Russia UAV programs, News & Update

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Repair of DJI drones by Russian military personnel. Russian military personnel not only use Chinese DJI drones, but also repair them. During the work of the workshop, more than a thousand faulty drones of different brands were in the hands of repairmen, most of which were repaired.

 

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Russian homing drones, Veresk complex. The Russian company Veresk has launched production and began supplying software systems based on artificial intelligence for FPV drones. The company showed the results of testing drones equipped with a homing system. After detecting and capturing a target, the complex independently directs the drone to the target and destroys it. The guidance system is capable of completing the task of aiming at a target in conditions of a loss of communication with the drone, its autonomous flight, or when the operation of the drone is interfered with by electronic warfare equipment. The complex receives data via communication channels with the drone; the system can operate autonomously if the control unit is installed on the drone. In fact, the drone itself is aimed at the target, the system allows even untrained drone operators to effectively hit targets. Target acquisition range up to 2000 meters

 

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Russian troops received the first kamikaze Scalpel drones, this is the first video with real drones. It is believed that the Scalpel kamikaze drone was created as a cheap analogue of the Lancet drones. The kamikaze drone "Scalpel" can accelerate to 120 km/h, and its flight range using a command-telemetry channel is up to 40 km. The payload weight is up to 5 kilograms; the peculiarity of the drone is that the warhead of the drone can be changed before takeoff. The elemental part of the Scalpel drone is partially imported.

 

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The first Russian missile drone Termit. Serial production of Termit helicopter-type drones has begun in Russia. The drone was developed by the Strela production enterprise, which is part of the Kronstadt company, and was first shown in 2021. The unmanned attack mini-combat helicopter MDP-01 “Termite” is an analogue of the civilian version of the SmartHELI-350 drones. The new drone is equipped with a surveillance and sighting station, a weapons control system and three S-8L missiles from the Kalashnikov concern with an 80 mm laser homing head. In Russia, this is the first unmanned helicopter with missile weapons. The S-8L missile is based on the S-8 unguided aircraft missiles used by Russian aviation. Unlike the S-8 missiles, the S-8L missile has a semi-active homing head with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead, the missile's range is up to 6 kilometers. It is assumed that the drone operator, having detected the target, sets it to be tracked by a laser beam, after which the drone acts autonomously, with the help of artificial intelligence, choosing the time of the missile launch based on the calculation of altitude and range. The Termit drone can reach speeds of up to 150 km/h, its range of use is up to 300 kilometers, the flight time is up to 6 hours, at an altitude of up to 3000 meters.

 

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The first footage of the launch of the Russian kamikaze drone “Scalpel” has been published. This drone is now of particular interest to military specialists, as it is considered a cheap analogue of the Lancet drone. Gradually, more information about the drone is becoming available; the drone is being produced by the Ryazan design bureau "Vostok". At the moment, production volumes are minimal, about 20 drones per month; by the end of the year they will be increased to 150 units. It is worth noting that the company received a grant and apparently the production of drones will expand. Now the drone’s elemental base is partially imported, but designers are working on replacing parts in the drone with Russian analogues. The developers plan to install a flight controller created on the basis of the domestic RepkaPi, increase the range of the radio channel and make it resistant to electronic warfare, as well as create an automatic target acquisition system. The developers have already achieved a weight reduction of 300 grams and added communication boards for more convenient and faster assembly of the drone. As you can see in the video, the drone is launched from a catapult. The drone can already travel through areas with strong electronic warfare systems and is capable of flying in bad weather. As we previously reported, the Scalpel kamikaze drone can accelerate to 120 km/h and its flight range is up to 40 km. The payload weight is up to 5 kilograms; the peculiarity of the drone is that the warhead of the drone can be changed before takeoff. The price of the Scalpel drone is still unknown.

 

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The radar transmitter of the “friend or foe” system was created for Russian drones. The development of miniature drones has created many problems for air defense, one of which is that it is impossible for an air defense operator to distinguish his drone from enemy drones. To identify a target, the air defense operator is forced to communicate with other units and find out the operational situation. This problem can be corrected by the Russian radar identification system "friend or foe" developed for drones. The “friend or foe” radar transmitter was created by the Pulsar research and production enterprise and weighs only 150 grams. The device 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 radar transmitter consumes only 100 mV and is compatible with stations of the combined arms state system “Password”. Radar identification stations are used to identify targets on a “friend or foe” basis.

 

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The Russian design bureau MiS showed a new drone MiS-35. The drone is currently undergoing testing and is designed according to a hexacopter design with a folding mechanism. MiS-35 uses an analogue video communication system and is equipped with a 4K camera with 6x magnification. The drone uses non-standard control channel frequencies, which allows it to achieve high noise immunity without significant loss of quality. Thanks to the implementation of stabilization and flight algorithms similar to DJI drones, training operators to control MiS-35 drones is faster. The drone has a camera gyrostabilizer and is equipped with an autopilot complex and a payload release mechanism. The drone can be equipped with a thermal imager with a matrix resolution of 384x288. The drones come with an FPV helmet with an enhanced receiver. The maximum speed of the drone is 63 km/h, the range of the radio control channel is 9 km, the payload of the drone is up to 4.5 kg. The drone's flight time is up to 45 minutes, with a load of 4.5 kilograms up to 21 minutes. The price of the MiS 35 drone is from 468,000 rubles to 634,000 rubles. Or from $5000 to $6800.

 

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Russia may purchase Burevestnik drones from Belarus. At the “Russia” exhibition held at the Moscow VDNKh, the Russian military became seriously interested in the Belarusian heavy UAV “Burevestnik-MK”; it is possible that Russian troops will purchase it. The Burevestnik-MK UAV was developed by the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and can perform reconnaissance and strike missions. The UAV is capable of hitting various targets with guided and unguided S-5 missiles, including lightly armored vehicles. The maximum flight altitude of the drone is 5000 m. The reconnaissance and strike version of the drone is designated "Burevestnik-MK". The UAV carries a payload weighing up to 80 kilograms and has a television, infrared camera, photo camera and laser range finder. Under direct radio communication conditions, the maximum radius of use of the drone is about 100 km, and when using two repeaters, the controlled flight range will be 500 kilometers. According to the developer, in autonomous flight mode according to a given program, the Burevestnik-MK UAV is capable of covering more than 1,000 km in ten hours of flight; it is planned to increase the flight range to 1,500 kilometers. Reportedly, the UAV consists of 80% Belarusian components. The Burevestnik-MK UAV is equipped with a 62 hp engine. and has a maximum take-off weight of 320 kg.

 

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Testing of the MGTD-22 "Hummingbird" mini-jet engine designed for jet UAVs has begun in Russia. The compact gas turbine engine was developed by the Engineering Center of Samara University. Such engines are now in great demand among developers of jet drones, we talked about one of them, the link is in the description of the video. All technical information about the engine is on the screen, press pause to get to know it better. The MGTD-22 engine running on kerosene is currently being tested. The project, as shown in the table, has more powerful engines MGTD-40 "Chaika" and MGTD-100 "Eagle", which will surpass the MGTD-22 in size, thrust, power and other characteristics. The developers promise an engine control system that allows fuel to be used 2% more efficiently than competitors, and increases flight range by 10%. The Hummingbird engine weighs a little more than 2.1 kilograms, the body length is 38 cm, the diameter is 15 cm. The maximum thrust should be 220 Newtons. According to calculations, a small UAV equipped with such an engine with a take-off weight of 45 kg will be able to reach a maximum speed of 800 kilometers per hour, with a maximum flight altitude of 9000 meters.

 

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Testers of the Russian kamikaze drone "Scalpel" told some details about the drone. The "Scalpel" drone is a cheap analogue of the "Lancet" drones; the estimated price of the "Scalpel" drone is 200 thousand rubles or $2,230. The design of the drone is still being finalized.

 

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Russian troops began to receive modernized kamikaze drones “Cube”. ZALA AERO specialists, at the request of the Ministry of Defense, increased the weight of the UAV warhead and also carried out other work on it. In fact, now this is a completely different drone, significantly different from the one that was before. It is unknown how much the drone has changed, but it was previously reported. The drone is made of radio-absorbing materials and reaches speeds of up to 130 kilometers per hour, has a payload of 3 kilograms and a flight duration of 30 minutes. The advantages of the “Cube” drone are hidden launch, high precision bombing and ease of use. The kamikaze drone has a self-destruction function and an order cancellation system, when used, the UAV returns “to base.” Earlier, the Kalashnikov concern reported on the fulfillment of the state defense order for the supply of “Cube” loitering ammunition to the troops. At the same time it was announced that the production of drones had been doubled. The kamikaze drone "Cube" together with the drone "Lancet" were developed by ZALA AERO. There is a video of drones in combat on the channel.

 

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New kamikaze drone Lancet-55 of Russia, ZALA promo video. The Aeroscan company, part of the ZALA AERO group of companies, showed a promotional video with drones produced by the company. The video occasionally shows the new kamikaze drone “Izdeliye-55” and the ZALA Z-16 reconnaissance drone. While little is known about the Lancet-55 loitering munition, the drone is equipped with four motors and continues the line of drones using the X-wing aerodynamic design of the Lancet drone family. The drone has a short range, is easy to operate and is absolutely safe for the operator. The Lancet-55 drone is launched from a container in the same way as the Lancet-53 drone, which we previously talked about. The drone displays an image of the target in Full HD in real time, with the choice of the optimal approach angle to the target. According to the developer, the main advantages of the drone are absolute invulnerability to electronic warfare equipment and complete operator safety

 

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Russian troops have begun to receive the first samples of the modernized kamikaze drone Privet-82M1. The drone was developed by the start-up design bureau “Oko”; drones from this manufacturer have previously been reported. The upgraded drone can now be controlled from cover, has a simplified OSD menu and reduced the number of parameters shown on the screen. The Privet-82M1 drone received new wings and the ability to carry a warhead weighing up to 5.5 kg; the drone can use an 82-mm mortar mine. The Privet-82M1 aircraft-type kamikaze drone has a flight range of up to 30 km, with a maximum speed of up to 140 km/h.

 

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Footage of tests of a Russian interceptor drone armed with a 30 mm shotgun. The model of the drone and shotgun is not reported. According to the developer, this complex can defeat an enemy drone at a distance of up to 40 meters. A 200 gram shot produces a dense cloud of damage with a diameter of about 1.5 meters. The drone can also be used against ground targets.

 

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The first Russian UAV Kor-112 made of plastic polymer. The Novosibirsk company OKB tested the Kor-112 heavy UAV. The Night Bird UAV is created according to the “flying wing” design, which allows the drone with a base weight of 21.5 kilograms to take off from any site or from water, without a catapult, with a take-off run of only 50 meters. The drone was successfully tested in cold weather of 37 degrees. The Kor-112 UAV is controlled by changing the thrust differential of the power plants. The efficiency of this method of taxiing is higher than that of the classic method with a deflectable plane, which allows you to control the drone not only in the air but also on the ground. To maintain flight, the thrust of one engine is sufficient, this allows you to return the drone if one of the drives fails. The drone is made of thermoplastic polymer, which has not been used before; any breakages or holes can be easily repaired on the drone using a soldering iron. The UAV is equipped with a cargo compartment with a hatch in the lower part of the fuselage, which allows it to accommodate any load weighing 13.5 kg, including ammunition. The drone is equipped with Chinese engines, but Russian ones can also be used in large-scale production. The company can produce up to 1,000 drones per month, currently producing 60. In an emergency, the drone returns to the starting point on its own. The estimated flight range of the drone is 30 kilometers, in repeater mode 60 kilometers and above, the drones change frequencies and transmit data to each other. The drone's flight time with an electric motor is 2.5 hours, with additional batteries up to 6 hours, with a gasoline engine 2 hours. The drone's flight altitude is 6 kilometers, speed is 215 km/h. The cargo compartment of the drone is 620 mm long, 160 mm high and 360 mm wide. The wingspan of the drone is 2700 mm, the length of the drone is 1200 mm.

 

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An episode of testing by Russian military personnel of a drone equipped with the Russian Fagot ATGM. The Russian ATGM "Fagot" was put into service in 1970 and has a firing range of up to 3000 meters. In this case, it is impossible to hit targets at such a range, since the drone does not have ATGM guidance devices at the target. A drone with an ATGM installed can only be used at close range from the target. Perhaps the ATGM has control, since there is an unknown block on the back of it.

 

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Russian military personnel spoke about their experience in using the Supercam-S350 multi-purpose UAV and showed its assembly and launch. The Russian Supercam-S350 UAV is produced by the Unmanned Systems company.

 

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In Russia, they have developed mini ports for drones, the Kopter-L01-5 and Eri-Mini systems produced by Almaz-Antey. Such droneports can be controlled both manually and automatically. "Eri-Mini" is capable of working with the famous DJi Mavic 3 drones or Russian Geoscan-801 drones. Drone ports are integrated into the security system and are used to counter airspace violators, allowing the rapid launch of interceptor drones. When using drone ports, it only takes 1 minute to get your drone ready to fly. The droneport is capable of operating at temperatures from -30ºС to +45ºС; it charges the drone’s battery through an autonomous station in 45 minutes. The complex uses neural networks to recognize objects.

 

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The Russian design bureau "MiS", the developer of the MiS-35 hexacopter, has developed the "Guide" system to return the drone to the departure point in the event of a complete loss of communication with the operator. The Guide system ensures that the drone returns to the starting point, even if there is a complete loss of communication with the operator under operating conditions of electronic warfare systems. The system does not use GPS, which can be jammed using electronic warfare, but works on the principles of inertial navigation. In the event of loss of communication between the UAV and the operator, the Guide system takes the drone away from the range of electronic warfare systems, ensuring operation in critical situations. So far, the system only works with the Russian MiS-35 hexacopter.

 

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Checking manufacturers of kamikaze drones in Russia. In Russia, inspections of the work and implementation of the state defense order for the production of attack and reconnaissance UAVs by enterprises in the country continue. The Russian Minister of Defense visited the enterprises of the ZALA AERO group of companies specializing in the production of kamikaze drones “Lancet” and “Cube” and the “Unmanned Systems” enterprise, which produces multi-purpose Supercam UAVs; videos about all drones are on the channel. During a visit to the ZALA AERO group of companies, the minister was informed that the Lancet drones had been improved taking into account their application. New developments have made it possible to link all the company’s drones into a single system capable of effectively hitting enemy targets in an automated manner. The production of drones has reportedly already increased 10 times. The minister was also informed that the production of high-precision weapons, including Vikhr-1 guided missiles, Kitolov-2 guided artillery shells and Strela anti-aircraft guided missiles, is planned to be doubled.