Catalog of military drones. Combat robots and drones Use of drones for military purposes

Just 15 years ago, drones were treated like science fiction. In 2005, Israel launched a test balloon and sent several almost toy airplanes with cameras to the Syrian side. The planes returned with intelligence data and a few hours later the F-16s returned to their place. Since then, combat drones have become much cooler: today they no longer need fighter jets.

A real giant among unmanned vehicles. The Triton MQ-4C was developed by Northrop Grumman for the Pentagon. The wingspan of this giant is comparable to the wingspan of a Boeing 747, but so far there is no exact information about the scope of application of the giant drone.

WU-14

Chinese experimental hypersonic drone designed to deliver missiles across the continent. In fact, the Chinese Ministry of Defense at one time declared the WU-14 as a “scientific aircraft”, but later recognized its military purpose. The WU-14 is the most powerful drone on our list as it is designed to deliver nuclear weapons to a target.

CH-5

A Chinese development, which can easily be called a modified clone of the American “Reaper of Death”. The UAV was created by the military corporation China Aerospace Science and Technology and has already been tested in combat conditions. The drone is equipped with two new types of ammunition (which ones are not yet known) and a laser guidance system.

Taranis

Until now, almost all information about the British intercontinental UAV project is classified. Only the basic parameters of Taranis are known (weight - three tons, length - 11 meters, wingspan - 10 meters) and the fact that the drone is equipped with stealth technology.

Northrop Grumman X-47BC

The brainchild of American geniuses from the famous Northrop Grumman. The second generation combat UAV is capable of taking off and landing without an operator at all, only with the help of an on-board computer. The wings are equipped with rocket launchers, which are controlled by a person from the ground.

IAI Harpy

This is a kamikaze drone designed to detect and destroy enemy personnel and armor. The drone dives at the target from a great height, hitting it with a high-explosive fragmentation projectile.

MQ-9 Reaper

Perhaps one of the most famous and deadliest drones in the world. The Reaper replaced the MQ-1 Predator unmanned reconnaissance system. Reaper is capable of taking off to a height of thirteen kilometers, lifting a total of 4.7 tons and staying in the air for a whole day. It will be very, very difficult to elude such a steel predator.

Outpost

In fact, the Russian “Outpost” is a slightly modified version of the battle-tested Israeli Searcher 2. At the moment, these complexes are just beginning to arrive in the Russian Army, but are already being used in combat operations in Syria.

C-Worker 5

Not only airplanes, but also sea vessels are becoming unmanned. The UK presented its C-Worker 5 boat, capable of developing low speed, but staying on one fuel tank for a whole week. The ship is planned to be used for reconnaissance and trawling; in extreme cases, it can be blown up remotely and cause something like sabotage.

S-100 Camcopter

The Australian company Schiebel introduced its unmanned helicopter back in 2005, but until now it has not lost its relevance at all. The S-100 Camcopter can track large enemy groups at a distance inaccessible to detection and is most often used as a reconnaissance aircraft. However, this screw baby also has “teeth”.

Unfortunately, UAVs serve people not only for peaceful purposes. Currently, every developed country has an arsenal of such deadly devices.

Let's find out what examples of such “toys” Russia and the USA have. The question is relevant, because in my humble understanding, all subsequent wars will be fought with the active use of the latter.

Because a tank is a bulky metal coffin, airplanes are better, but much more expensive, and drones “multiply” quickly, cost less and are no less effective.

Whether to scout out the area, drop a bomb on some Venezuelan, or deliver mail - a universal thing, in general.

So, what is in the bins of our glorious Motherland?

Bee-1T

A pioneer, developed by Soviet craftsmen in 1990, this UAV still serves in the Russian Armed Forces. It does not have a shock “sting” and is used only for reconnaissance purposes.

Weight – 138 kg, speed – 180 km/h, range – 60 km.

Stork

A reconnaissance and strike UAV, which is currently only being tested.

Weight – 500 kg, speed – 250 km/h, range – 500 km.

ZALA 421-08

Ultra-small drone. Designed for observation, target designation, fire adjustment, damage assessment. Effective for aerial photography and video shooting at short distances.

Weight – 2.5 kg, speed – 120 km/h, range – 10 km.

Orlan-3M

Another reconnaissance aircraft capable of aerial photography and video recording. The modular design allows you to quickly change the type of equipment the UAV carries.

Weight – 7 kg, speed – 150 km/h, range – 100 km.

Calm-3

An experimental model of a turbojet UAV designed for reconnaissance, aerial photography, radio signal relay and jamming. Can conduct radiation and gas chemical monitoring, assess the condition of infrastructure, etc. Capable of hovering in the air like a helicopter.

Weight - 17.6 kg, speed - 780 km/h, range - 500 km.

Fescue

This is the name given to the complex for aerial reconnaissance and aerial photography of the area. The drone directly included in its composition is called UAV-08.

Weight – 90 kg, speed – 180 km/h, range – 120 km.

Corsair

Combat UAV made of composite materials. It can be used both for reconnaissance and electronic warfare, and for airstrikes.

Weight – 200 kg, speed – 150 km/h, range – 180 km.

Dozor-85 and Dozor-600

The name of the UAV (Dozor-85) hints that this is a reconnaissance aircraft. And so it is. The device has been in serial production since 2007. It can be controlled automatically by a program or manually by an operator from a command post.

Weighs 85 kg, accelerates to 150 km/h, range – 900 km.

Its descendant, Dozor-600, is capable of not only conducting reconnaissance, but also destroying enemies with missiles. True, it is still in theory: it has not yet entered service.

Weight – 640 kg, speed – 210 km/h, range – 3700 km.

Tu-300 "Korshun-U"

Another Soviet development that can serve both for reconnaissance (modification “Filin-1”) and relaying radio signals (“Filin” 2), and for the destruction of ground targets.

A very serious bird with a mass of 3 tons, a speed of 940 km/h and a range of 300 km.

Orion

It has not entered service; it is currently undergoing testing. The device is designed for visual, radar or electronic reconnaissance with the possibility of long-term patrolling in a given area. The developers mentioned the possibility of modifying it into an attack UAV.

There are only characteristics of the export version (they are always lower) called “Orion-E”. Weight – 1.2 tons, speed – 200 km/h, flight range – 250 km.

Inspector-601 (301,201,101)

The Inspector line of drones is mainly intended for reconnaissance. However, the 601 model is an exception: it serves to solve reconnaissance, transport and attack missions.

Weight - 120 kg, speed - 210 km/h, flight range - 900 km.

Outpost M

An attack drone that was successfully used in Syria. It is assembled from Israeli components; by 2019 it is planned to switch to domestic components.

Weight - 436 kg, speed - 200 km/h, range - 250 km.

Altair

Reconnaissance and strike UAV. Currently being tested. In addition to the combat version, a civilian version is being developed - with a greater payload capacity.

Weight - 5 tons, speed - 250 km/h, flight range - 10,000 km.

Dan-Baruk

Multi-purpose military UAV. Capable of performing observation, patrol and monitoring missions, as well as delivering high-precision strikes against enemy armored vehicles and manpower.

Weight – 500 kg, speed – 300 km/h, range – 150 km.

Okhotnik-B

The pinnacle of Russian engineering, this 6th generation UAV should become the “killer of the American F-22 and F-35.” This is the most advanced and technically advanced drone in the world (according to the creators, of course). Capable of carrying a missile and bomb load corresponding to a standard fighter-bomber.

The device is at the development stage and will presumably be in service in 2020. Weight - 20 tons, speed -1000 km/h.

And what about the Yankees?

SQ-4 Recon

Miniature helicopter-type drone. It has proven itself not only as a reconnaissance device, but also as a device for rescuing and withdrawing American soldiers from encirclement (it was actively used during the fighting in Afghanistan).

The baby weighs only 200 g, speed - 25 km/h, range - 2.5 km.

RQ-11 Raven

A small reconnaissance UAV, which is available in several modifications and can fly either automatically using GPS or under manual operator control.

Weight - 1.7 kg, speed - 95 km/h, range - 10 km.

Wasp A.E.

A small reconnaissance aircraft that is launched “from hand” and can land both on land and on the water surface.

Weight - 1.3 kg, speed - 83 km/h, range - 10 km.

Stalker

A reconnaissance UAV that is constantly being improved. The manufacturing company Lockheed Martin is conducting experiments to convert the drone to a laser type of power, which in theory can make its flight almost “eternal” (without landing to charge).

Weight - 6 kg, speed - 80 km/h, range - 20 km.

RQ-170 Sentinel

One of the most advanced reconnaissance drones, created using Stealth technology. Information about performance characteristics is classified.

MQ-8 Fire Scout

A helicopter-type drone that, using infrared scanners and laser equipment, can find and identify given targets, and rank them depending on their importance. And then destroy them with high-precision Hellfire missiles.

Weight – 1.43 tons, speed – 205 km/h, range – 177 km.

RQ-7A Shadow

A reconnaissance drone with several modifications (200, 440, 600), which differ from each other in their scope. In addition to reconnaissance, it is capable of carrying a winged guided bomb STM Phase II.

Nowadays, many developing countries allocate a lot of money from their budgets to improve and develop new types of UAVs - unmanned aerial vehicles. In the theater of military operations, it was not uncommon for the command to give preference to a digital machine over a pilot when solving a combat or training mission. And there were a number of good reasons for this. Firstly, it is continuity of work. Drones are capable of performing a task for up to 24 hours without interruption for rest and sleep - integral elements of human needs. Secondly, it's endurance.

The drone operates almost uninterruptedly in conditions of high overloads, and where the human body is simply not able to withstand overloads of 9G, the drone can continue to operate. Well, thirdly, this is the absence of the human factor and the execution of the task according to the program embedded in the computer complex. The only person who can make a mistake is the operator who enters information to complete the mission - robots do not make mistakes.

History of UAV development

For a long time now, man has had the idea of ​​​​creating a machine that could be controlled from a distance without harm to oneself. 30 years after the Wright brothers' first flight, this idea became a reality, and in 1933 a special remote-controlled aircraft was built in the UK.

The first drone to take part in the battles was. It was a radio-controlled rocket with a jet engine. It was equipped with an autopilot, into which German operators entered information about the upcoming flight. During the Second World War, this missile successfully completed about 20 thousand combat missions, carrying out air strikes on important strategic and civilian targets in Great Britain.

After the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union, in the course of growing mutual claims against each other, which became a springboard for the start of the Cold War, began to allocate huge amounts of money from the budget for the development of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Thus, during combat operations in Vietnam, both sides actively used UAVs to solve various combat missions. Radio-controlled vehicles took aerial photographs, conducted radar reconnaissance, and were used as repeaters.

In 1978, there was a real breakthrough in the history of drone development. The IAI Scout was introduced by Israeli military representatives and became the first combat UAV in history.

And in 1982, during the war in Libya, this drone almost completely destroyed the Syrian air defense system. During those hostilities, the Syrian army lost 19 anti-aircraft batteries and 85 aircraft were destroyed.

After these events, Americans began to pay maximum attention to the development of drones, and in the 90s they became world leaders in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Drones were actively used in 1991 during Desert Storm, as well as during military operations in Yugoslavia in 1999. Currently, the US Army has about 8.5 thousand radio-controlled drones in service, and these are mainly small-sized UAVs for performing reconnaissance missions in the interests of ground forces.

Design features

Since the invention of the target drone by the British, science has made huge strides in the development of remote-controlled flying robots. Modern drones have a greater range and flight speed.

This happens mainly due to the rigid fixation of the wing, the power of the engine built into the robot and the fuel used, of course. There are also battery-powered drones, but they are not able to compete in flight range with fuel-powered ones, at least not yet.

Gliders and tiltrotors are widely used in reconnaissance operations. The former are quite simple to manufacture and do not require large financial investments, and some designs do not include an engine.

A distinctive feature of the latter is that its take-off is based on helicopter thrust, while when maneuvering in the air, these drones use airplane wings.

Tailsiggers are robots that the developers have endowed with the ability to change flight profiles while in the air. This happens due to the rotation of either the entire or part of the structure in a vertical plane. There are also wired drones and the drone is piloted by transmitting control commands to its board via a connected cable.

There are drones that differ from the rest in their set of non-standard functions or functions performed in an unusual style. These are exotic UAVs, and some of them can easily land on water or stick to a vertical surface like a stuck fish.

UAVs, which are based on a helicopter design, also differ from each other in their functions and tasks. There are devices with both one propeller and several - such drones are called quadrocopters, and they are used mainly for “civilian” purposes.

They have 2, 4, 6 or 8 screws, paired and symmetrically located from the longitudinal axis of the robot, and the more there are, the better the UAV is stable in the air, and it is much better controllable.

What types of drones are there?

In uncontrolled UAVs, a person takes part only when launching and entering flight parameters before the drone takes off. As a rule, these are budget drones that do not require special operator training or special landing sites for their operation.

Remotely controlled drones are designed to adjust their flight path, while automatic robots perform the task completely autonomously. The success of the mission here depends on the accuracy and correctness of the operator entering pre-flight parameters into a stationary computer complex located on the ground.

The weight of micro drones is no more than 10 kg, and they can stay in the air for no more than an hour, drones of the mini group weigh up to 50 kg, and are capable of performing a task for 3...5 hours without a break; for medium-sized ones, the weight of some samples reaches 1 ton and their time work is 15 hours. As for heavy UAVs, which weigh more than a ton, these drones can fly continuously for more than 24 hours, and some of them are capable of intercontinental flights.

Foreign drones

One of the directions in the development of UAVs is to reduce their dimensions without significant damage to technical characteristics. The Norwegian company Prox Dynamics has developed a helicopter-type micro drone PD-100 Black Hornet.

This drone can operate for about a quarter of an hour at a distance of up to 1 km. This robot is used as a soldier's personal reconnaissance device and is equipped with three video cameras. Used by some US regular units in Afghanistan since 2012.

The most common U.S. Army drone is the RQ-11 Raven. It is launched from the soldier’s hand and does not require a special platform for landing; it can fly both automatically and under operator control.

US soldiers use this lightweight drone to solve short-range reconnaissance missions at the company level.

Heavier UAVs of the American army are represented by the RQ-7 Shadow and RQ-5 Hunter. Both samples are intended for reconnaissance of terrain at the brigade level.

The continuous operating time in the air of these drones differs significantly from lighter models. There are numerous modifications of them, some of which include the function of hanging small guided bombs weighing up to 5.4 kg on them.

MKyu-1 Predator is the most famous American drone. Initially, its main task, like many other models, was terrain reconnaissance. But soon, in 2000, manufacturers made a number of modifications to its design, allowing it to carry out combat missions related to the direct destruction of targets.

In addition to suspended missiles (Hellfire-S, created specifically for this drone in 2001), three video cameras, an infrared system and its own on-board radar are installed on board the robot. Now there are several modifications of the MKyu-1 Predator to perform tasks of a wide variety of nature.

In 2007, another attack UAV appeared - the American MKyu-9 Reaper. Compared to the MKyu-1 Predator, its flight duration was much higher, and in addition to missiles, it could carry guided bombs on board and had more modern radio electronics.

Type of UAV	MKyu-1 Predator	MKew-9 Reaper
Length, m	8.5	11
Speed, km/h	up to 215	up to 400
Weight, kg	1030	4800
Wingspan, m	15	20
Flight range, km	750	5900
Power plant, engine	piston	turboprop
Operating time, h	up to 40	16-28
up to 4 Hellfire-S missiles	bombs up to 1700 kg
Service ceiling, km	7.9	15

The RQ-4 Global Hawk is rightfully considered the largest UAV in the world. In 1998, it took off for the first time and to this day carries out reconnaissance missions.

This drone is the first robot in history that can use US airspace and air corridors without permission from air traffic control.

Domestic UAVs

Russian drones are conventionally divided into the following categories

The Eleon-ZSV UAV is a short-range device, it is quite simple to operate and can be easily carried in a backpack. The drone is launched manually from a harness or compressed air from a pump.

Capable of conducting reconnaissance and transmitting information via a digital video channel at a distance of up to 25 km. Eleon-10V is similar in design and operating rules to the previous device. Their main difference is the increase in flight range to 50 km.

The landing process of these UAVs is carried out using special parachutes, ejected when the drone exhausts its battery charge.

Reis-D (Tu-243) is a reconnaissance and strike drone capable of carrying aircraft weapons weighing up to 1 ton. The device, produced by the Tupolev Design Bureau, made its first flight in 1987.

Since then, the drone has undergone numerous improvements; an improved flight and navigation system, new radar reconnaissance devices, and a competitive optical system have been installed.

Irkut-200 is more of an attack drone. And it primarily values ​​the high autonomy of the device and its low weight, thanks to which flights lasting up to 12 hours can be carried out. The UAV lands on a specially equipped platform about 250 m long.

Type of UAV	Reis-D (Tu-243)	Irkut-200
Length, m	8.3	4.5
Weight, kg	1400	200
Power point	turbojet engine	ICE with a capacity of 60 hp. With.
Speed, km/h	940	210
Flight range, km	360	200
Operating time, h	8	12
Service ceiling, km	5	5

Skat is a new generation heavy long-range UAV being developed by the MiG Design Bureau. This drone will be invisible to enemy radars, thanks to the body assembly design that eliminates the tail.

The task of this drone is to carry out precise missile and bomb attacks on ground targets, such as anti-aircraft batteries of air defense forces or stationary command posts. According to the developers of the UAV, Skat will be able to perform tasks both autonomously and as part of an aircraft flight.

Length, m	10,25
Speed, km/h	900
Weight, t	10
Wingspan, m	11,5
Flight range, km	4000
Power point	Double-circuit turbojet engine
Operating time, h	36
Adjustable bombs 250 and 500 kg.
Service ceiling, km	12

Disadvantages of unmanned aerial vehicles

One of the disadvantages of UAVs is the difficulty in piloting them. Thus, an ordinary private who has not completed a special training course and does not know certain subtleties when using the operator’s computer complex cannot approach the control panel.

Another significant drawback is the difficulty of searching for drones after they land using parachutes. Because some models, when the battery charge is close to critical, may provide incorrect data about their location.

To this we can also add the sensitivity of some models to wind, due to the lightness of the design.

Some drones can rise to great heights, and in some cases, reaching the height of a particular drone requires permission from air traffic control, which can significantly complicate the completion of the mission by a certain deadline, because priority in the airspace is given to vessels under the control of a pilot, and not operator.

Use of UAVs for civilian purposes

Drones have found their calling not only on the battlefield or during military operations. Now drones are actively used for completely peaceful purposes by citizens in urban environments, and even in some branches of agriculture they have found use.

Thus, some courier services use helicopter-powered robots to deliver a wide variety of goods to their customers. Many photographers use drones to take aerial photographs when organizing special events.

Some detective agencies also adopted them.

Conclusion

Unmanned aerial vehicles are a significantly new word in the age of rapidly developing technologies. Robots keep up with the times, covering not only one direction, but developing in several at once.

But still, despite the models still being far from ideal, by human standards, in terms of errors or flight ranges, UAVs have one huge and undeniable advantage. Drones have saved hundreds of human lives during their use, and this is worth a lot.

Video

"It's worth going on eBay and buying as many of these $300 quadcopters as possible to use up all the rockets they have." These were the words used by the head of the American Army Combat Training Command, General David Perkins, to characterize the thinking of potential US adversaries. This happened after one of the NATO allies used a $3 million Patriot missile to destroy a civilian drone. A year later, the Israeli military repeated the expensive experience. The availability of unmanned weapons, which irregular forces around the world are adapting for combat, has become a headache for security forces. This stimulated dozens of development work to create proportional means of countering small-sized UAVs.

Unmanned revolution and "peaceful" threats

The creation of unmanned remote-controlled aerial vehicles in the world began back in the 1930s - of course, for military purposes. Two decades later, the Armed Forces of developed countries were equipped with full-fledged unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, and in the 1970s work began on attack UAVs. By mid-2003, about 300 types of drones for various purposes had been created in 75 countries.

The design and production of unmanned vehicles has long remained the province of enterprises with government funding. The transfer of technology for civilian use occurred in tiny steps, and even the film industry, with its huge budgets, used traditional manned aircraft for aerial filming tasks.

The development of drones for widespread use was hampered by components for creating flight control and monitoring systems: gyroscopes, batteries, broadband data transmission modules, and others. They were, firstly, expensive for the mass market, and secondly, large-sized. For example, a drone control system created by DJI founder Frank Wang Tao and sold in single copies cost about $6,000. The breakthrough occurred at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century. Several companies, including DJI, have managed to bring together all the developments in the field of movement, control and data transmission of multicopter UAVs and launch products on the market that cost less than $1,000.

This was revolutionary because multicopters removed restrictions on operator qualifications and launch location. Previously existing civil remote-controlled aircraft models of airplane and helicopter types were more difficult to pilot, required navigation skills in the airspace, and often required special devices for takeoff and landing. In fact, they remained the lot of professionals and enthusiasts.

Multicopters from the world's leading companies - Chinese DJI and Yuneec, French, American 3D Robotics - have appeared en masse in the skies over cities, industrial enterprises and objects of national importance. The capture of airspace by cheap drones has outstripped the wildest forecasts of analysts. Back in 2010, the US Federal Aviation Administration estimated that 15,000 UAVs would be used for civilian purposes in the country in 2020. Six years later, this assessment had to be revised. We were already talking about 550,000 drones.

The dynamics of the use of drones for illegal purposes has also grown. For example, in the UK in 2013, not a single case of drones appearing near places of restriction of freedom was recorded. In 2014, prison staff in the United Kingdom noted two UAV "visits". And in 2015, the number of unmanned intruders reached 33.

Experts in protecting facilities from air threats identify five types of problems that drones cause in areas free from military conflicts. The first is a dangerous approach to aircraft. Due to the specifics of the industry, such incidents are strictly recorded and analyzed. For example, in April 2016, a drone crashed into an Airbus A320 on approach to London. And three months later, the Boeing crew, during landing in Moscow’s Vnukovo, reported to dispatchers about the dangerous maneuvering of the drone at the level of the descent glide path.

The second problem is flying over areas where the use of aircraft is prohibited or inappropriate. The most famous case occurred in 2015, when a retired employee of the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency lost control of his DJI Phantom quadcopter and dropped it on the White House lawn. An unpleasant incident occurred two years later in Russia. In March 2017, a UAV, whose flight was not authorized, flew over the Perm Powder Plant at an altitude of 500 meters.

The next category of use of civilian drones relates to their criminal use. These include drug transportation, smuggling, and delivery of goods to prison inmates. In particular, in 2015 alone, Ukrainian border guards recorded 30 cases of cigarettes being transported to Poland using multicopters.

A separate danger is the threat of collision between civilian UAVs and various buildings and structures. Thus, in the United States, cases of local power lines being cut by unmanned aircraft were recorded, and in Italy, tourists from Korea were held accountable for damage to the building of the Milan Cathedral as a result of incompetent piloting of a drone.

Finally, the fifth type of threat is terrorism using UAVs. In 2015, a drone carrying a package of radioactive sand landed on the roof of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's office. No one was hurt, and the drone operator surrendered to the police and explained his action by drawing attention to the problem of the nuclear power plant. But in August 2018, a UAV was used for a real assassination attempt. Drones loaded with explosives attacked Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro during a speech in the capital of the republic.

“The main problem should be considered small-sized unmanned aircraft (UAV), especially multicopter type. Even a small target load - just a few kilograms - can cause significant damage. Based on the fact that the weight of the payload can be approximately 10-30% total mass of UAVs, we can conclude that the main threat at the moment can be posed by drones weighing from three to twenty kilograms. In relation to Russia, the most likely threat of terrorism may come from amateur mini-UAVs," the 924 State Center for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles reported at a conference in Kolomna Aviation of the Ministry of Defense, Professor of the Department of Organization and Air Traffic Control of the Academy of Civil Defense of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia Oleg Kovylov.

Unmanned soldiers of asymmetric conflicts

Border conflicts and civil wars have become a field for the use of publicly available technologies for warfare. Irregular formations, which do not have the opportunity to obtain expensive equipment, independently “convert” civilian products into military ones. Thus, there are widely known cases of using ballistic calculator applications for conducting sniper fire from small arms and mortar attacks.

It is logical that first radio-controlled models, and then multicopters that became widespread, began to be used for military purposes. According to media reports, the Lebanese Hezbollah used UAVs of its own design for reconnaissance over Israeli territory back in 2004.

The specificity of conflicts, in particular in the Middle East, is characterized by striking from a short distance - often up to 10 km. Such a flight range can be achieved by remote-controlled aircraft from the civilian market costing about $1,000.

Most often they are used for reconnaissance of the area. In second place in popularity of the problem being solved is artillery fire adjustment. Slightly less frequently, drones are used to correct sniper shooting at long range. Terrorists are also converting multicopters into unmanned “bombers” capable of dropping a small-sized mine, an improvised explosive device or a light grenade from an under-barrel grenade launcher on a target.

For their intended purpose - for photo and video shooting - civilian UAVs are used by terrorists of the "Islamic State" (an organization banned on the territory of the Russian Federation). They record the results of hitting targets using the built-in cameras of drones and subsequently use them in their propaganda. In addition, with the help of aerial photography, militants choose the moment to remotely detonate cars filled with explosives, driven by suicide bombers, or planted landmines. UAVs are also used to deliver confidential messages over short distances in conditions where other types of communication are unavailable.

Finally, regular armies in asymmetric conflicts were faced with the psychological exhaustion of units by a constant threat from the air. The drone, usually built using a multicopter design, hovers at an altitude of 150-300 meters, where small arms fire is ineffective and leads to rapid consumption of ammunition.

At a penny price by military standards, a light drone can cause incommensurable damage. Thus, in 2017, terrorists were able to destroy an entire ammunition depot of the Syrian government army in Deir ez-Zor from the air. But drones pose the greatest threat to personnel not protected by armor. In Iraq, militants mined a reconnaissance drone. When the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters shot it down and began examining it, the UAV exploded, killing two people. Videos of grenades being dropped from small drones are also coming from the territory of Ukraine. In October 2018, representatives of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic shot down a DJI Phantom 4, which was carrying an F-1 anti-personnel defensive grenade.

From barrage to special equipment

“The main problem of air defense systems fighting modern mini-UAVs is their significantly lower visibility in the radar, thermal and visible ranges due to their small overall dimensions, the widespread use of composite materials in the design, the use of electric or compact internal combustion engines and engines based on new principles, the use of compact low-emitting target loads on a modern element base,” emphasized Oleg Kovylov.

Despite their inconsistent effectiveness, small civilian drones are most often fought with small arms. In the incident with Nicolas Maduro, the attacking UAVs destroyed the snipers guarding the head of state. Despite the accuracy of the soldiers, seven people were injured as a result of the attack. No one was injured in the Ukrainian episode, and the drone was also shot down by small arms fire.

The experience of the Syrian conflict, when terrorist drones bombed Russian military engineers who were crossing the Euphrates, led to the inclusion of anti-drone training activities in the exercise plan of the Russian Armed Forces. Military personnel of the Ground Forces, Marines and paratroopers will learn to shoot down drones using machine guns, machine guns, and sniper rifles.

In the United States, for firing at small-sized air targets, they created special ammunition with a multiple warhead, between the elements of which a net of one and a half meters in diameter is stretched. The main disadvantage of this method of fighting is insufficient range. According to Western weapons portals, it is limited to 300 feet (just over 90 meters).

Special ammunition is also created for armored vehicles. In Russia, NPO Pribor is working on 30 and 57 mm shrapnel shells with a programmable detonation distance to combat drones. However, it is too early to talk about putting them into service.

In addition to small arms, they have tried to use trained birds of prey to combat drones. The experiments were carried out by ornithological units of the Dutch police, and later the French military joined the work. Four eagles were trained to intercept drones in France. The birds quickly caught up with the multicopters, grabbed their prey and brought it to the base. However, they could only cope with small UAVs.

A number of technical solutions implied a real robotic aerial hunt for intruder UAVs. Thus, since 2015, Tokyo police have been studying the possibility of catching drones using a net attached to a remote-controlled multicopter. A year later, the American company Airspace presented a similar solution, eliminating the need for the operator of a hunting drone to independently control the hunt. Thanks to the computer vision system, the system was able to independently identify and capture the target, while distinguishing the UAV from a bird that accidentally flew into the duty area. The Russian concern Almaz-Antey proposed equipping unmanned interceptors with shotguns, and in the future - with small-sized missiles. According to the developers, this will avoid wasting expensive anti-aircraft missiles on fighting cheap civilian drones.

The main problem in the fight against drones built on commercial technologies is that each specific situation has its own solution, which is difficult or impossible to transfer to other conditions. For example, in crowded areas, small arms cannot be used against a drone due to the risk of falling debris. Solutions with unmanned interceptors or birds are only suitable for protecting stationary objects. It is difficult to imagine such a method of fighting in a highly mobile war.

At the same time, the military needs to ensure counteraction not only to cheap toys, but also to full-fledged military UAVs of the enemy. Therefore, specialized solutions emerged. For example, in the United States, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon are simultaneously developing laser anti-drone systems. The principle of their operation is based on burning out the aerodynamic surfaces of the aircraft.

In Russia, to combat small-sized drones, the military has adapted existing electronic warfare systems and air defense systems.

“The Ministry of Defense never intended to fight civilian drones. Only in recent years have the Armed Forces encountered such products. Gradually they learned to fight. They redesigned the systems in service and took something new. The problem was that there were no means of detection and suppression civilian frequencies. Now they have installed an additional unit, antenna, generator, etc. somewhere,” a military source in the defense-industrial complex said in an interview with Mil.Press.

As of 2018, the Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile and gun systems, in particular, have the ability to shoot down small targets. Another step was the suppression of 2G and 3G cellular signals in the locations of Russian units.

Drone manufacturers themselves, who are not interested in a potential ban on the free sale of their products, are also fighting unmanned terrorists. Thus, back in 2017, DJI declared most of Syria and Iraq a no-fly zone for its multicopters. Being in the coordinates of these countries, as well as near airfields and government buildings, DJI UAVs out of the box will simply refuse to function. However, this blocking is more of a nice gesture towards officials on the part of manufacturers of civilian drones than a real implementation of the “No Fly Zone”. In response, private companies immediately found ways to reflash and replace the component base of aircraft, removing restrictions. A similar solution, for example, from the Russian company Coptersafe, will cost only a few hundred dollars.

Compact answer to the air threat

For a long time, the market for wearable devices to counter unmanned aerial vehicles remained open. Due to the fact that it is necessary to fight against civilian UAVs operating on civilian open frequencies, mobile “anti-drones” are not considered dual-use weapons or weapons. Therefore, the development and launch of mass production of such products took place in record time.

The first presentations of compact devices capable of disrupting the operation of navigation channels and control channels of civilian drones took place in 2015. The American non-profit research organization Battelle introduced DroneDefender - a means of suppressing UAVs in the form factor of a futuristic rifle. The mass of such an antidrone is 4.4 kg. The developers guarantee continuous operation of the device at a distance of up to 400 meters from the target for 2 hours.

In 2016, a new product - the UAV-D04JA anti-drone gun - was presented by the Chinese Hikvision. The product presented at The China Security Show is capable of jamming signals from GPS, GLONASS, Galileo L1 and BeiDou B1 satellite systems. Manufacturers claim the ability to “hit” targets at distances of more than a kilometer. A distinctive feature of the Chinese product is the lithium-polymer battery placed in the form of a separate unit. It is assumed that the fighter or security officer will carry it on his back using a special unloading vest. The battery is capable of powering the gun at full power for 1.5 hours.

A Singaporean manufacturer, TRD Consultancy Pte Ltd, is also vying for the Asian market. The first photographs of wearable anti-drone equipment on the company’s website also date back to 2016 and refer to the Myanmar Security Expo. The company's assortment includes products in the form factor of shotguns for both simple detection and suppression. The Orion H anti-drone is made as a single unit and weighs only 2.5 kg.

Another Chinese development, born within the walls of the Bei Dou Safety Search Institution, was shown in 2017 by a television company with Russian roots, Rutply. Its technical characteristics were not made public in the report, but from the video it can be noted that the battery is made in the form of an automatic magazine that is attached to the gun. Potentially, if manufacturers have provided for the prompt replacement of magazine batteries, such a product may be of interest to the military due to the ability to store spare batteries in standard unloading pockets.

Returning from Asia to Europe, it is impossible to ignore the development of the Polish military space company Hertz Systems with a declared kilometer-long target engagement range. This product is interesting for its modularity, which, according to military anti-drone experts interviewed by Mil.Press, is in demand in the Western market. The antidrone provides the ability to integrate acoustic, radar and optical detection sensors, as well as various options for suppression units - for sector or omnidirectional action. Another advantage of the Polish antidrone is the recording of telemetry of the complex’s operation to collect statistics.

Finally, a joint Australian-American project from the Droneshield company has been introduced to the world market - the DroneGun Tactical gun. It is heavier than competitors - 6.3 kg - while the built-in lithium-ion battery allows it to combat airborne threats for “at least 30 minutes”. The set of suppressed satellite signals is limited only to GPS and GLONASS. But DroneGun is capable of simultaneously working to suppress several frequencies: 433 MHz, 915 MHz, 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz.

Even Iran has its own anti-drone guns, made in the form of a light rifle with a remote block. The first photos of these products leaked online back in 2016.

Russian solutions on the front line and in the rear

The first Russian wearable anti-drone weapon on public communication channels was the product of the Lokatsaya Workshop (Lokmas) company - an anti-drone gun, later called STUPOR. It was originally developed for civilian use. In 2016, the product entered serial production and passed laboratory tests in Moscow. They showed that STUPOR is capable of jamming GPS frequencies (L1, L2, L5), Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz and Wi-Fi 5.8 GHz. The emitted power across all channels was 10 W. The device was considered safe for use when used continuously for no more than 4 hours and 40 minutes per shift.

STUPOR is one of the heaviest anti-drones on the world market; only Dronegun is heavier than it. The total weight of the product is 5.5 kg. However, this made it possible to place a battery inside the case, the charge of which is enough for 4 hours of countering the UAV.

In 2017, the Russian Ministry of Defense became interested in the antidrone from Lokmas. By this time, the company already had competitors. The 4th Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense had its own development, which traditionally pays attention to the introduction of dual-use technologies when creating new types of weapons. There were also prototypes of Zala Aero's solution, which would later be called REX-1. In April 2017, manufacturers were gathered in Kolomna at the base 924 of the State Center for Unmanned Aviation and military UAVs "Orlan", "Granat" and "Eleron", as well as the most popular civilian DJI Phantom, were put up against them. None of the countermeasures could cope with the closed frequencies of military products. On the contrary, there were no problems with civilians. In particular, the solution from the "Location Workshop" was able to overcome the quadcopter at a distance of up to 650 meters, and in the range of 650-850 meters - partially disrupt its operation.

Four months later - at Army 2017 - Zala Aero, a member of Kalashnikov, publicly presented its vision of an anti-drone gun. Like Lokmas, the concern positions its product primarily for the protection of civilian objects. Weighing 4.5 kg, the device is capable of continuously fighting an unmanned threat for 3 hours. The product operates at frequencies of 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz and 5.2-5.8 GHz, suppressing satellite navigation channels GPS, GLONASS, BD, Galileo, as well as cellular communications of GSM, 3G and LTE standards. Like its Polish counterpart, REX-1 is built on a modular basis with various blocks - each for its own tasks.

And then an uncharacteristic event occurred for the conservative military department - in fact, civilian means of suppressing drones were sent to the front line, to Syria. “The Ministry of Defense is not sitting idly by. The military is monitoring everything that relates to anti-drone warfare: which manufacturers have what plans, what new hardware is planned for release,” a military source familiar with the progress of tests of anti-drone weapons explained to Mil.Press. combating UAVs. Everyone benefited from such cooperation: with the help of anti-drone guns, the Russian contingent in Syria “covered specific trenches”, the developers quickly received the results of combat tests, and domestic developers of military drones collaborating with the Ministry of Defense received data to increase the noise immunity of their products. As Mil.Press Military learned, the Syrian experience turned out to be controversial, but some of the combat missions were completed by civilian devices.

After this experience, the finalization of solutions began. Lokmas has taken the path of increasing the range of its STUPOra - the suppression range of the navigation system of popular multicopters has increased to 2 km. The means tested in Syria were adopted by employees of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs - with their help they protected the FIFA World Cup sites from drones. In turn, Zala Aero presented at the closed show of Army 2018 a product for suppressing GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou and GALILEO signals called Zont, which can be placed in the pouch of a soldier’s unloading vest.

Lokmas is going to take the next step in the competition for the Russian and global market for anti-civilian drones. In a conversation with Mil.Press Military, the company’s general director Dmitry Klochko promised to present “a completely new complex that no one else has” at the Interpolitex exhibition in October 2018.

Today, both in Russia and abroad, the supply of anti-drone guns is unsystematic. In case of urgent need, government agencies “plug” holes in anti-drone warfare with them and accept single copies for testing, including comparative ones. According to Mil.Press Military, in one of the Scandinavian countries, certification of anti-drone weapons will take place in 2018, in which one Russian model will participate.

Serial purchases of such devices in Russia through tender procedures have not yet been carried out. This may be due to the lack of government standardization of mobile UAV suppression systems. Because of this, each department has to separately formulate its requirements, conduct its own tests and rely only on its own experience. There are no serious analytics to rely on yet, even based on Western experience. On the one hand, this is bad for each specific government customer, on the other hand, it gives the Russian industry as a whole a chance to make a breakthrough and become a leader in the world market. However, progress in unmanned systems did not reach a development plateau in the middle of the second decade of the 21st century. According to analytical data from the VKO-Intellect company, available to the editors, the global dynamics of patent work on the topic of UAVs in the period from 2015 to 2016 showed the greatest growth in a decade, and the number of R&D in Russia increased sharply at the turn of 2016-2017.

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.

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

UAVs are not just “armed” drones, as it might 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.

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.

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 century, the concept of air combat has changed radically, especially since the end of the 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 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.

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

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 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.

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 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.

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

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!

UAV Taranis at an air base 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

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 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 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 of the Russian air defense system 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 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.

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 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

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, 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 believe that the air force will begin deploying stealth attack drones no earlier than 2030.