Russian drones have created fear in Washington. Promising UAVs of Russia (list) Russian drones

A robot cannot cause harm to a person or, through inaction, allow a person to be harmed.
- A. Azimov, Three laws of robotics

Isaac Asimov was wrong. Very soon the electronic “eye” will take aim at the person, and the microcircuit will dispassionately order: “Fire to kill!”

The robot is stronger than the flesh and blood pilot. Ten, twenty, thirty hours of continuous flight - he demonstrates constant vigor and is ready to continue the mission. Even when the overloads reach the terrible 10 “zhe”, filling the body with leaden pain, the digital devil will maintain clarity of consciousness, continuing to calmly calculate the course and monitor the enemy.

The digital brain does not require training or regular training to maintain its proficiency. Mathematical models and algorithms for behavior in the air are forever loaded into the machine’s memory. After standing in the hangar for a decade, the robot will return to the sky at any moment, taking the helm in its strong and skillful “hands.”

Their hour has not yet struck. In the US military (the leader in this field of technology), drones make up a third of the fleet of all aircraft in service. Moreover, only 1% of UAVs are capable of using .

Alas, even this is more than enough to spread terror in those territories that are given over to hunting grounds for these ruthless steel birds.

5th place - General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (“Harvester”)

Reconnaissance and strike UAV with max. take-off weight of about 5 tons.

Flight duration: 24 hours.
Speed: up to 400 km/h.
Ceiling: 13,000 meters.
Engine: turboprop, 900 hp
Full fuel supply: 1300 kg.

Armament: up to four Hellfire missiles and two 500-pound JDAM guided bombs.

Onboard radio-electronic equipment: AN/APY-8 radar with mapping mode (under the nose cone), MTS-B electro-optical sighting station (in a spherical module) for operation in the visible and infrared ranges, with a built-in target designator for illuminating targets for ammunition with semi-active laser guidance.

Cost: $16.9 million

To date, 163 Reaper UAVs have been built.

The most high-profile case combat use: In April 2010, in Afghanistan, an MQ-9 Reaper UAV killed the third person in the al-Qaeda leadership, Mustafa Abu Yazid, known as Sheikh al-Masri.

4th place - Interstate TDR-1

Unmanned torpedo bomber.

Max. take-off weight: 2.7 tons.
Engines: 2 x 220 hp
Cruising speed: 225 km/h,
Flight range: 680 km,
Combat load: 2000 lbs. (907 kg).
Built: 162 units.

“I remember the excitement that gripped me when the screen rippled and became covered with numerous dots - it seemed to me that the remote control system had malfunctioned. A moment later I realized it was anti-aircraft guns shooting! Having adjusted the drone's flight, I sent it straight into the middle of the ship. At the last second, the deck flashed before my eyes - so close that I could see the details. Suddenly the screen turned into a gray static background... Apparently, the explosion killed everyone on board.”

- First combat flight September 27, 1944

“Project Option” envisaged the creation of unmanned torpedo bombers to destroy the Japanese fleet. In April 1942, the first test of the system took place - a “drone”, remotely controlled from an aircraft flying 50 km away, launched an attack on the destroyer Ward. The dropped torpedo passed directly under the keel of the destroyer.

TDR-1 taking off from the deck of an aircraft carrier

Encouraged by the success, the fleet leadership hoped to form 18 attack squadrons consisting of 1000 UAVs and 162 command “Avengers” by 1943. However, the Japanese fleet was soon overwhelmed by conventional aircraft and the program lost priority.

The main secret of the TDR-1 was a small-sized video camera designed by Vladimir Zvorykin. Weighing 44 kg, it had the ability to transmit images via radio at a frequency of 40 frames per second.

“Project Option” is amazing with its boldness and early appearance, but we have 3 more amazing cars ahead:

3rd place - RQ-4 “Global Hawk”

Unmanned reconnaissance aircraft with max. take-off weight 14.6 tons.

Flight duration: 32 hours.
Max. speed: 620 km/h.
Ceiling: 18,200 meters.
Engine: turbojet with a thrust of 3 tons,
Flight range: 22,000 km.
Cost: $131 million (excluding development costs).
Built: 42 units.

The drone is equipped with a set of HISAR reconnaissance equipment, similar to what is installed on modern U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. HISAR includes a synthetic aperture radar, optical and thermal cameras, and a satellite data link with a speed of 50 Mbit/s. It is possible to install additional equipment for conducting electronic reconnaissance.

Each UAV has a set of protective equipment, including laser and radar warning stations, as well as an ALE-50 towed decoy to deflect missiles fired at it.

Forest fires in California captured by Global Hawk

A worthy successor to the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, soaring in the stratosphere with its huge wings spread. The RQ-4's records include long-distance flight (USA to Australia, 2001), longest flight of any UAV (33 hours in the air, 2008), and demonstration of drone refueling (2012). By 2013, the RQ-4's total flight time exceeded 100,000 hours.

The MQ-4 Triton drone was created on the basis of the Global Hawk. A naval reconnaissance aircraft with a new radar, capable of surveying 7 million square meters per day. kilometers of ocean.

The Global Hawk does not carry strike weapons, but it deservedly makes it onto the list of the most dangerous drones because it knows too much.

2nd place - X-47B “Pegasus”

Stealth reconnaissance and strike UAV with max. take-off weight 20 tons.

Cruising speed: Mach 0.9.
Ceiling: 12,000 meters.
Engine: from an F-16 fighter, thrust 8 tons.
Flight range: 3900 km.
Cost: $900 million for research and development work on the X-47 program.
Built: 2 concept demonstrators.
Armament: two internal bomb bays, combat load 2 tons.

A charismatic drone, built according to the “duck” design, but without the use of PGO, the role of which is played by the supporting fuselage itself, made using stealth technology and having a negative installation angle in relation to the air flow. To consolidate the effect, the lower part of the fuselage in the nose has a shape similar to the descent modules of spacecraft.

A year ago, the X-47B amused the public with its flights from the decks of aircraft carriers. This phase of the program is now nearing completion. In the future - the appearance of an even more formidable X-47C drone with a combat load of over four tons.

1st place - “Taranis”

The concept of a stealth attack UAV from the British company BAE Systems.

Little is known about the drone itself:
Subsonic speed.
Stealth technology.
Turbojet engine with a thrust of 4 tons.
The appearance is reminiscent of the Russian experimental UAV “Skat”.
Two internal weapons bays.

What is so terrible about this “Taranis”?

The goal of the program is to develop technologies to create an autonomous, stealth strike drone that will allow high-precision strikes against ground targets at long range and automatically evade enemy weapons.

Before this, debates about possible “jamming of communications” and “interception of control” caused only sarcasm. Now they have completely lost their meaning: “Taranis”, in principle, is not ready to communicate. He is deaf to all requests and pleas. The robot indifferently looks for someone whose appearance matches the description of the enemy.

Flight test cycle at the Australian Woomera test site, 2013.

“Taranis” is just the beginning of the journey. Based on it, it is planned to create an unmanned attack bomber with an intercontinental flight range. In addition, the emergence of fully autonomous drones will open the way to the creation of unmanned fighters (since existing remotely controlled UAVs are not capable of air combat due to delays in their telecontrol system).

British scientists are preparing a worthy ending for all of humanity.

Epilogue

War does not have a woman's face. Rather, not human.

Unmanned technology is a flight into the future. It brings us closer to the eternal human dream: to finally stop risking the lives of soldiers and leave feats of arms to soulless machines.

Following Moore's rule of thumb (computer performance doubling every 24 months), the future could arrive unexpectedly soon...

Probing the future of air combat: the Rafale fighter is accompanied by the Neuron attack drone, designed to penetrate heavily defended airspace. Due to the superior combat effectiveness of the new generation of surface-to-air missiles, only such stealth attack UAVs (with a low effective dispersion area) will be able to close with and destroy a ground target with a high probability of destruction and return home to prepare for the next battle

Resembling giant stingrays, remote-controlled attack drones are considered among the strangest flying systems invented by man. They represent the next evolutionary step in the art of war, as they will definitely soon become the vanguard of any modern air force, since they have a lot of undeniable advantages in frontal combat, especially when dealing with a strong symmetrical opponent.

Lessons that hardly anyone learns

Essentially seen as a means of getting crews out of harm's way in areas with dense air defenses where the chances of survival are not that great, attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are essentially the brainchild of countries with strong defense industries and substantial annual budgets and often with high moral standards regarding the cost of the lives of its soldiers. Over the past few years, the United States, Europe and Russia have been actively developing subsonic stealth UAVs, followed on their heels by China, always ready to copy and adapt everything that is invented in the world. These new weapons systems are very different from the MALE (medium altitude, long endurance) drones that everyone sees on their TV screens 24/7 and that are being built by well-known Israeli and American companies such as IAI and General Atomics, which are today excellent experts in the field. the well-studied company Ryan Aero with its BQM-34 Firebee remotely controlled jet aircraft... 60 years ago.

UAVs are not simply “armed” drones, as it may seem, even if today it is common to classify UAVs like the armed MQ-1 Predator or MQ-9 Reaper, for example, as strike systems. This is a completely misused term. Indeed, in addition to participating in offensive actions in a safe or controlled allied forces airspace, UAVs are completely unable to pass through battle formations properly manned enemy systems. A visit to the Aerospace Museum in Belgrade acts as a real revelation in this area. In 1999, during NATO operations in Yugoslavia, at least 17 American RQ-1 Predators drones were shot down by either MiG fighters or Strela MANPADS missiles. Even with their caution, once detected, MALE drones are doomed and will not survive even an hour. It is worth recalling that in the same campaign, the Yugoslav army destroyed the American F-117 Nighthawk stealth aircraft. For the first time in combat aviation, an aircraft undetectable by radar and considered invulnerable was shot down. For the only time in its entire combat service, the F-117 was discovered and shot down, and on a moonless night (there were only three such nights in the five-week war) by a missile from an antique S-125 air defense system Soviet made. But the Yugoslavs were not a rabble of outcasts with primitive ideas about the art of war like the Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia) or the Taliban, they were well-trained and cunning professional soldiers, capable of adapting to new threats. And they proved it.

The experimental Northrop Grumman X-47B UAV took another historic step on May 17, 2013, making several landings with immediate takeoff after touching down on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George W. Bush off the coast of Virginia.

In April 2015, the X-47B demonstrated not only a convincing ability to operate from an aircraft carrier, but it also proved its ability to refuel in midair. The second participant in this event over the Chesapeake Bay was a Boeing KC-707 tanker. This is a real premiere for UBLA, since this test marked the first refueling of an unmanned aircraft in the air

Military aviation is only a hundred years old, but it is already replete with spectacular inventions; the newest include attack unmanned aerial vehicles or combat drones. Over a hundred-year period, the idea of air combat has changed radically, especially since the end Vietnam War. The aerial combat of the First and Second World Wars, using machine guns to destroy the enemy, has now become a page of history, and the advent of second-generation air-to-air missiles has also turned guns into a rather obsolete tool for this task, and now they are useful only as auxiliary weapons for bombarding the ground from the air. Today, this trend is reinforced by the emergence of hypersonic maneuverable missiles for hitting targets beyond visual range, which, when launched in large quantities and in tandem with missiles from a follower aircraft, for example, leave virtually no chance for evasive maneuver to any enemy flying at high altitude. The situation is the same with modern ground-to-air weapons, controlled by an instantly responsive network-centric air defense computer system. Indeed, the level of combat effectiveness of modern missiles, which easily enter well-protected airspace, has become higher than ever these days. Perhaps the only panacea for this is aircraft and cruise missiles with a reduced effective reflection area (ERA) or low-flying attack weapons with a flight mode and encircling terrain at an extremely low altitude.

At the beginning of the new millennium, American pilots wondered what new things could be done with remotely piloted aircraft, which had become quite a fashionable topic after its expanded use in military operations. As entry into heavily defended airspace became more and more dangerous and posed enormous risks to combat pilots, even those flying the latest jet fighter-bombers, the only way to solve this problem was to use weapons used outside the range of enemy weapons. , and/or the creation of stealth attack drones with high subsonic speed, capable of disappearing into the air through the use of special radar avoidance technologies, including radio-absorbing materials and advanced jamming modes. A new type of remotely controlled attack drone, using data links with enhanced encryption and frequency hopping, should be able to enter the protected “sphere” and command air defense systems without risking the lives of flight crews. Their excellent maneuverability with increased overloads (up to +/-15 g!) allows them to remain to some extent invulnerable to manned interceptors...

Aside from the “access denial/area blocking” philosophy

With two advanced stealth aircraft, the F-117 Nighthawk and the B-2 Spirit, unveiled with much fanfare and fanfare - the first in 1988 and the second a decade later - DARPA and the US Air Force played a major role in so that this new technology was successfully implemented and demonstrated its advantages in combat conditions. Although the stealth F-117 tactical strike aircraft has now been retired, some of the technology gained from the development of this unusual aircraft (which periodically became the target of outrage from zealous aestheticists) has been applied to new projects, such as the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning. II, and to an even greater extent in the promising B-21 bomber (LRS-B). One of the most secret programs implemented by the United States is associated with the further development of the UAV family using radar absorbing materials and modern technologies actively ensuring extremely low visibility.

Building on the Boeing X-45 and Northrop Grumman X-47 UAV technology demonstration programs, whose achievements and results remain largely classified, Boeing's Phantom Works division and Northrop Grumman's classified division continue to develop attack drones today. The RQ-180 UAV project, apparently being developed by Northrop Grumman, is shrouded in special secrecy. It is assumed that this platform will enter closed airspace and conduct constant reconnaissance and surveillance, while simultaneously performing the tasks of active electronic suppression of enemy manned aircraft. A similar project is being implemented by Lockheed Martin's Skunks Works division. In the process of developing the SR-72 hypersonic vehicle, the issues of safe operation of a reconnaissance UAV in protected airspace are being addressed, both through the use of its own speed and through the use of advanced radio-absorbing materials. Promising UAVs created to break through modern (Russian) integrated systems air defense, also being developed by General Atomics; its new Avenger drone, also known as Predator C, includes many innovative stealth elements. In fact, it is vital for the Pentagon today, as before, to stay ahead of what Russia is creating in order to maintain the current military imbalance in favor of Washington. And for the United States, the attack drone is becoming one of the means to ensure this process.

Dassault's Neuron drone returns to Istres air base from a night mission, 2014. Flight tests of the Neuron in France, as well as in Italy and Sweden in 2015, demonstrated its superior flight characteristics and signature characteristics, but all of them still remain classified. The Neuron armed drone is not the only European program to demonstrate UCAV technology. BAE Systems is implementing the Taranis project, it has almost the same design and is equipped with the same RR Adour engine as the Neuron drone

UAV Taranis at an airbase in England, in the background a Typhoon fighter, 2015. Having almost the same dimensions and proportions as the Neuron, the Taranis, however, is more rounded and does not have weapons bays

What the developers of American UAVs call today “defensible airspace” is one of the components of the “access denial/area denial” concept or a unified (integrated) air defense system, successfully deployed today by the Russian armed forces, both in Russia itself and abroad. its borders in order to provide cover for expeditionary forces. No less smart and savvy than American military developers, although with significantly less money, Russian researchers from the Nizhny Novgorod Research Institute of Radio Engineering (NNIIRT) created a mobile two-coordinate radar station with a circular view of the meter range (from 30 MHz to 1 GHz) P-18 ( 1RL131) "Terek". The newest versions of this station with their specific frequency ranges can detect F-117 and B-2 bombers from several hundred kilometers, and this does not remain a mystery to Pentagon experts!

Beginning in 1975, NNIIRT developed the first three-coordinate radar station capable of measuring the altitude, range and azimuth of a target. As a result, the 55Zh6 “Sky” surveillance radar of the meter range appeared, deliveries of which to the armed forces of the USSR began in 1986. Later, after the demise of the Warsaw Pact, NNIIRT designed the 55Zh6 Nebo-U radar, which became part of the S-400 Triumph long-range air defense system, currently deployed around Moscow. In 2013, NNIIRT announced the next model 55Zh6M Nebo-M, which combines meter and decimeter range radars in a single module. With extensive experience in developing high-end stealth target detection systems, Russian industry is now very active in offering new digital variants of the P-18 radar to its allies, which can often double as an air traffic control radar. Russian engineers also created new digital mobile radar systems “Sky UE” and “Sky SVU” on a modern element base, all with the ability to detect subtle targets. Similar complexes for the formation of unified air defense systems were later sold to China, while Beijing received at its disposal a good irritant for the American military. The radar systems are expected to be deployed in Iran to defend against any Israeli attacks on its fledgling nuclear industry. All new Russian radars are semiconductor active phased array antennas, capable of operating in fast sector/path scanning mode or in traditional circular scanning mode with mechanically rotating antennas. The Russian idea of integrating three radars, each of which operates in a separate range (meter, decimeter, centimeter), is undoubtedly a breakthrough and is aimed at obtaining the ability to detect objects with extremely low signs of visibility.

Mobile xy radar station all-round visibility P-18

Meter radar module from the 55Zh6ME "Sky-ME" complex

RLK 55Zh6M "Sky-M"; UHF radar module RLM-D

The Nebo-M radar complex itself is radically different from previous Russian systems, since it has good mobility. Its design was initially designed to avoid unexpected blitz destruction by American F-22A Raptor fighters (armed with GBU-39/B SDB bombs or JASSM cruise missiles), whose primary task is the destruction of low-frequency detection systems Russian system Air defense in the first minutes of the conflict. The 55Zh6M Nebo-M mobile radar complex includes three different radar modules and one signal processing and control machine. The three radar modules of the Nebo M complex are: RDM-M meter range, a modification of the Nebo-SVU radar; UHF RLM-D, modification of the “Protivnik-G” radar; RLM-S centimeter range, modification of the Gamma-S1 radar. The system uses state-of-the-art digital moving target display and digital pulse Doppler radar technologies, as well as a spatial-temporal data processing method, which provides such air defense systems as the S-300, S-400 and S-500 with amazingly fast response, accuracy and the power of action against all targets, except for subtle ones flying at extremely low altitudes. As a reminder, one S-400 complex deployed by Russian troops in Syria was able to close a circular zone around Aleppo with a radius of approximately 400 km from access to allied aircraft. The complex, armed with a combination of no less than 48 missiles (from 40N6 long-range to 9M96 medium-range), is capable of dealing with 80 targets simultaneously... In addition, it keeps Turkish F-16 fighters on their toes and keeps them from rash actions in the form of an attack on a Su-24 in December 2015, as the area controlled by the S-400 air defense system partially covers the southern border of Turkey.

For the United States, the research of the French company Onera, published in 1992, came as a complete surprise. They talked about the development of a 4D (four-coordinate) radar RIAS (Synthetic Antenna and Impulse Radar - an antenna with a synthetic aperture of pulsed radiation), based on the use of a transmitting antenna array (simultaneous radiation of a set of orthogonal signals) and a receiving antenna array (formation of a sampled signal in processing equipment signals providing Doppler frequency filtering, including spatio-temporal beamforming and target selection). The 4D principle allows the use of fixed sparse antenna arrays operating in the meter band, thus providing excellent Doppler separation. The great advantage of the low-frequency RIAS radar is that it generates a stable, irreducible target cross-sectional area, provides larger coverage area and better pattern analysis, as well as improved target localization accuracy and selectivity. Enough to fight subtle targets on the other side of the border...

China, the world champion in copying Western and Russian technologies, has made an excellent copy of a modern UAV, in which the external elements of the European Taranis and Neuron drones are clearly visible. First flown in 2013, Li-Jian (Sharp Sword) was jointly developed by Shenyang Aerospace University and Hongdu Company (HAIG). Apparently this is one of two AVIC 601-S models that has moved beyond the show model. The “sharp sword” with a wingspan of 7.5 meters has a jet engine (apparently a turbofan of Ukrainian origin)

Creation of stealthy UAVs

Well informed about new effective system anti-access regime that would counter Western manned aircraft in wartime, the Pentagon settled at the turn of the century on creating a new generation of stealth, jet-powered flying wing attack drones. New unmanned vehicles with little noticeability they will be similar in shape to a stingray, tailless with a body smoothly turning into wings. They will be approximately 10 meters long, one meter high and have a wingspan of approximately 15 meters ( marine version fits standard American aircraft carriers). The drones will be able to carry out either surveillance missions lasting up to 12 hours, or carry weapons weighing up to two tons over a distance of up to 650 nautical miles, cruising at speeds of about 450 knots, ideal for suppressing enemy air defenses or launching a first strike. Several years earlier, the US Air Force had brilliantly paved the way for the use of armed drones. The piston-engined RQ-1 Predator MALE drone, which first flew in 1994, was the first remotely controlled aerial platform capable of delivering air-to-ground weapons with precision. As a technologically advanced combat drone armed with two AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missiles, adopted by the Air Force in 1984, it has been successfully deployed in the Balkans, Iraq and Yemen, as well as Afghanistan. Undoubtedly, the vigilant sword of Damocles hangs over the heads of terrorists around the world!

Developed with funds from the secretive DARPA fund, the Boeing X-45A became the first “purely” attack drone to take off. He is pictured dropping a GPS-guided bomb for the first time, April 2004

While Boeing was the first to create the X-45 UAV capable of dropping a bomb, the US Navy did not begin practical work on the UAV until 2000. Then he awarded contracts to Boeing and Northrop Grumman for a program to study this concept. Requirements for the naval UAV project included operation in a corrosive environment, carrier deck takeoff and landing and associated maintenance, integration into command and control systems, and resistance to the high electromagnetic interference associated with aircraft carrier operating conditions. The Navy was also interested in purchasing UAVs for reconnaissance missions, in particular for penetrating protected airspace in order to identify targets for subsequent attack on them. Northrop Grumman's experimental X-47A Pegasus, which became the basis for the development of the X-47B J-UCAS platform, first took off in 2003. The US Navy and Air Force had their own UAV programs. The Navy has selected the Northrop Grumman X-47B platform as its UCAS-D unmanned combat system demonstrator. In order to conduct realistic testing, the company manufactured a vehicle of the same size and weight as the planned production platform, with a full-size weapons bay capable of accepting existing missiles. The X-47B prototype was rolled out in December 2008, and taxiing using its own engine took place for the first time in January 2010. The first flight of the X-47B drone, capable of semi-autonomous operation, took place in 2011. He later took part in real-life sea trials aboard aircraft carriers, flying missions alongside F-18F Super Hornet carrier-based fighters and receiving mid-air refueling from a KC-707 tanker. What can I say, a successful premiere in both areas.

An X-47B attack drone demonstrator is unloaded from the side lift of the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush (CVN77), May 2013. Like all US Navy fighters, the X-47B has folding wings.

Bottom view of the Northrop Grumman X-47B UAV, showing off its very futuristic lines. The drone, which has a wingspan of about 19 meters, is powered by a Pratt & Whitney F100 turbofan engine. It represents the first step towards a fully operational maritime strike drone, which is scheduled to become operational after 2020.

While the American industry was already testing the first models of its UAVs, other countries, albeit with a ten-year delay, began to create similar systems. Among them are the Russian RSK MiG with the Skat device and the Chinese CATIC with a very similar Dark Sword. In Europe, the British company BAE Systems went its own way with the Taranis project, and other countries joined forces to develop a project with the rather apt name nEUROn. In December 2012, nEUROn made its first flight in France. Flight tests to develop flight mode ranges and evaluate stealth characteristics were successfully completed in March 2015. These tests were followed by tests of on-board equipment in Italy, which were completed in August 2015. At the end of last summer, the last stage of flight testing took place in Sweden, during which tests on the use of weapons were carried out. The classified test results are called positive.

The contract for the nEUROn project worth 405 million euros is being implemented by several European countries, including France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. This allowed European industry to begin a three-year refinement phase of the system's concept and design, with associated research into visibility and increased data rates. This phase was followed by a development and assembly phase, ending with the first flight in 2011. During two years of flight testing, approximately 100 missions were flown, including the dropping of a laser-guided bomb. The initial budget of 400 million euros in 2006 increased by 5 million because a modular bomb bay was added, including a target designator and the laser-guided bomb itself. France paid half of the total budget.

With a pair of 250 kg bombs stowed in a modular bomb bay, a Neuron drone takes off from an airfield in Swedish Lapland, summer 2016. Then the capabilities of this UAV as a bomber were successfully assessed. The rarely seen registration designation F-ZWLO (LO stands for Low EPO) is visible on the front landing gear compartment flap

A 250 kg bomb dropped by a Neuron drone over a test site in Sweden in the summer of 2015. Five bombs were dropped, confirming the Neuron's capabilities as a stealth attack drone. Some of these tests in real conditions were carried out under the supervision of Saab, which, along with Dassault, Aiema, Airbus DS, Ruag and HAI, is implementing this program for advanced UCAV, which will most likely culminate in the creation of a promising FCAS (Future Combat Air System) strike air system. by about 2030

Potential of the British-French UAV

In November 2014, the French and British governments announced a two-year, €146 million feasibility study for an advanced attack drone project. This could lead to the implementation of a stealth UAV program, which will combine the experience of the Taranis and nEUROn projects to create a single promising attack drone. Indeed, in January 2014, at the British airbase Brize Norton, Paris and London signed a statement of intent on the future combat air system FCAS (Future Combat Air System). Since 2010, Dassault Aviation has worked with its partners Alenia, Saab and Airbus Defense & Space on the nEUROn project, and BAE Systems on its own Taranis project. Both flying wing aircraft have the same Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour turbofan engine. The decision made in 2014 gives new impetus to joint research already being implemented in this direction. It is also an important step towards British-French cooperation in the field of military aircraft. It is possible that it could become the basis for another first-class achievement like the Concorde aircraft project. This decision will undoubtedly contribute to the development of this strategic area, as UCAV projects will help maintain the technological expertise in the aviation industry at the level of world standards.

A drawing of what could become a future FCAS (Future Combat Air System) strike air system. The project is being developed jointly by the UK and France based on the experience of implementing the Taranis and Neuron projects. A new, radar-undetectable attack drone may not be born until 2030

Meanwhile, the European FCAS program and similar American UAV programs face certain difficulties, since defense budgets on both sides of the Atlantic are quite tight. It will take more than 10 years before stealth UAVs begin to take over from manned combat aircraft in high-risk missions. Experts in the field of military unmanned systems are confident that air Force will begin deploying stealth attack drones no earlier than 2030.

Based on materials from sites:
www.nationaldefensemagazine.org
www.ga.com
www.northropgrumman.com
www.dassault-aviation.com
www.nniirt.ru
www.hongdu.com.cn
www.boeing.com
www.baesystems.com
www.wikipedia.org

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Lessons that hardly anyone learns

These new weapons systems are very different from the MALE (medium altitude, long endurance) drones that everyone sees on their TV screens 24/7 and that are being built by well-known Israeli and American companies such as IAI and General Atomics, which are today excellent experts in the field. the well-studied company Ryan Aero with its BQM-34 Firebee remotely controlled jet aircraft... 60 years ago.

UAVs are not just “armed” drones, as it may seem, even if today it is common to classify UAVs like the armed MQ-1 Predator or MQ-9 Reaper, for example, as strike systems. This is a completely misused term. Indeed, apart from participating in offensive operations in safe or controlled airspace by allied forces, UAVs are completely unable to penetrate combat formations of properly manned enemy systems.

A visit to the Aerospace Museum in Belgrade acts as a real revelation in this area. In 1999, during NATO operations in Yugoslavia, at least 17 American RQ-1 Predators drones were shot down by either MiG fighters or Strela MANPADS missiles. Even with their caution, once detected, MALE drones are doomed and will not survive even an hour. It is worth recalling that in the same campaign, the Yugoslav army destroyed the American F-117 Nighthawk stealth aircraft. For the first time in the history of combat aviation, an aircraft undetectable by radar and considered invulnerable was shot down.

For the only time in its entire combat service, the F-117 was discovered and shot down, and on a moonless night (there were only three such nights in the five-week war) by a missile from an antique Soviet-made S-125 air defense system. But the Yugoslavs were not a rabble of outcasts with primitive ideas about the art of war like the Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia) or the Taliban, they were well-trained and cunning professional soldiers, capable of adapting to new threats. And they proved it.

Today, this trend is reinforced by the emergence of hypersonic maneuverable missiles for hitting targets beyond visual range, which, when launched in large quantities and in tandem with missiles from a follower aircraft, for example, leave virtually no chance for evasive maneuver to any enemy flying at high altitude.

The situation is the same with modern ground-to-air weapons, controlled by an instantly responsive network-centric air defense computer system. Indeed, the level of combat effectiveness of modern missiles, which easily enter well-protected airspace, has become higher than ever these days. Perhaps the only panacea for this is airplanes and cruise missiles with a reduced effective reflection area (ERA) or low-flying attack weapons with a flight mode and encircling terrain at an extremely low altitude.

A new type of remotely controlled attack drone, using data links with enhanced encryption and frequency hopping, should be able to enter the protected “sphere” and command air defense systems without risking the lives of flight crews. Their excellent maneuverability with increased overloads (up to +/-15 g!) allows them to remain to some extent invulnerable to manned interceptors...

Aside from the “access denial/area blocking” philosophy

With two advanced stealth aircraft, the F-117 Nighthawk and the B-2 Spirit, unveiled with much fanfare and fanfare—the first in 1988 and the second a decade later—DARPA and the U.S. Air Force played a major role in to ensure that this new technology is successfully introduced and demonstrates its benefits in combat conditions. Although the stealth F-117 tactical strike aircraft has now been retired, some of the technology gained from the development of this unusual aircraft (which periodically became the target of outrage from zealous aestheticists) has been applied to new projects, such as the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning. II, and to an even greater extent in the promising B-21 bomber (LRS-B). One of the most secretive programs being implemented by the United States is associated with the further development of the UAV family using radar-absorbing materials and modern technologies for actively ensuring extremely low visibility.

In the process of developing the SR-72 hypersonic vehicle, the issues of safe operation of a reconnaissance UAV in protected airspace are being addressed, both through the use of its own speed and through the use of advanced radio-absorbing materials. Promising UAVs designed to break through modern (Russian) integrated air defense systems are also being developed by General Atomics; its new Avenger drone, also known as Predator C, includes many innovative stealth elements. In fact, it is vital for the Pentagon today, as before, to stay ahead of what Russia is creating in order to maintain the current military imbalance in favor of Washington. And for the United States, the attack drone is becoming one of the means to ensure this process.

With extensive experience in developing high-end stealth target detection systems, Russian industry is now very active in offering new digital variants of the P-18 radar to its allies, which can often double as an air traffic control radar. Russian engineers also created new digital mobile radar systems “Sky UE” and “Sky SVU” on a modern element base, all with the ability to detect subtle targets. Similar complexes for the formation of unified air defense systems were later sold to China, while Beijing received at its disposal a good irritant for the American military.

The radar systems are expected to be deployed in Iran to defend against any Israeli attacks on its fledgling nuclear industry. All new Russian radars are semiconductor active phased array antennas, capable of operating in fast sector/path scanning mode or in traditional circular scanning mode with mechanically rotating antennas. The Russian idea of integrating three radars, each of which operates in a separate range (meter, decimeter, centimeter), is undoubtedly a breakthrough and is aimed at obtaining the ability to detect objects with extremely low signs of visibility.

Mobile two-dimensional all-round radar station P-18

Meter radar module from the 55Zh6ME "Sky-ME" complex

RLK 55Zh6M "Sky-M"; UHF radar module RLM-D

The three radar modules of the Nebo M complex are: RDM-M meter range, a modification of the Nebo-SVU radar; UHF RLM-D, modification of the “Protivnik-G” radar; RLM-S centimeter range, modification of the Gamma-S1 radar. The system uses state-of-the-art digital moving target display and digital pulse Doppler radar technologies, as well as a spatial-temporal data processing method, which provides such air defense systems as the S-300, S-400 and S-500 with amazingly fast response, accuracy and the power of action against all targets, except for subtle ones flying at extremely low altitudes.

As a reminder, one S-400 complex deployed by Russian troops in Syria was able to close a circular zone around Aleppo with a radius of approximately 400 km from access to allied aircraft. The complex, armed with a combination of no less than 48 missiles (from 40N6 long-range to 9M96 medium-range), is capable of dealing with 80 targets simultaneously... In addition, it keeps Turkish F-16 fighters on their toes and keeps them from rash acts such as attacks on the Su-24 in December 2015, as the zone controlled by the S-400 air defense system partially covers the southern border of Turkey.

The 4D principle allows the use of fixed sparse antenna arrays operating in the meter band, thus providing excellent Doppler separation. The great advantage of the low-frequency RIAS radar is that it generates a stable, irreducible target cross-sectional area, provides larger coverage area and better pattern analysis, as well as improved target localization accuracy and selectivity. Enough to fight subtle targets on the other side of the border...

China, the world champion in copying Western and Russian technologies, has produced an excellent copy of a modern UAV, in which the external elements of the European Taranis and Neuron drones are well ironed. First flown in 2013, Li-Jian (Sharp Sword) was jointly developed by Shenyang Aerospace University and Hongdu Company (HAIG). Apparently this is one of two AVIC 601-S models that has moved beyond the show model. The “sharp sword” with a wingspan of 7.5 meters has a jet engine (apparently a turbofan of Ukrainian origin)

Creation of stealthy UAVs

Well aware of a new, effective anti-access denial system that would counter Western manned aircraft in wartime, the Pentagon settled on a new generation of stealth, jet-powered flying wing attack drones around the turn of the century. New unmanned vehicles with low visibility will be similar in shape to a stingray, tailless with a body smoothly turning into wings. They will have a length of approximately 10 meters, a height of one meter and a wingspan of about 15 meters (the naval version fits standard American aircraft carriers).

The drones will be able to carry out either surveillance missions lasting up to 12 hours, or carry weapons weighing up to two tons over a distance of up to 650 nautical miles, cruising at speeds of about 450 knots, ideal for suppressing enemy air defenses or launching a first strike. Several years earlier, the US Air Force had brilliantly paved the way for the use of armed drones. The piston-engined RQ-1 Predator MALE drone, which first flew in 1994, was the first remotely controlled aerial platform capable of delivering air-to-ground weapons with precision. As a technologically advanced combat drone armed with two AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missiles, adopted by the Air Force in 1984, it has been successfully deployed in the Balkans, Iraq and Yemen, as well as Afghanistan. Undoubtedly, the vigilant sword of Damocles hangs over the heads of terrorists around the world!

Developed with funds from the secretive DARPA fund, the Boeing X-45A became the first “purely” attack drone to take off. He is pictured dropping a GPS-guided bomb for the first time, April 2004

The Navy was also interested in purchasing UAVs for reconnaissance missions, in particular for penetrating protected airspace in order to identify targets for subsequent attack on them. Northrop Grumman's experimental X-47A Pegasus, which became the basis for the development of the X-47B J-UCAS platform, first took off in 2003. The US Navy and Air Force had their own UAV programs. The Navy has selected the Northrop Grumman X-47B platform as its UCAS-D unmanned combat system demonstrator. In order to conduct realistic testing, the company manufactured a vehicle of the same size and weight as the planned production platform, with a full-size weapons bay capable of accepting existing missiles.

The X-47B prototype was rolled out in December 2008, and taxiing using its own engine took place for the first time in January 2010. The first flight of the X-47B drone, capable of semi-autonomous operation, took place in 2011. He later took part in real-life sea trials aboard aircraft carriers, flying missions alongside F-18F Super Hornet carrier-based fighters and receiving mid-air refueling from a KC-707 tanker. What can I say, a successful premiere in both areas.

An X-47B attack drone demonstrator is unloaded from the side lift of the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush (CVN77), May 2013. Like all US Navy fighters, the X-47B has folding wings.

The contract for the nEUROn project, worth €405 million, is being implemented by several European countries, including France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. This allowed European industry to begin a three-year refinement phase of the system's concept and design, with associated research into visibility and increased data rates. This phase was followed by a development and assembly phase, ending with the first flight in 2011. During two years of flight testing, approximately 100 missions were flown, including the dropping of a laser-guided bomb. The initial budget of 400 million euros in 2006 increased by 5 million because a modular bomb bay was added, including a target designator and the laser-guided bomb itself. France paid half of the total budget.

Potential of the British-French UAV

Since 2010, Dassault Aviation has worked with its partners Alenia, Saab and Airbus Defense & Space on the nEUROn project, and BAE Systems on its own Taranis project. Both flying wing aircraft have the same Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour turbofan engine. The decision made in 2014 gives new impetus to joint research already being implemented in this direction. It is also an important step towards British-French cooperation in the field of military aircraft. It is possible that it could become the basis for another first-class achievement like the Concorde aircraft project. This decision will undoubtedly contribute to the development of this strategic area, as UCAV projects will help maintain the technological expertise in the aviation industry at the level of world standards.

Meanwhile, the European FCAS program and similar American UAV programs face certain difficulties, since defense budgets on both sides of the Atlantic are quite tight. It will take more than 10 years before stealth UAVs begin to take over from manned combat aircraft in high-risk missions. Experts in the field of military unmanned systems believe that the air force will begin deploying stealth attack drones no earlier than 2030.

It is unlikely that robots will ever completely replace humans in those areas of activity that require rapid adoption of non-standard decisions both in peaceful life and in combat. However, the development of drones in the last nine years has become fashion trend military aircraft industry. Many militarily leading countries are mass producing UAVs. Russia has not yet managed not only to take its traditional leadership position in the field of weapons design, but also to overcome the gap in this segment of defense technologies. However, work in this direction is underway.

Motivation for UAV development

The first results of using unmanned aircraft appeared back in the forties, however, the technology of that time was more consistent with the concept of an “aircraft-projectile”. Cruise missile"Fau" could fly in one direction with its own course control system, built on the inertial-gyroscopic principle.

In the 50s and 60s Soviet systems Air defenses have reached a high level of effectiveness and have begun to pose a serious danger to aircraft probable enemy in the event of a real confrontation. The wars in Vietnam and the Middle East caused real panic among US and Israeli pilots. Cases of refusals to carry out combat missions in areas covered by anti-aircraft systems Soviet made. Ultimately, the reluctance to put the lives of pilots at mortal risk prompted design companies to look for a way out.

Start of practical application

The first country to use unmanned aircraft was Israel. In 1982, during the conflict with Syria (Bekaa Valley), reconnaissance aircraft operating in robotic mode appeared in the sky. With their help, the Israelis managed to detect enemy air defense formations, which made it possible to launch a missile strike on them.

The first drones were intended exclusively for reconnaissance flights over “hot” territories. Currently, attack drones are also used, having weapons and ammunition on board and directly delivering bombs and missile strikes on expected enemy positions.

The United States has the largest number of them, where Predators and other types of combat aircraft are mass-produced.

The experience of using military aviation in the modern period, in particular the operation to pacify the South Ossetian conflict in 2008, has shown that Russia also needs UAVs. Conducting heavy reconnaissance in the face of enemy air defense is risky and leads to unjustified losses. As it turned out, there are certain shortcomings in this area.

Problems

The dominant modern idea today is the opinion that Russia needs attack UAVs to a lesser extent than reconnaissance ones. You can deliver a fire strike to the enemy by a wide variety of means, including tactical missiles high precision and artillery. Much more important is information about the deployment of his forces and correct target designation. As American experience has shown, the use of drones directly for shelling and bombing leads to numerous mistakes, the death of civilians and their own soldiers. This does not exclude a complete abandonment of strike models, but only reveals a promising direction along which new Russian UAVs will be developed in the near future. It would seem that the country that just recently occupied a leading position in the creation of unmanned aerial vehicles is doomed to success today. Back in the first half of the 60s, aircraft were created that flew in automatic mode: La-17R (1963), Tu-123 (1964) and others. The leadership remained in the 70s and 80s. However, in the nineties, the technological lag became obvious, and an attempt to eliminate it in the last decade, accompanied by the expenditure 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:

In practice, the only serial UAVs in Russia are now represented by the complex artillery reconnaissance"Tipchak", capable of performing a narrowly defined range of combat missions related to target designation. The agreement between Oboronprom and IAI for large-scale assembly of Israeli drones, signed in 2010, can be viewed as a temporary measure that does not ensure the development of Russian technologies, but only covers a gap in the range of domestic defense production.

Some promising models can be reviewed individually as part of publicly available information.

"Pacer"

Take-off weight is one ton, which is not so little for a drone. The design development is carried out by the Transas company, and flight tests of prototypes are currently underway. Layout layout, V-shaped tail, wide wing, takeoff and landing method (aircraft), and General characteristics roughly correspond to the performance of the currently most common American Predator. The Russian UAV “Inokhodets” will be able to carry a variety of equipment allowing for reconnaissance at any time of the day, aerial photography and telecommunications support. It is assumed that it will be possible to produce strike, reconnaissance and civilian modifications.

"Watch"

The main model is reconnaissance; it is equipped with video and photo cameras, a thermal imager and other recording equipment. Attack UAVs can also be produced on the basis of a heavy airframe. Russia needs Dozor-600 more as a universal platform for testing technologies for the production of more powerful drones, but the launch of this particular drone into mass production cannot be ruled out either. The project is currently under development. The date of the first flight was 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 attack UAVs in Russia are 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 Aviation Plant named after Gorbunov, part of the Tupolev Joint Stock Company. The cost 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 comparable to those of an interceptor aircraft:

length - 11,600 mm;
wingspan - 28,500 mm;
tail span - 6,000 mm.

The power of two screw aviation diesel engines is 1000 hp. With. These Russian reconnaissance and strike UAVs will be able to stay in the air for up to two days, covering a distance of 10 thousand kilometers. Little is known about electronic equipment; one can only guess about its capabilities.

Other types

Other Russian UAVs are also in promising development, for example, the aforementioned “Okhotnik”, an unmanned heavy drone capable of also performing various functions both information-reconnaissance and strike-assault. In addition, there is also diversity in the principle of the device. UAVs come in both airplane and helicopter types. Big number rotors provides the ability to effectively maneuver and hover over an object of interest, producing high-quality photography. Information can be quickly transmitted over encrypted communication channels or accumulated in the built-in memory of the equipment. UAV control can be algorithmic-software, remote or combined, in which the return to the base is carried out automatically in case of loss of control.

Apparently, unmanned Russian vehicles will soon be neither qualitatively nor quantitatively inferior to foreign models.

The advent of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has significantly expanded the possibilities armed forces and reduced human losses. Their use made it possible to carry out dangerous missions without risking the lives of pilots.

For a long time, drones were assigned the role of targets for military pilots and operators. anti-aircraft installations. However scientific and technological revolution in the field of radio engineering, optics and electronics became the foundation for the creation of heavy multi-purpose devices capable of conducting reconnaissance and striking for several days.

The greatest successes in this field have been achieved by the United States and Israel. The US Army has about 500 attack drones. Experts believe that Russia will take into account the experience of their use in the fight against illegal armed groups in Syria.

Scope of application

At this moment Russian army does not have attack drones. About 70 UAVs are involved in the Syrian operation - light tactical devices "Orlan-10" and "Eleron-3" and heavy "Forposts".

The devices perform tasks of patrolling the area around the Khmeimim airbase and the port of Tartus, searching for and additional reconnaissance of targets, and monitoring the area after missile and bomb attacks by the Aerospace Forces. In particular, the use of “Outposts” allows you to keep track of hit targets and demonstrate the work of the videoconferencing to the whole world.

Director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) Ruslan Pukhov told RT that the Syrian campaign made it possible to realize the need for several new types of weapons, including attack drones, to appear in the Russian Armed Forces.

Unmanned aerial vehicles "Zastava", "Orlan"
Press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

The head of the department for research of Middle Eastern conflicts and the armed forces of the region at the Institute for Innovative Development, Anton Mardasov, is confident that the use of attack drones is in demand in Syria both today and in the future.

The expert explained that after the end of the main phase of the operation, the scope of use of UAVs may expand. According to him, the disappearance of the military structure of the Islamic State* and the movement of gangs underground “will require the Russian group to do more elaborate work in destroying ground targets.”

Mardasov believes that the lion's share of tasks in the SAR will be able to be performed by domestic attack drones, which should soon enter service. Heavy UAVs are optimal for carrying out limited missions - for example, to destroy a command post, individual moving targets, a concentration of manpower in an urban area, or a militant warehouse.

Application prospect

American experience in Afghanistan shows that attack UAVs can minimize the risk to the lives of personnel and civilians. However, the key to the combat effectiveness of drones is competent reconnaissance.

In Afghanistan, due to a lack of intelligence from January 2012 to February 2013, out of 200 “militants” eliminated by drones, 35 turned out to be civilians. The reason for the errors was not malice, but the lack of complete information about the targets being hit.

It is assumed that attack UAVs will be able to remain in the air for several days, monitoring the area, and hit unexpectedly appearing mobile groups of terrorists before aircraft arrive. Such tactics can increase the level of efficiency of the Russian Aerospace Forces group and reduce the likelihood of unexpected counterattacks by militants, from which the Syrian army constantly suffers.

Mardasov believes that the prospects of using UAVs in modern warfare were realized by the Russian command during the South Ossetian conflict of 2008, during which Georgian troops used American and Israeli-made drones. Now, according to him, in Russia there is a reassessment of the attitude towards impact vehicles.

“In order to close the gap in the range of weapons as quickly as possible, Israeli light drones Bird Eye 400 and heavy IAI Searcher 2 were purchased. In 2012, the Ural Civil Aviation Plant began production of a licensed copy of Searcher 2 - “Forpost”, developed at OJSC RTI Systems ", said Mardasov.

The expert noted that Israel sold Moscow a UAV with limited functionality. This stimulated Russia to make active efforts to create its own heavy vehicles that correspond to foreign analogues.

“The Syrian campaign has confirmed the need for the Russian army to have not only light, but also heavy UAVs. The larger the device, the more equipment best quality it can carry and, accordingly, the wider the range of tasks performed by the drone and the higher the efficiency of its use,” Mardasov noted.

"Orion", "Altair", "Hunter"

Chief editor of UAV.ru, aviation expert Denis Fedutinov explained to RT that heavy UAVs, as a rule, combine reconnaissance and attack functions. In the United States, the first mass-produced drone of this type was the MQ-1 Reaper. In 2007, at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, the first attack squadron in the United States was formed from these devices.

The expert said that Russia is currently developing several complexes of heavy UAVs. We are talking about the Orion devices of the Kronstadt company, Altair of the OKB im. Simonov and "Okhotnik" of the Sukhoi Design Bureau.

Prototype demonstrator of the Altair heavy-class unmanned aerial vehicle developed by JSC NPO OKB named after M.P. Simonov."
americanmilitaryforum.com

“Drawing certain parallels with those close in their class foreign systems UAVs, it can be assumed that due to their size and associated capabilities, they could potentially be carriers of not only reconnaissance equipment, but also weapons,” Fedutinov said.

According to him, the Russian army has gained some experience in using light vehicles, which will be useful when heavy reconnaissance and attack UAVs enter the army. In particular, practical skills can be transferred to new drones technical operation“Aileron-3”, “Orlan-10”, “Zastava” and “Forpost”.

“I believe that for the operation of reconnaissance and strike UAVs of a fairly heavy class, separate units will be created within the Air Force structure, in which military personnel will specialize exclusively in the use of drones and their maintenance", said Fedutinov.

UAVs not only expand the capabilities existing species weapons due to interaction in a single intelligence and information field, but also gradually become independent combat units. Drones are one of the key elements of the upcoming replacement of people with machines on the battlefield, Fedutinov believes.

“Due to a number of objective circumstances, Russia lagged behind in the development of UAVs. Now the situation is changing in better side, since there are opportunities not only to apply the best developments of the past, but also to work them out in practice, that is, in combat conditions,” concluded RT’s interlocutor.