose specialists developed the Hummingbird, does not hide the fact that work is currently underway to create more powerful MGTD-40 and MGTD-100 engines for domestic drones. They have already received the names “Seagull” and “Eagle”, respectively.

According to Samara workers, their plans include creating a whole series of engines with which it will be possible to produce all-weather cargo drones for various purposes with vertical takeoff and landing on any terrain.

https://topcor-ru.translate.goog/42232-v-rossii-nachalis-ispytanija-gazoturbinnoj-ustanovki-dlja-bpla.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en

all-weather cargo drones

All-weather cargo plane:

The jet engine really makes it a cruise missile and will be a real game changer. Price is higher than normal geran but way cheaper than a kalibr or kh-59.

AD will have 3 times less time to engage them. When wee see how badly they did against normal geran, then we can imagine how vadly it will be for them again those jet engine powered geran.

Also Lancet is getting a very very decent range. They will be able to engage even patriots in Kiev with Lancet from Belarus soon.

ALAMO wrote:Yes and no.
It will be 3x faster indeed, but now it will be possible to lock on with MANPADS.
It was Geranium advantage - no MANPADS in Ukro hands could effectively engage it, as there was almost no heat emission.

I am sure both versions will be produced and used.

ALAMO wrote:Yes and no.
It will be 3x faster indeed, but now it will be possible to lock on with MANPADS.
It was Geranium advantage - no MANPADS in Ukro hands could effectively engage it, as there was almost no heat emission.

Yes but since it is much faster it won't be as easy to spot with naked eyes.

It can also more easily fly higher making visual identification way harder.

It is also launchable during the night making use of manpad very hard.

It has pros and cons but it will be a valuable add on.

Can also simulate cruise missile and planes and oblige ukros to use their expensive Patriots on them.

This is just typical MIC. They get a cheap weapon and have to add enough bloat to make it hideously expensive.
At which point why not just use the Kalibr.

Those little jet engines are not millions of dollars each... they were talking about 3D printing them rather cheaply.

The use of a jet engine will make them more vulnerable to MANPADS, but that means they will also make the enemy expend more air defence missiles... if a Geran does not reach its target because a Stinger got it well that is still not a bad result... they are making a lot of Gerans and another one will get that target later.

The advantage of the Geran was always numbers and that makes it harder to intercept... flying at higher speed delays the distance from which you can hear it coming which means when you hear it it will be much closer to you than the older slower model and it will move past you faster because of its increased speed, so less time to get a weapon and locate the target based on its sound and aim and fire.

They have radar homing versions (they don't have a radar on board, what they have is radar detecting sensors for use against enemy radar) so you could launch a batch of the slow models to get the enemy turning on their radar trying to find them and then send a batch of jet powered Gerans to take out any active radar signals like on Gepards or other AD systems... with jet engines they could fly very very high which would allow them to go rather faster... above MANPADS reach so their only options to intercept would be using their more expensive and heavier SAMs from the west. The use of such SAMs will deplete their number but will also reveal where they are located when they launch so any they don't hit can dive down at very high speed onto the targets.

Flying at 6km altitude will make them out of MANPADs range (some MANPADS can hit targets at that height but such a small jet engine it is unlikely they could get a lock at 6km range vertically so it should be quite safe). So only missiles like the ground launched AMRAAM could reach and finding and destroying those would be useful for the coming offensive...

The best thing is that these things will be cheap enough to mass produce in eye watering numbers, which will make them even more effective.

@lancelot, they are using their own experience to upgrade systems. There is no indication that the original prop driven models will cease production, and equally no evidence that only jet powered models will be produced from now on.

Interestingly the vast majority of Russian drones are propeller driven. They have a few Dan drones with pulse jets (like the V-1 doodlebug bomb (cruise missile) of WWII) that were used as targets for AD training that they likely also tested, so this shift to a jet engine is interesting... look forward to seeing how it goes.

Surprised you accuse Russia of bloatware, that is not something their MIC does at all.

The jet powered drones would fly faster at altitude... they are not Lancets with nose optics that have to find their targets, they are GLONASS guided to a coordinate in 3D space. It would be just as easy to make them fly at above 4km altitude where no MANPADS would detect such a small IR signature, and it would not be very visible at that altitude either.

If they want to use up MANPADS then that is also a win but most of their MANPADS would not be effective... flying at 800km/h at 5km altitude they could shut the engine down and dive nearly vertically on the target without making any noise at all.

You could paint them black and use them at night... or paint them blue during the day... on cloudy days paint them gray.

Being three times faster, they will get to their targets faster... you could even programme it to fly down rail lines to hit moving trains...

This is just another string to their bow.

Here we go... Scalpel and Lancet drones... at about 2 minutes thirty seconds it mentions the Scalpel drone costs about 200,000 rubles... which is about $2,200 US dollars...



No wonder they can make them in enormous numbers.

Suppose this should be posted here:

“An alternative to imported supplies”: Russian developer talks about new piston engines for small aircraft and UAVs, by Alexey Zakvasin and Dmitry Strakhov for RTRussian. 12.19.2023.

The developer told RT about new piston engines for small aircraft and UAVs.

By the end of the year, scientists from the Ufa University of Science and Technology (UUNiT) will produce a prototype of the DDA-160 aviation piston engine, designed to replace the popular Austrian Rotax. Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of ICE (Internal Combustion Engines) Rustem Enikeev stated this in an interview with RT. According to him, the domestic unit should surpass its Western competitor in power and efficiency. The DDA-160 will lift large UAVs and small aircraft into the air. In addition, in 2024, the Ufa university, together with the Skolkovo resident “Engines for Aviation,” plans to launch mass production of four-horsepower piston engines, which were not previously mass-produced in Russia.

— When was the last time Russia produced a full-fledged piston engine for small aircraft?

— Still in the Soviet Union. These were engines of the ASh series of the Perm Design Bureau of Arkady Shvetsov for the An-2, as well as the M-14 engine manufactured in Voronezh - it was installed on the An-14 aircraft. Small engines for unmanned aircraft were created in Samara. In general, all this happened several decades ago, when the country had a developed aviation piston engine industry.

— Why does the country need a new piston engine, and not a gas turbine engine, which is mainly used by
 aviation?

— In fact, we need different engines: gas turbine, piston, and electric. When we talk about civil aviation, we usually imagine airliners that can take us from Moscow to Beijing.

In the 1940s and 1950s, aircraft designers immediately switched large aircraft to gas turbine engines, which gave an incredible leap and surpassed their piston counterparts in power. In fact, there are small aircraft left that still fly on piston engines all over the world. They consume less fuel, cost much less, and are easier to maintain.

In the power range around 400 hp. With. the piston unconditionally outperforms the gas turbine. If we take it higher, then competition begins between them. 

— What was the situation in the field of piston engine manufacturing in our country after the collapse of the
 USSR?

— For the last 30 years, research and development have continued in scientific structures, design bureaus, and specialized universities. 

In Russia there are now several crystallization points where engines are born, and we are only one of them. At our university, this work was initiated 25 years ago by Professor Boris Petrovich Rudoy, ​​head of the department of internal combustion engines (ICE), my teacher and scientific supervisor. We continue the developments he started; the scientific team includes doctors and candidates of science, graduate students, master's students, students of UUNiT and even schoolchildren.

— When creating motors, did you initially think about which models they could be installed on?

“We worked for a long time without any specific connection to the aircraft. In general, this is wrong, since no one needs an engine as such, it should always be a part, the heart of a certain machine.

Unfortunately, until recently, our developers from the aviation industry did not show serious interest not only in us, but also in Russian ICE designers in general. They flew on engines of German, Austrian, Japanese, Australian, and American production. The attitude towards us was something like this: don’t stop us from flying on foreign engines. Although we knocked on many doors (including high offices) and said that the situation is bad: Russia does not have its own aviation piston engine and any disruptions in supplies will lead to small aircraft being left without wings.

— What has changed after 2022?

“We are now working closely with manufacturers and developers of aircraft—a wide variety of aircraft—to adapt our prototypes to their tasks. This is a very significant turn, because interaction with aircraft designers has been established and our models already have a specific purpose.

— What power are your engines and what do they run on?

— We have several lines of aviation piston engines with power from 4 to 220 hp. With. Each of them is in varying degrees of readiness - from drawings to a prototype. Some of our engines run on gasoline, others on kerosene.

We took kerosene into account when developing the engine, since aviation in general is highly dependent on this fuel, and building logistics taking into account only gasoline alone is irrational, and sometimes even completely unacceptable.

We were able to launch the workflow using aviation kerosene, but this is a problem for many scientists and designers. As a rule, they solve it by using diesel engines, achieving fuel efficiency, but losing to the gasoline version in terms of specific power.

Of course, today there are good Austrian and German diesel engines that can run on aviation kerosene. European engines are created using advanced technologies and modern materials, but they are too expensive and heavy. 

- For which aircraft is your most powerful engine designed - 220 hp? With.?

— The DDA-160 engine is an engine with a volume of 1600 cubic centimeters. It will be presented in a kerosene version of 170 liters. With. and gasoline - in the range of 190-220 liters. With.

We created this engine as an alternative to the Austrian Rotax - a world classic, which is often used on American, European, Turkish UAVs and small aircraft. In Russia, these motors are used on sports and even homemade vehicles. However, it is almost impossible to buy a Rotax in our country today.

DDA-160 is more powerful than the “Austrian”, more economical and cheaper. The prototype gasoline engine is 60-70% complete. There are still difficulties with the remaining components, but we plan to assemble a prototype by the end of the year and put it on a test stand.

— Is UUNiT developing “pistons” of lower power?

— One of the Ufa models is a two-stroke single-cylinder liquid-cooled engine APD-200 with a power of 32 hp. With. This is a 200cc engine. cm. It is manufactured according to aviation regulations, but is now being tested on sports cars - this way the engine runs hours in real operation, and not just on a stand.

To date, the APD-200 has worked for about 300 hours. In terms of external speed characteristics, this is a lot, and the engine has proven itself to be reliable. Tests on the ground will continue for months and will provide even more information about the capabilities of the motor.

After this, we will be able to offer a prototype to aircraft developers. I think that in the future the engine will be in demand both in motorsport and in aviation.

We proceed from the fact that the aviation industry needs engines with the highest possible power and minimum weight. The same APD-200 just meets these requirements. 

Also, our specialists are now coordinating the terms of reference for an engine for their aircraft with a potential customer. One of them is an unmanned civil helicopter for transporting goods. It will receive a V-shaped four-cylinder two-stroke gasoline engine with a capacity of 108 hp. With.

The motor will be able to lift loads of several tens of kilograms into the air. Its key feature is that it will be made on the basis of an engine already mastered in production by the Russian Mechanics company (Rybinsk). Our customer has a serious business of delivering cargo by drone throughout the country, including in the North. 

— When do you think Russia will begin mass production of piston engines to meet the demand of UAV and light aircraft manufacturers?

“I think it will happen soon enough.” As for our engines, we have developed as a scientific school, creating new solutions and prototypes. However, now we have gone further and finally started interacting with end consumers.

There are chances that in 2024 our two-stroke kerosene engines DDA-4D and four-stroke gasoline engines DDA-4CH in 4 liters. With. will be the first to go onto the assembly line. Such light but powerful engines, as far as I know, have not previously been mass-produced in Russia.

The country really needs these “pistons”; many UAV manufacturers are waiting for them. The most popular aircraft-type drones fly on similar engines - drones perform various tasks: geodetic surveys, pipeline inspections, aerial photography. I am sure that in the next year or two our other colleagues will shoot with serial piston aircraft engines and offer a worthy alternative to imported supplies.

“Russia today also needs military drones. Can your motors lift them into the air?

“There are drones that take off from your hand, and there are huge devices that can only be lifted by a powerful motor. We work with Russian companies that need motors for civil UAVs. And so we are open to any cooperation. I can only say that the well-known Geranium, judging by open sources, flies on a conventional 50 hp piston engine. With. This figure fits into the range of our motors.

—Your university does not have production facilities. When you need to launch a conveyor, where will you produce engines?

— We have a long-standing and key partner - the Skolkovo resident “Engines for Aviation”, who participates in both development and production of prototypes. By the way, the name of our flagship engine DDA-160 comes from it. The company is located next to us, in Ufa, and we expect that we will mass-assemble jointly developed engines at its facilities.

— Are the developers of “pistons” ready to help in the development of small aviation in the Far North?

— Russia still lags behind other aviation powers in the development of small aviation. In Canada, Alaska and the Nordic countries, communications with remote areas are provided by light aircraft. There the sky is the road. You look up and something is always flying.

I think this is the path of Russia, which vitally needs to develop the Far North. And for this we need different aircraft: two-, four-, eight-seater, unmanned. And each requires a piston motor. In my opinion, Russia is gradually coping with this task.

https://russian.rt.com/russia/article/1247122-ufa-universitet-porshnevye-dvigateli

New jet engines for drones.

I noticed in the Annual Military Review meetings held recently the mention of the MoD having received over 20,000 UAV's in 2023. Not sure if that included all the FPV's and other civilian type drones donated to the troops from across the country.

Well they have models of ships, planes, and missiles that never got over the phase of drawings.

Even the basic Orion doesn't seem to be produced widely and its missile are kornets.

Those models are impressive. But just useless.

Russia has overtaken the United States in drones, by Andrey Rezchikov and Rafael Fakhrutdinov for VZGLYAD. 12.21.2023.

Russia has increased its production of military drones by an order of magnitude. This year alone, the army received more than 20 thousand UAVs of various classes and purposes, although a few years ago the Russian Armed Forces had only two thousand drones. The United States, which previously led the production of drones, had about 15 thousand UAVs in 2022. How did the Russian defense industry manage to achieve such successes and what else needs to be done to ensure that the needs of the army are fully satisfied?

The Russian military-industrial complex has increased its capabilities manifold and fully provides the army with all the necessary weapons, including unmanned aerial vehicles. This year alone, formations and military units of the Aerospace Forces received “more than 20 thousand unmanned aerial vehicles of various classes and purposes,”   Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said on Thursday.

For comparison: in November 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a meeting with the leadership of the Ministry of Defense and defense industry enterprises, said that “we currently have over two thousand unmanned aerial vehicles in service.” And between 2012 and 2020, according to TASS , the army received more than 900 drones.

Thus, Russia now produces an order of magnitude more drones annually than it did in the recent past. In addition, according to Gerasimov, since February 2022, the West has transferred 23 thousand drones to Ukraine. This is only three thousand more than Russia produced in a year.

It is also noteworthy that a year ago, Putin, citing the experience of the Northern Military District, demanded that drones be made available for use by units of different levels - an arsenal of such weapons should be in combat squads, platoons, companies, and battalions. The government was instructed to approve the development strategy for unmanned aircraft for the period until 2030 and for the future until 2035.

The development and production of drones in Russia today is carried out by both state giants such as the Rostec corporation, state contractors Kalashnikov and Kronstadt, and private enterprises.

“In the structure of combined arms modern combat, drones have become an indispensable auxiliary tool that solves many problems. Drones remain expendable. This is shown by statistics that mainly take into account medium and heavy UAVs, while small and ultra-small drones click like seeds,” notes Alexey Leonkov, military expert, editor of Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine.

The interlocutor recalled that the United States had long been the leader in the production of drones, and before the start of the North American Military District, they had about 15 thousand UAVs in service. “The Americans believed that this number of drones would be enough for them to perform any tasks in the zone of local wars. But if we are talking about the format of the battle in the northwestern military zone, then this number is not enough. UAVs should be mass-produced and on an ongoing basis,” Leonkov believes.

Experts also add that not all drones used by the military are included in the Ministry of Defense statistics. It is necessary to take into account the participation in the equipment of fighters from private businesses, volunteers and volunteers who transfer small FPV drones to the front, controlled by an operator via video communication in real time.

“Before the SVO, our army was armed mainly with heavy and medium drones. Among them are the Orlan reconnaissance UAV, the Orion strike UAV and many others. FPV-type drones were generally absent as a class,” notes Roman Gusarov, editor-in-chief of the Avia.ru portal. But it is clear that the industry has made big leaps in drone production.

The expert especially noted the increase in the production of Lancet kamikaze drones  , which have proven themselves to be an extremely effective means of destroying enemy armored vehicles. “The battlefield and the army have identified needs - and our industry, both defense and private, is filling them. From enemy reports, we hear that the Russian army has four to five times more drones than the other side of the conflict,” Gusarov emphasized.

The interlocutor agrees that the West’s resources in supplying the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) with drones have begun to deplete after a year and a half of the Northern Military District, and Russia is producing them in ever-increasing quantities. Moreover, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which are experiencing shortages including equipment, are completely dependent on Western food. We are talking not only about unmanned aircraft, but also about armored vehicles, shells, missiles, small arms, fuel and uniforms, “because you can’t win a war with drones alone.”

“The Ukrainian military says that Russia has very strong electronic warfare (EW) systems - and many drones are lost without any effect,” Gusarov explained.

But quantitative indicators are not the only criterion for success. If we are talking about long-range drones capable of striking hundreds of kilometers away, then “it is not quantity that plays a role, but quality.” “Even one drone arriving at an airfield can cause significant damage. It is this type of drones that is difficult to fight,” the speaker noted.

Leonkov points out that in the event of suppression of enemy air defense systems and electronic warfare systems, drones become “a good substitute for tactical aviation.” “If there is a layered or integrated air defense system, then drones can become hackers of this system, but this requires multi-mission UAVs. This is the next stage in the development of drones in the Russian army,” the specialist explained.

This summer, the government approved the strategy of the national project for the development of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The national project should be fully operational at the beginning of next year. The task of forming a full-fledged industry of unmanned aircraft systems was set by Vladimir Putin. One of the main goals is the consolidation of manufacturers and the creation of a system of cooperation and technological support for UAS production.

To do this, as foreign experience has shown, it is necessary to remove regulatory restrictions that impede the formation of civilian markets for the use of UAS and related services. This national project should ensure the functioning of agriculture, the transportation of goods, monitor the condition of linear construction projects and other areas.

Experts believe that the development of civilian UAVs will significantly help military developments.

“We need to develop production lines, arrange the supply of components - and automate all this as much as possible. The conveyor must work without interruption 24 hours a day, then we will get the return. Drones must be dual-use. For example, a reconnaissance drone can perform tasks in peacetime to monitor ice conditions, the state of the forests of our endless taiga and other tasks,” says Leonkov.

Gusarov agrees that the implementation of the national project will help to further increase the production of UAVs - both civilian and military. “This area is turning into a large mass movement, so the national project must be successful. We are experiencing a boom in UAV production. Not only at the federal, but also at the regional level, sites and subsidies are allocated, and schools are created to train drone operators. This process has acquired a national character, many regions are actively involved in it, without waiting for funding from the federal budget,” the speaker said.

In a similar way, production has been established, for example, in the Kaluga region. “And using the principle of interregional division of labor. These capacities are being increased,” said Dmitry Afanasyev, head of the Kaluga branch of the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation, formerly a teacher at the Republican Center for Unmanned Systems named after. Hero of Russia Vladimir Zhoga.

“It is important that the growth of this industry occurs not only according to feedback from below - based on the immediate needs of the front, but also according to orders from above - according to the plan of the president and executive authorities within the framework of the national project. By the way, this applies not only to UAVs, but also to ground-based drones. We are already starting to use ATVs equipped with a machine gun and servos,” the interlocutor noted.

“And one more fundamental point: as a teacher of relevant disciplines, I clearly see a multiple increase in fighters who can control drones. The increase in UAV production happened at the right time: for example, at the beginning of 2022, few people knew how to use them in combat, so such a number of drones was practically useless for us. And now the increase in production is going in parallel with personnel training,” he said.

“As a result, according to my observations, most units at the front already have at least one full-time UAV operator,

or this task is delegated to someone who has specialized qualifications. In general, in my deep conviction, a drone will soon be part of the standard kit of our military, along with an AK and a first aid kit. Accordingly, if we talk about the required number of UAVs in the future, it should approximately correspond to the size of our group in the Northern Military District zone,” the expert is confident.

“As for the Northern Military District as a whole, the increase in the number of drones on the front line means an increase in the maneuverability, combat effectiveness, and success of our troops. UAVs allow us to remotely hit the enemy, preserve our manpower, disrupt attacks, and hit the enemy more accurately. During the NVO, we liberate our land, our civilians live there, we will need to restore cities. And the greater use of drones will allow us to more precisely carry out combat missions and not affect civilian infrastructure,” the speaker emphasized.

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