The combat quadrocopter is used in the army, navy, special forces of various countries of the world. Professionals adopt this type of equipment for a number of reasons, one of them is high maneuverability, prompt launch, ease and ease of operation. The ability to quickly install various weapons, as well as their quick change.

What are the characteristics of the device for combat use in the United States?

• Dimensions of the device from 0.5 meters wide and from 0.6 meters in length. Combat drones operate on gasoline, lift loads from 10 kg and above (up to 50-60 kg), flight speed from 40 to 140 km/h.
• The time spent in the air without refueling is 20-30 minutes, it is possible to increase the flight time by installing additional fuel tanks.
• The maximum flight ceiling is from 500 meters to 2 km.

What weapons can be installed?

• Small arms (assault rifles, machine guns designed specifically for drones).
• Light grenade launchers such as GM-93, GM-94, RG-1C and others.
• It is possible to install cluster light bombs for precise strikes on targets.

One of the problems currently faced by the developers of military drones is the need to develop and debug aiming systems, optical systems. But given the pace of development of the military-industrial complex of countries, this blockage will be overcome rather quickly and copters will become full-fledged combat units. ARMAIR also supplies civilian unmanned vehicles. We have drones, drones of various classes. Need an unmanned vehicle? Need expert advice? Leave a request or call us right now!

Conducting work on the development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is considered one of the most promising courses in the development of current combat aviation. The use of UAVs or drones has already led to important changes in the tactics and strategy of military conflicts. Moreover, it is believed that in the very near future their significance will increase significantly. Some military experts believe that the positive shift in the development of drones is the most important achievement in the aviation industry of the last decade.

However, drones are used not only for military purposes. Today they are actively involved in the "national economy". With their help, aerial photography, patrols, geodetic surveys, monitoring of a wide variety of objects are carried out, and some even deliver purchases home. However, the most promising developments of new drones today are carried out for military purposes.

With the help of UAVs, many tasks are solved. Mainly, it is reconnaissance. Most of the modern drones were created for this purpose. In recent years, more and more strike unmanned vehicles have appeared. Drones-kamikaze can be distinguished as a separate category. Drones can conduct electronic warfare, they can be radio repeaters, spotters for artillery, air targets.

For the first time, attempts to create aircraft that were not controlled by man were made immediately with the advent of the first airplanes. However, their practical implementation took place only in the 70s of the last century. After that, a genuine “drone boom” began. Remotely controlled aircraft technology has not been realized for quite a long time, but today it is produced in abundance.

As often happens, American companies are in the lead in the creation of drones. And this is not surprising, because the funding from the American budget for the creation of drones was simply astronomical by our standards. So during the 90s, three billion dollars were spent on similar projects, while in 2003 alone, more than one billion was spent on them.

Nowadays, work is underway to create the latest drones with a longer flight duration. The devices themselves should be heavier and solve problems in a difficult environment. Drones are being developed designed to combat ballistic missiles, unmanned fighters, microdrones capable of operating in large groups (swarms).

Work on the development of drones is underway in many countries around the world. More than one thousand companies are involved in this industry, but the most promising developments go straight to the military.

Drones: advantages and disadvantages

The advantages of unmanned aerial vehicles are:

• A significant reduction in size in comparison with conventional aircraft (LA), leading to a reduction in cost, increasing their survivability;
• The potential to create small UAVs that could perform a wide variety of tasks in combat areas;
• Ability to conduct reconnaissance and transmit information in real time;
• The absence of restrictions on use in an extremely difficult combat situation associated with the risk of their loss. When conducting critical operations, it is easy to sacrifice several drones;
• Reduction (by more than one order of magnitude) of peacetime flight operations that would be required by traditional aircraft, preparing flight crews;
• The presence of high combat readiness and mobility;
• The potential to create small, uncomplicated mobile drone systems for non-aviation formations.

The disadvantages of UAVs include:

• Insufficient flexibility of use in comparison with traditional aircraft;
• Difficulties in resolving issues with communications, landing, rescue vehicles;
• In terms of reliability, drones are still inferior to conventional aircraft;
• Restriction of drone flights during peacetime.

A bit from the history of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

The first remote-controlled aircraft was the Fairy Queen, built in 1933 in the UK. He was a target aircraft for fighter aircraft and anti-aircraft guns.

And the first serial drone that participated in a real war was the V-1 rocket. This German "wonder weapon" bombarded Great Britain. In total, up to 25,000 units of such equipment were manufactured. The V-1 had a pulse jet engine and an autopilot with route data.

After the war, unmanned intelligence systems were developed in the USSR and the USA. Soviet drones were reconnaissance aircraft. With their help, aerial photography, electronic intelligence, as well as relaying were carried out.

Israel has done a lot for the development of drones. Since 1978, they have had the first IAI Scout drone. In the 1982 Lebanese war, the Israeli army completely defeated the Syrian air defense system with the help of drones. As a result, Syria lost almost 20 air defense batteries and almost 90 aircraft. This was reflected in the attitude of military science to UAVs.

The Americans used UAVs in Desert Storm and in the Yugoslav campaign. In the 90s, they also became leaders in the development of drones. So since 2012, they have had almost 8 thousand UAVs of various modifications. These were mainly small army reconnaissance drones, but there were also strike UAVs.

The first of them, in 2002, with a rocket attack on a car, eliminated one of the heads of Al-Qaeda. Since then, the use of UAVs to eliminate the enemy's PMD or its units has become commonplace.

Varieties of drones

Currently, there are a lot of drones that differ in their size, appearance, flight range, as well as functionality. UAVs differ in their control methods and their autonomy.

They can be:

• Unmanaged;
• remote controlled;
• Automatic.

According to their size, drones are:

• Microdrones (up to 10 kg);
• Minidrones (up to 50 kg);
• Mididrons (up to 1 ton);
• Heavy drones (weighing more than a ton).

Microdrones can stay in the airspace for up to one hour, minidrones for three to five hours, and mididrons for up to fifteen hours. Heavy drones can stay in the air for more than twenty-four hours with intercontinental flights.

Overview of foreign unmanned aerial vehicles

The main trend in the development of modern drones is to reduce their size. One of the Norwegian drones from Prox Dynamics can be such an example. The helicopter drone has a length of 100 mm and a weight of 120 grams, a range of up to one km, and a flight duration of up to 25 minutes. It has three video cameras.

These drones have been mass-produced since 2012. Thus, the British military purchased 160 sets of PD-100 Black Hornet in the amount of 31 million dollars for special operations in Afghanistan.

Microdrones are also being developed in the United States. They are working on a special Soldier Borne Sensors program aimed at developing and implementing reconnaissance drones with the potential to extract information for platoons or companies. There is information about the planning by the American army leadership to provide all fighters with individual drones.

To date, the RQ-11 Raven is considered the heaviest drone in the US Army. It has a mass of 1.7 kg, a wingspan of 1.5 m and a flight of up to 5 km. With an electric motor, the drone can reach speeds of up to 95 km/h and stay in flight for up to one hour.

He has a digital video camera with night vision. The launch is made from the hands, and a special platform is not needed for landing. The devices can fly along predetermined routes in automatic mode, GPS signals can serve as reference points for them, or they can be controlled by operators. These drones are in service with more than a dozen states.

The heavy American army UAV is the RQ-7 Shadow, which conducts reconnaissance at the brigade level. It has been mass-produced since 2004 and has a two-keel plumage with a pusher propeller and several modifications. These drones are equipped with conventional or infrared video cameras, radar, target illumination, laser rangefinders, and multispectral cameras. Guided five-kilogram bombs are suspended from the vehicles.

The RQ-5 Hunter is a mid-size, half-ton drone, a joint US-Israeli development. In its arsenal there is a television camera, a third-generation thermal imager, a laser rangefinder and other equipment. It is launched from a special platform with a rocket booster. Its flight zone is within a range of up to 270 km, for 12 hours. Some Hunter modifications have pendants for small bombs.

MQ-1 Predator is the most famous American UAV. This is the "transformation" of a reconnaissance drone into a strike drone, which has several modifications. The Predator conducts reconnaissance and delivers precision ground strikes. It has a maximum takeoff weight of more than a ton, a radar station, several video cameras (including an IR system), other equipment and several modifications.

In 2001, a high-precision laser-guided Hellfire-C missile was created for him, which was used in Afghanistan the following year. The complex has four drones, a control station and a satellite communications terminal, and costs more than four million dollars. The most advanced modification is the MQ-1C Gray Eagle with a larger wingspan and a more advanced engine.

The MQ-9 Reaper is the next American strike UAV with several modifications, known since 2007. It has a longer flight time, guided bombs, and more advanced radio electronics. The MQ-9 Reaper performed admirably in the Iraqi and Afghan campaigns. Its advantage over the F-16 is a lower purchase and operating price, a longer flight duration without risk to the pilot's life.

1998 - the first flight of the American strategic unmanned reconnaissance aircraft RQ-4 Global Hawk. Currently, this is the largest UAV with a takeoff weight of more than 14 tons, with a payload of 1.3 tons. It can stay in the airspace for 36 hours, while overcoming 22 thousand km. It is assumed that these drones will replace the U-2S reconnaissance aircraft.

Overview of Russian UAVs

What is currently at the disposal of the Russian army, and what are the prospects for Russian UAVs in the near future?

"Pchela-1T"- Soviet drone, first took off in 1990. He was a fire spotter for multiple launch rocket systems. It had a mass of 138 kg, a range of up to 60 km. He started from a special installation with a rocket booster, sat down by parachute. Used in Chechnya, but outdated.

"Dozor-85"- reconnaissance drone for the border service with a mass of 85 kg, flight time up to 8 hours. The Skat reconnaissance and strike UAV was a promising machine, but so far work has been suspended.

UAV "Forpost" is a licensed copy of the Israeli Searcher 2. It was developed back in the 90s. Forpost has a takeoff weight of up to 400 kg, a flight range of up to 250 km, satellite navigation and television cameras.

In 2007, a reconnaissance drone was adopted "Tipchak", with a launch weight of 50 kg and a flight duration of up to two hours. It has a regular and infrared camera. "Dozor-600" is a multi-purpose device developed by "Transas", was presented at the MAKS-2009 exhibition. He is considered an analogue of the American "Predator".

UAV "Orlan-3M" and "Orlan-10". They were developed for reconnaissance, search and rescue operations, target designation. The drones are extremely similar in their appearance. However, they differ slightly in their take-off weight and flight range. They take off with a catapult and land by parachute.

In garages and hangars all over Kyiv, an army of inventors is challenging the Russian war machine.

The sound of a flying drone cuts through the night silence of the forest and reaches the rebel checkpoint, which is a heap of concrete blocks and torn camouflage nets. The checkpoint is on the outskirts of Donetsk, the largest city in rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine. The road is pitted with small craters from mortar mines. Wires hang lonely from power line poles. We slow down so as not to run into a pine trunk laid across the road as a barrier. At that moment, a separatist comes out of the concrete bunker and aims his Kalashnikov assault rifle at us. Then he looks at the octocopter hovering above him and makes an obscene gesture in his direction. “They are always watching us,” he says. “And we are always watching them.”

Such was the situation in September 2014, six months after Russia annexed Crimea. News of the war in Ukraine spread around the world, and during this period, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) became more common, appearing even in combat areas. Today, thanks in part to Soviet-era technological know-how, the skies over eastern Ukraine are buzzing with 21st-century drones flying over trenches reminiscent of World War I and over Soviet-era artillery positions.

When the war broke out in 2014, the Ukrainian army was the second largest in Europe, but it did not have a single modern UAV. The Russian army, which was in the process of modernization, opposed the Ukrainian government forces, which supported the rebel forces in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin has adopted asymmetric tactics, using a variety of tools, from covert operations under false cover to cyber warfare. On the part of Ukraine, there was an army of conscripts, which was very much weakened by many years of corruption and insufficient funding.

Over the past four years, the conflict has become deadlier. The civil war, which began with some residents of the industrial Donbas rebelling and supporting Russia, has killed more than 10,000 people, about 30% of them civilians. The Guardian wrote about this at the end of 2017. The Minsk agreement concluded in 2015 between Kyiv and Moscow was supposed to lead to a ceasefire and to the implementation of a plan to reintegrate the separatist regions into Ukraine. Following this, new elections were to be held in the territories held by the rebels. But none of this happened.

In the city of Avdiivka, not far from the front line separating government-controlled territories from the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, the seemingly peaceful situation is still frequently and suddenly disrupted by artillery shells. More people were killed by anti-vehicle mines in Ukraine in 2016 than in any other country in the world, according to the United Nations.

The chances of restoring peace remain slim, but Ukraine has managed to move up in the weight category during this conflict by turning to its world-famous aviation industry. A unique feature of this war has been a new group of skilled volunteers who are making unmanned aerial vehicles with their own hands.

Context

"Furies" and "Valkyries" against Donbass

Business capital 18.01.2018

Military lessons of Donbass from the point of view of Americans

InoSMI 13.09.2017

"Red Robots": Russia's military robots

InoSMI 11.10.2017
The fighting in Ukraine continues to kill people almost daily, and the battlefield has become much more complex, which is why homegrown inventors from the basement are forced to come up with new innovations. They began to design combat drones and develop tactics for their use, which surpasses everything that is available in other countries.

U.S. Army National Guard Lieutenant Colonel Ty Shepard, who works as an adviser at Ukraine's Delta Command and Control Center in Ukraine, says the Ukrainians have quickly adapted to the new conditions on the battlefield. “In the two years that have passed since the creation of this organization, they very quickly abandoned the use of airships and balloons for reconnaissance, and moved on to creating their own UAVs,” he notes. “And they started from scratch.”

The Delta center employs about 40 specially selected graduates of Ukrainian military schools and academies. Their main task is to reduce the time it takes for information collected by drones and CCTV cameras to reach the Ukrainian General Staff, as well as to ensure real-time monitoring of the situation on the front line. Some of the collected intelligence is passed on to US military attachés, who analyze it to better understand Russia's combat capabilities.

Shepard serves on the Military Education Advisory Group, which is part of the US Embassy's Military Cooperation Section. He was impressed by the knowledge and skills of Ukrainian specialists who create drones. “They are constantly thinking about improving the various methods of operation of the UAV,” says the lieutenant colonel. “As for small drones, some of them are superior in their capabilities to our drones.” Those military personnel who work at the Delta Center, he calls "a detachment of great enthusiasts."

Brains of Ukraine

“Ukraine’s main strength is our brains,” says Denys Gurak, who works as deputy director for foreign investment at the state-owned company Ukroboronprom. “Mathematics, physics, and mechanical engineering are our key potential.” Gurak himself previously worked in international management and marketing .

Now he advocates for the revival of the Ukrainian defense industry, which in the past was a key element of the Russian economy. Before the start of the war, many important components for Russian military equipment, from tanks and rockets to helicopters and missiles, were manufactured in Ukraine. “If we compare our capabilities and the capabilities of Russia,” says Gurak, “we are 100% their competitors in almost all technical areas, especially in the defense industry.”

Chewing a croissant in a French café in central Kyiv, he claims Ukraine's defense sector is huge, like a state within a state. “Drones are a pretty good example,” Gurak says. “I don’t know a single country in the world, with the possible exception of the United States and China, that could start producing their own drones in two years.”

It must be said that the traditional branches of the Ukrainian military industry, such as aircraft building, tank building, and ammunition production, are in decline, while the new industry - the manufacture of UAVs - is flourishing. This is due to such important strengths of Ukraine as computer programming and engineering, which do not require heavy industrial equipment and do not require large initial costs.

Human capital is in abundance here. Four specialized aerospace universities in Ukraine annually graduate about 10,000 IT specialists, but half of them eventually leave the country in search of work. (In November last year, an analyst at the Ukrainian think tank CEDOS told the Kyiv-based news agency UNIAN that the Ministry of Education was unwilling to monitor how university graduates get jobs because it knows that information about the number of people leaving the country, or going to a job that does not require higher education would put Ukraine in an awkward position.)

The gift of sight

In the spring of 2014, Ukrainian graduates and information technology specialists found a new occupation. In Donbass, the coal-mining and industrial center of Ukraine, fighting units have begun to spring up, and angry miners have begun to erect checkpoints and barricades on the roads. When Russian ammunition, military equipment and troops poured into the region in a powerful stream, the Ukrainian army began to suffer one defeat after another.

Seeing that the army was essentially blind, model aircraft enthusiasts, inexperienced commercial drone pilots and homegrown inventors headed to their garages and began to create drones so that the defenders of the motherland would gain the gift of sight.

© AP Photo, Efrem lukatsky Ukrainian drone during exercise

One such company, called Matrix UAV, soon became successful, moving out of a garage and into a run-down Soviet-era industrial estate. The parking lot in front of Matrix UAV is packed with delivery trucks, and the doors are wide open. The tubes of a drone, dubbed "Commander", protrude menacingly from them.

I enter the room where the main element of the company's air war is located, but no one notices me. From the far corner I hear some voices. The room I was sent to is a real paradise for homegrown craftsmen. The giant table is littered with miniature rotors, chips, pliers, fuselages, wires. And there is also a small racing drone. Smiling from photographs on the workshop wall is American electrical engineer Rudolph Kalman, who invented the algorithm widely used in guidance systems ranging from American space shuttles to drones.

Designers and builders are finally taking their eyes off their soldering irons and computer screens. Yuri Kasyanov, the gaunt founder of Matrix UAV, comes up to me, shakes my hand tightly and declares that I am a spy.

I choke out an awkward laugh, after which he leads me back to show the Commander.

Andrey Pulyaev returns from the kitchen with a mug of tea. "Commander" is his brainchild. The rest of the team is just over 20 years old, and they all sit in a workshop where chaos reigns. Pulyaev is 50 years old and has his own office, where everything is clean and quiet. He comes from a front-line town under the control of the rebels. His elderly parents still live there. Unlike Kasyanov, who studied at the Soviet military aviation school, Pulyaev served in the Red Army for military service. He could get an education at a Siberian aviation university, but did not take advantage of this opportunity. Siberia was too far from his home and family.

Since childhood, Pulyaev has been passionately fond of helicopters. In his youth, he was a member of an aircraft modeling club and traveled all over the Soviet Union, winning competitions in various places, including East Germany and the Baltic states. At 19, he designed and built a fully functional helicopter. Then the Soviet Union collapsed, and he lost all opportunities. Before the war, he worked near Donetsk, hacking and repairing computers in the Mercedes of the city's mafia elite. Now, after a 25-year break, he returned to his favorite business. “Here,” he says, screwing on an aluminum bracket, “I can make any fantasy come true.”

Well, it doesn't look like any kind of fantasy. The Commander's slender aluminum frame holds missile rails, a GPS navigation system, and a gasoline engine that drives 10 main rotors, which together make the sound as if the motorcycle is working at the limit of its capabilities. Pulyaev wants to create an even larger drone capable of transporting wounded soldiers, delivering blood to the battlefield and putting out fires. “But America doesn't want to sell us powerful engines,” says Kasyanov. He points to two motors with Chinese characters. Craftsmen from his company have to buy low-quality Chinese components or make them on their own.

Related Articles

The military UAV market will exceed $10 billion

InoSMI 27.12.2017

Bright prospects for military drones

InoSMI 11/13/2017

“Many Western governments — the United States, Germany, France, and so on — do not want to supply powerful engines to Ukraine, because we are at war, and they do not want to quarrel with Putin,” Kasyanov says.

“Because Ukraine cannot acquire high-quality parts and components, it is not able to move forward,” says a senior aviation analyst and UAV expert from IHS Jane’s (IHS Jane "s) Beatrice Bernardi (Beatrice Bernardi). “Ukrainians are doing well with what they have,” she adds, “but their drones are not modern enough in terms of weapons. They are mainly used for reconnaissance and surveillance.

Kasyanov is unshakable. “We don’t need Minsk [a ceasefire agreement] to win this war, we need a hundred of these vehicles,” he says, pointing in the direction of the Commander. “With missiles that will destroy Russian armored vehicles. Then we can easily we will liberate our land. If the war really intensifies, then we will be at war with the "Commander". And not with one.

"Katana"

But Matrix's real contribution to the war effort today isn't this formidable combat drone. No, we are talking about another aircraft - a foam drone with a wingspan of one and a half meters. They named it "Katana", which means "sword" in Japanese. But the Katana, with its white foam body, doesn't live up to that name, more like a cartoon version of a B-2 bomber than a formidable samurai weapon. Matrix began mass production of the Katana with funds received from a Canadian donor. This aircraft can carry several types of cameras on board, but only one camera at a time, so its cost is about five thousand dollars. The Matrix trains the National Guard in the use of the device, and then distributes the manufactured drones to National Guard units on the front lines.

Everyone agrees that there is nothing exotic about the drones that are being produced and used today. Most craftsmen and manufacturers base their drones on RVJET-type aircraft models, which are manufactured by RangeVideo, a Miami-based amateur aircraft company. Her slogan is "Have fun, don't fight!" Today, Matrix UAVs fly over the battlefield, taking pictures and videos that are stored on a memory card. Since they are very small and quiet, and fly at an altitude of 300-400 meters, the greatest concern is not that they will be shot down, but that their batteries will run out, or that their radio signal will be jammed by Russian means, and the device itself, along with its map memory will be lost.

Katana and similar drones are not the most advanced, but they are very important. The operator is usually located nearby, but behind the front line. Drones themselves collect and transmit intelligence information about the firing positions of artillery, tanks and multiple launch rocket systems. The news they report is grim and scary. Since the beginning of the war, more than 10 thousand people, both military and civilian, have died on both sides, and due to hostilities, almost 1.6 million people have been forced to leave their places of residence.

The battlefields over which drones fly are reminiscent of the First World War. The ground is pitted with a huge network of trenches, which are protected by gun emplacements, minefields, anti-tank traps and barbed wire. The positions of the warring parties are sometimes only a few hundred meters apart. Machine guns of the Soviet era are scribbling from small shooting cells. Indiscriminate shelling of residential areas on both sides of the frontline terrorizes the population and leads to deaths. Hundreds of thousands of people are too poor, sick and old to leave the frontline areas. Sometimes they hide for several days in a row from artillery shelling in damp, unheated basements where there is no electricity.

And only drones indicate that today is the 21st century.

Drone Wars

A battered Soviet-era tank drives out of the forest belt, crawls over the parapet in a cloud of dust and exhaust, and then heads towards the Ukrainian positions. On the wall of screens in the center of the Delta, the tank can be seen abruptly turning around and silently driving away.

“If we saw this tank from American positions anywhere else in the world, it would be a dead tank,” says American officer Shepard. “He would definitely be destroyed if he got that close. But they have nothing in that position. No artillery. Maybe an 82mm mortar, an RPG (anti-tank grenade launcher) or a recoilless rifle. They can also later call for artillery fire, and they will precisely bombard the area in order to protect the positions of their troops.

During his time at the Delta Center, Shepard has seen this war mutate rapidly. “From the ground, it’s like trench warfare,” he says. “We dug in, there are powerful artillery duels, the sides seize and then hold the territory. But on the other hand ... a completely different game is going on in the air. This is electronic warfare, electronic warfare. It's almost like Star Wars, where there is constant interception, interference, constant surveillance, reconnaissance, identification of targets using a variety of systems.

On the screens, he saw all this repeatedly. “Firefights between soldiers, powerful artillery shelling, tanks fighting among themselves, air attacks by drones. The tactics used there are quite exotic. Not one drone, but entire formations of aircraft that use various tactics. It turns out that you are like a slave pilot. There are a wide variety of means used. And that's pretty interesting."

Drones need GPS or radio signals to fly. Therefore, the pro-Russian rebels and, to a lesser extent, the Ukrainian military personnel interfere with each other, conducting a kind of arms race in the war of communications. Shepard calls this war an innovation incubator. “On the Russian side, they are using this war as a testing ground, practicing various tactics. I guess this is quite handy for checking and testing. They gain experience, learn lessons, and then apply innovations in places like Syria, improving them even more in other conditions,” he says. At the same time, the United States, which provides logistical and organizational support, is also watching and learning.

But the Ukrainians are at a disadvantage in this war, according to Stratfor senior military analyst Omar Lamrani. “I think the weak points of Ukraine, for the elimination of which it needs a foreign partner or foreign assistance, say, from the United States, these are data transmission lines, communications, ensuring the safety of UAV flights, so that all this is protected from enemy electronic warfare, from interference from loss of connection. Ukraine has become a big revelation for the UAV market, as well as in other aspects. She showed a lot in terms of how complex the modern battlefield is. The United States was somewhat surprised to see how successful the Russians were in using these small combat systems and also in jamming them."

Shepard argues that Ukrainian and Russian drones are capable of not only surveillance, sometimes deep in enemy territory, but also strikes. “There are devices that fly out and just interfere, there are those that conduct surveillance. And there are those who drop bombs,” he says.

I ask again if the Ukrainians are really launching rockets and dropping bombs from their drones. He smiles and replies, “I can't comment on this topic. I can only say that they have very modern tactics, methods and methods of warfare, which in many ways help them to protect the sovereignty of their country.

But some airstrikes are carried out deep into Ukrainian territory, targeting ammunition depots and military bases. In September, a military depot in the Vinnitsa region exploded (probably caused by a drone strike), as a result of which 83,000 tons of ammunition were destroyed and 30,000 local residents had to be evacuated. The Ukrainian security service says that in March a Russian drone dropped a ZMG-1 incendiary mine grenade on a military base in Balakliya, eastern Ukraine, 100 kilometers from the Russian border. The explosion destroyed several tons of ammunition.

Flying "Fury"

Ukrainian manufacturers of unmanned aerial vehicles also create kamikaze drones that can be in the area of ​​​​combat patrols for several hours, after which they are directed to the target and blown up.

One of the founders of Athlone Avia, Artem Vyunnik, disapproves of this idea. He says: "Whenever I come to the General Staff, they ask me: 'When will you give us kamikaze or something like that?' We didn't want to do it from the very beginning. We didn't want to kill people." His company creates the Fury drone, which is used for reconnaissance of targets and adjusting the fire of heavy artillery.

Athlone Avia is located in a two-story building adjacent to an apartment building in one of the residential areas of Kyiv. On the beige walls you can see graffiti drawings everywhere. There is no signboard. A nearby firm sells South Korean massage beds.

Inside a workshop with gleaming white and gray walls, electronic music pulsates from loudspeakers. A 21-year-old computer programmer fiddles with the Furies' ground control console, entering code and setting up proprietary targeting software.

Vyunnik is not an engineer or a technician. He is a born businessman with a fine business sense. He was born in the half-destitute eastern city of Konstantinovka, which in Soviet times made glass for red Kremlin stars. At 25, he ran a large company in Donetsk that exported suits to European stores like Zara and Marks & Spencer. He moved to Kyiv because he was tired of the clan-oligarchic system that dominated the east. In the meantime, he received a law degree. Vyunnik took up drones because he was interested in it.

Now his hobby has transformed into a thriving company. The army, he says, "needs everything."

However, Vyunnik and his partners were not interested in creating another unremarkable drone. Instead, they decided that Athlone Avia would be the first company to specialize in airborne artillery fire control.

“Artillery calculations require very specific software,” Vyunnik explains. - The Soviet standard allowed the use of 300 shells for adjustment and targeting. Using our drones, we fire one shot, then we make adjustments, after which six guns fire, and the target is destroyed. We are simply refining the old methods of warfare. We understand this. But thanks to drones, we have become more efficient.”

But although the Athlone Avia software is from the 21st century, the front-line units and subdivisions of the Ukrainian army seem to be stuck in the past. The Delta Center is to collate the information collected by the Furies and then relay it to combat units. Until that happens, Vyunnik says.

“We tried to work with Delta, but it's impossible because we don't understand each other,” he says. “We can't understand what their goals are. departments are asking us if we can transfer our data to some system like Delta. They can easily be transferred to anyone, to any system, but no one tells me where to transfer them, and how to do it. The devil is in the details."

But details aside, the mass transformation of Ukraine's 2014 homemade drones into professional UAV manufacturers could herald a revolution in combat drone manufacturing and tactics that small countries around the world could benefit from.

“Before 2014, we never made drones, and now, in two and a half to three years, companies have appeared in Ukraine that produce military drones,” Gurak says. “The potential of our industry allowed Ukraine to survive in this war. This is indeed a very big achievement, because no one believed in us. Volunteers gave what they could give, but it is impossible to win a war on human energy alone.”

Ukraine shows the whole world that in the conflicts of the future, small countries fighting a stronger enemy will actively use robot armies, thereby strengthening their human armies.

The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

A robot cannot harm a person or by its inaction allow a person to be harmed.
- A. Asimov, Three Laws of Robotics

Isaac Asimov was wrong. Very soon, the electronic “eye” will take a person into sight, and the microcircuit will impassively order: “Fire to kill!”

A robot is stronger than a 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 g-forces reach the dreaded 10 gee, filling the body with leaden pain, the digital devil will keep his mind clear, calmly counting the course and keeping an eye on the enemy.

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

Their time has not yet struck. In the US military (a leader in this field of technology), drones make up a third of the fleet of all aircraft in service. At the same time, only 1% of UAVs are able to use.

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

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

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 capacity: 1300 kg.

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

On-board 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 IR 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 of combat use: in April 2010, in Afghanistan, the third person in the leadership of al-Qaeda, Mustafa Abu Yazid, known as Sheikh al-Masri, was killed by an MQ-9 Reaper UAV.

4th - Interstate TDR-1

Unmanned torpedo bomber.

Max. takeoff weight: 2.7 tons.
Engines: 2 x 220 HP
Cruise speed: 225 km/h,
Flight range: 680 km,
Combat load: 2000 fn. (907 kg).
Built: 162 units

“I remember the excitement that gripped me when the screen charged and covered with numerous dots - it seemed to me that the telecontrol system had failed. After a moment, I realized it was anti-aircraft guns! After correcting the drone's flight, I directed it straight into the middle of the ship. At the last second, a deck flashed before my eyes - close enough that I could see the details. Suddenly, the screen turned into a gray static background ... Obviously, the explosion killed everyone on board.

- First sortie 27 September 1944

"Project Option" provided for 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 exactly under the keel of the destroyer.

Takeoff TDR-1 from the deck of an aircraft carrier

Encouraged by the success, the leadership of the fleet expected by 1943 to form 18 strike squadrons consisting of 1000 UAVs and 162 command Avengers. 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 Zworykin. With a weight of 44 kg, she had the ability to transmit images over the air 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 of us:

3rd place - RQ-4 “Global Hawk”

Unmanned reconnaissance aircraft with max. takeoff weight of 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 put on modern U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. HISAR includes a synthetic aperture radar, optical and thermal cameras, and a satellite data link at a speed of 50 Mbps. It is possible to install additional equipment for electronic intelligence.

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

Forest fires in California, filmed by the reconnaissance "Global Hawk"

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

The MQ-4 Triton drone was created on the basis of Global Hawk. Marine reconnaissance 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 deserves to be on the list of the most dangerous drones for knowing too much.

2nd place - X-47B “Pegasus”

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

Cruise speed: Mach 0.9.
Ceiling: 12,000 meters.
Engine: from the F-16 fighter, thrust 8 tons.
Flight range: 3900 km.
Cost: $900 million for X-47 R&D.
Built: 2 concept demonstrators.
Armament: two internal bomb bays, combat load 2 tons.

A charismatic UAV built according to the “duck” scheme, but without the use of PGO, the role of which is played by the carrier fuselage itself, made using the “stealth” technology and having a negative installation angle with respect to the air flow. To consolidate the effect, the lower part of the fuselage in the nose is shaped similar to the descent vehicles 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 an inconspicuous strike 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 in this "Taranis"?

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

Prior to this, disputes about a possible “jamming” and “interception of control” caused only sarcasm. Now they have completely lost their meaning: “Taranis”, in principle, is not ready for communication. He is deaf to all requests and entreaties. The robot is indifferently looking for someone whose appearance falls under the description of the enemy.

Flight test cycle at Woomera, Australia, 2013

Taranis is just the beginning of the journey. On its basis, it is planned to create an unmanned attack bomber with an intercontinental flight range. In addition, the advent of fully autonomous drones will pave the way for the creation of unmanned fighters (since existing remote-controlled UAVs are not capable of air combat due to delays in their telecontrol system).

British scientists are preparing a worthy finale for all mankind.

Epilogue

War has no feminine face. Rather not human.

Unmanned vehicles are a flight into the future. It brings us closer to the eternal human dream: to finally stop risking the lives of soldiers and to hand over feats of arms to soulless machines.

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

In modern armies of the world, UAVs are used - unmanned aerial vehicles. They are used in two directions - for reconnaissance and direct attack of enemy targets. The question of the ethics of warfare involving such machines still remains relevant, but in reality, drones are still used without restrictions.

History of military drones

Aircraft for warfare began to be used as early as the 19th century. The first progenitor of modern combat drones is considered to be balloons for dropping air bombs. The development of unmanned vehicles began in the 30s in the United States, and the Second World War gave a new impetus to the development of technology.

At that time, the Americans had a project to re-equip the B-17 bombers, which would allow them to be controlled remotely via a radio signal. The plane could not take off on its own - this required a flight mechanic and a pilot, who then ejected from the side.

The unmanned B-17 was followed by an escort aircraft, from which the drone was controlled via television and radio communications. 17 machines were converted, of which only one completed the task. After that, the project was closed and did not return to it until the mid-60s.

The British during World War II also tried to use drones. They created the Interstate TDR-1 torpedo bomber, designed to destroy enemy ships. In 1942, they were tested and it was instructed to create 18 attack squadrons from 1000 vehicles. However, soon the enemy fleet was destroyed by conventional aircraft, and therefore the need for such developments disappeared.

Advantages and disadvantages of combat drones

Advantages:

• small size, reducing the cost of devices;
• no casualties among the personnel;
• difficulty in detection and destruction;
• transmission of information in real time;
• performance of reconnaissance, corrective and combat missions;
• quick training of control operators;
• high mobility and combat readiness.

Flaws:

• “dampness” of technology - the problems of landing, control, and rescue of equipment have not been fully resolved;
• small range and low autonomy;
• flexibility and reliability are lower (compared to conventional aircraft);
• in peacetime, in many regions, the flight of such aircraft is prohibited.

Application history

The first successful use of military drones is considered 1983. Then, during the Lebanese war, the Israeli army with the help of UAVs destroyed 86 aircraft of the Syrian army and 18 air defense batteries. After this demonstration, states took a fresh look at the capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Since the 90s, the leadership in the production of military quadcopters has passed to the Americans. Such devices were actively used during Operation Desert Storm and during the bombing of Yugoslavia. In 2002, with the help of an assault drone, the Americans destroyed a car in which one of the leaders of Al-Qaeda was driving - after that, the US Army began to actively use drones specifically to destroy militants, their bases and strongholds.

As for the use of such machines by Russia, the problem began to be seriously solved only after the eight-day war with Georgia in August 2008. The Russian army uses two drones - "Orlan" and "Outpost", which have passed the baptism of fire in Syria.

Application possibilities

Depending on the type of machine, it can perform the following tasks:

• Intelligence service. The main purpose of the UAV.
• Data transfer to the control center online.
• Guidance of missiles and artillery on enemy positions.
• EW - jamming the enemy's communication channel.
• Retransmission. With the help of several drones, you can create a chain along which an encrypted signal will be transmitted.
• Dumping bombs and launching missiles from the side.
• As a target during exercises to repel an attack by means of air defense.

Problems of combat use of UAVs

The United States is the most active user of combat drones; they are mainly used in the course of hostilities and anti-terrorist operations in the Middle East. For example, in 2011, military drones discovered Bin Laden's hideout in Pakistan. With the outbreak of the war in Syria, the same devices helped in the detection and destruction of Jihadi John, who became famous for posting videos of people being beheaded online. How many people died from the actions of drones is unknown. For example, according to the CIA, in 2004-2016, up to 4 thousand people died from the actions of American drones in Pakistan, of which 1 thousand were civilians.

The problem of warfare with the use of UAVs is being discussed in the world. The main reason is the large number of victims among the local population. Other issues include:

• "The Illusion of Permissiveness". Does the command have the moral right to use drones to destroy people?
• There is a lot of turnover among the management operators, the main reason is the pangs of conscience due to the killing of people.
• Artificial intelligence (neural network) is used to control and recognize targets, some are afraid of the “rebellion of machines”.
• AI often cannot tell combatant from civilian. For example, combat drones destroy children who play with toy guns.
• The neural network is not able to distinguish between a combatant and a prisoner of war who no longer offers resistance and wants to surrender.
• Availability of technology. Terrorists can buy a quadcopter on the black market and use it for their own purposes. Recent examples include massive ISIS drone attacks on military bases and airfields in Syria.
• Terrorists can use civilian models of drones to carry out acts in cities in Europe and the United States. For example - to spray toxic or radioactive substances over mass gatherings of people.
• The legal aspects of the use of such machines have not yet been resolved. Accordingly, operators can be convicted.

The most dangerous military drones

WU-14. Chinese machine, which was originally positioned as a "scientific apparatus", but was later recognized as a military drone. Designed for ultra-long flights, it can deliver nuclear weapons to another continent.

Taranis. Secret development of the British military-industrial complex. It is known that the device is equipped with a stealth system, applicable for intercontinental flights.

X-47 B C. American design. Autonomous take-off and landing, missiles are installed under the wings, which are launched by the operator from the headquarters.