Russia is building a high-speed drone. US strike UAVs - the present and the future Unmanned aerial vehicles of Russia

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

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

The robot is stronger than the pilot of flesh and blood. Ten, twenty, thirty hours of continuous flight - he demonstrates constant vigor and is ready to continue the mission. Even when the overload reaches the terrible 10 "same", filling the body with lead pain, the digital devil will maintain clarity of consciousness, continuing to calmly calculate the course and follow the enemy.

The digital brain does not need 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 steering wheel in its strong and skillful "hands".

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

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

5th place - General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper

Reconnaissance and strike UAV with max. takeoff 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.

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

Cost: $ 16.9 million

To date, 163 UAVs "Reaper" have been built.

Most notorious case of military use: in April 2010 in Afghanistan, an attack by an MQ-9 Reaper UAV killed the third person in the leadership of al-Qaeda, Mustafa Abu Yazid, known as Sheikh al-Masri.

4th place - Interstate TDR-1

Unmanned torpedo bomber.

Max. takeoff weight: 2.7 tons.
Engines: 2 x 220 HP
Cruising speed: 225 km / h,
Flight range: 680 km,
Combat load: 2,000 lb. (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 malfunctioned. In a moment I realized it was anti-aircraft guns! After adjusting the flight of the drone, I pointed it directly into the middle of the ship. At the last second, the deck flashed before my eyes - so close that I could see the details. Suddenly the screen turned into a gray static background ... Obviously, the explosion killed everyone on board. "

- The first combat sortie on September 27, 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 destroyer's keel.

Takeoff of TDR-1 from the deck of an aircraft carrier

Encouraged by the success, the leadership of the fleet expected to form 18 strike squadrons of 1000 UAVs and 162 command "Avengers" by 1943. However, the Japanese fleet was soon defeated by conventional aircraft, and the program lost priority.

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

“Project Option” is striking in its courage and early appearance, but we have 3 more amazing cars ahead:

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 that installed on modern U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. HISAR includes a synthetic aperture radar, optical and thermal cameras, and a satellite data transmission channel at a speed of 50 Mbps. Installation of additional equipment for radio intelligence is possible.

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

Wildfires in California, filmed by Global Hawk

A worthy successor to the U-2 Scout, hovering in the stratosphere with its enormous wings spread. Among the RQ-4 records are long-distance flights (flight from the USA to Australia, 2001), the longest flight among all UAVs (33 hours in the air, 2008), demonstration of drone refueling with 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 aircraft with a new radar capable of surveying 7 million square meters per day. kilometers of ocean.

The Global Hawk does not carry strike weapons, but it deserves to be included in the list of the most dangerous drones for knowing too much.

2nd place - X-47B "Pegasus"

Unobtrusive reconnaissance and strike UAV with max. takeoff weight of 20 tons.

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

A charismatic drone, built according to the "duck" scheme, but without the use of the PGO, the role of which is played by the supporting 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 bow has a shape similar to the descent vehicles of spacecraft.

A year ago, the X-47B amused the audience with its flights from the decks of aircraft carriers. Now this stage of the program is nearing completion. In the future, the emergence of an even more formidable X-47C drone with a combat load of over four tons.

1st place - "Taranis"

The concept of an unobtrusive 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.
Appearance, reminiscent of the Russian experimental UAV "Skat".
Two internal weapons bays.

What is so terrible about this “Taranis”?

The goal of the program is to develop technologies for creating an autonomous, stealthy strike drone, which will make it possible to deliver high-precision strikes against ground targets at a long range and automatically evade enemy weapons.

Prior to this, the controversy about the possible "jamming of communications" and "takeover of control" caused only sarcasm. Now they have completely lost their meaning: “Taranis”, in principle, is not ready to communicate. He is deaf to all requests and entreaties. The robot indifferently searches for the one 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 bomber-attack aircraft with an intercontinental flight range. In addition, the emergence of fully autonomous drones will pave the way for the creation of unmanned fighters (since existing remotely controlled UAVs are not capable of conducting aerial combat, due to delays in their telecontrol system).

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

Epilogue

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

Unmanned vehicles are a flight to the future. It brings us closer to the age-old human dream: to finally stop risking the lives of soldiers and to leave feats of arms at the mercy of soulless machines.

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

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation signed a contract for the development of an aircraft with the Simonov Design Bureau. According to RIA Novosti, citing sources in the military-industrial complex, the drone will accelerate to 950 km / h and will be equipped with a turbojet engine.

To take bombs and missiles under the wing, the UAVs will be made heavy enough. According to preliminary data, the weight of the drone will be about 4-5 tons. Experts are already comparing the future Russian drone with the American Avenger.

This device is capable of spending more than 20 hours at an altitude of 18 km and accelerating to 740 km / h. And its armament can be envied by a fighter: AGM-114 air-to-surface missiles, guided aerial bombs and even the HELLADS laser system, which is already shooting down enemy missiles and light aircraft. A number of analysts predict a great future for "Avenger" (as it is translated into Russian), so it is not surprising that Russia wanted to create a similar one.

It is assumed that the drone will even replace the F-16, F-15 fighters, and, after modernization, possibly the stealthy F-35. Of course, they will not be able to completely replace human drones, but partially - completely. In the US Air Force, many pilots are wary of the "Avengers" because they fear that the new strategy will lead to a reduction in the number of pilots. And this seems to be true.

UAVs are seriously interested in aircraft carriers. The Avenger's fenders fold down for easy storage on deck. In addition, the device is equipped with a stern hook - especially for boarding ships.

It's no secret that landing and taking off from an aircraft carrier is very difficult technically, and there is always a risk that a car worth tens of millions of dollars will sink. The drone is much cheaper. In addition, during non-vertical takeoff and landing on the deck, the pilot experiences large overloads, which negatively affects his health. A UAV could solve this problem.

Russia has only one aircraft carrier. Therefore, most likely, the new drone will come in handy at ground airfields, and possibly at Arctic bases. UAVs can be armed with X-38 missiles or KAB-500 corrected aerial bombs, which have proven themselves well in Syria. Almost certainly, stealth technologies will be used in the creation of a drone, since the device, in fact, will duplicate a combat aircraft.

UAV "Altair". Photo: wikipedia.org

According to experts, while we are talking about a preliminary project. But if the military likes the UAV, the developer can get an additional contract for the manufacture of several machines - everything will depend on funding.

The Kazan Design Bureau is currently promoting another heavy drone, the Altair reconnaissance and strike, a Russian response to the American MQ-9 Reaper. But the low-speed UAV has completely different tasks - reconnaissance and target destruction with an unprotected air defense system. Therefore, the jet drone project will develop in parallel.

Nowadays, many developing countries allocate a lot of money from the budget for the improvement and development of 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, rather than a pilot, when solving a combat or training mission. And there were a number of good reasons for this. First, it is the continuity of work. Drones are capable of performing a task for up to 24 hours without interruption for rest and sleep - essential elements of human needs. Secondly, it is endurance.

The drone works almost uninterruptedly, in conditions of high overload, and where the human body is simply not able to withstand 9G overloads, the drone can continue to work. And thirdly, this is the absence of the human factor and the fulfillment of the task in accordance with the program laid down in the computer complex. Only the operator who enters the information to complete the mission can be mistaken - robots are not mistaken.

UAV development history

The idea of creating such a machine, which could be controlled from a distance, without harm to oneself, came to a man quite a long time ago. Thirty years after the first flight of the Wright brothers, this idea became a reality, and in 1933 a special remote-controlled aircraft was built in Great Britain.

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 performed about 20 thousand sorties, inflicting airstrikes on important strategic and civilian objects of 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.

So, during the conduct of hostilities 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.

1978 saw a real breakthrough in the history of drone development. IAI Scout was represented by the 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 the conduct of those hostilities, the Syrian army lost 19 anti-aircraft batteries and 85 aircraft were destroyed.

After these events, the Americans began to pay maximum attention to the development of drones, and in the 90s they became the 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. Now in service with the US Army there are about 8.5 thousand radio-controlled drones and these are mainly small-sized UAVs for performing reconnaissance tasks in the interests of the ground forces.

Design features

Since the British invention of the target drone, science has taken a huge step forward in the development of remote-controlled flying robots. Modern drones have a long range and flight speed.

This is 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 with fuel drones in flight range, at least not yet.

Gliders and tiltrotors were widely used in reconnaissance operations. The first ones are quite simple to manufacture and do not require large financial investments, and in some samples the engine is not provided for by design.

A distinctive feature of the second is that its takeoff is based on helicopter thrust, while when maneuvering in the air, these drones use aircraft 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 whole or part of the structure in the vertical plane. There are also wired drones and drone piloting is carried out by transmitting control commands to it via a connected cable.

There are drones that differ from the rest in the set of their non-standard functions or performed functions in an unusual style. These are exotic UAVs, and some of them can easily land on water or anchor themselves to vertical surfaces like a sticking 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 and several propellers - such drones are called quadrocopters, and they are used mainly for "civil" purposes.

They have 2, 4, 6 or 8 screws, in pairs 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 kind of drones are there

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

Remote-controlled drones provide for their flight trajectory correction, and automatic robots perform the task completely autonomously. The success of the mission here depends on the accuracy and correctness of the introduction of the pre-flight parameters by the operator into the stationary computer complex located on the ground.

The weight of micro devices is not more than 10 kg., And they can stay in the air for no more than an hour, the drones of the mini group weigh up to 50 kg., And are able to perform the task for 3 ... 5 hours without a break, in average 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 the technical characteristics. The Norwegian company Prox Dynamics has developed the PD-100 Black Hornet micro drone of a helicopter type.

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

The most common US Army drone is the RKYu-11 Raven. It is launched from the hand of a soldier and does not require a special platform to land, it can fly both in automatic mode and under the control of an operator.

This lightweight drone is used by US soldiers to solve short-range reconnaissance missions at the company level.

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

The continuous flight time of these drones is significantly different from the lighter ones. 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.

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

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

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

UAV type	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
Working time, h	up to 40	16-28
up to 4 missiles Hellfire-S	bombs up to 1700 kg
Practical ceiling, km	7.9	15

The largest UAV in the world is considered to be the RKYU-4 Global Hawk. In 1998, he first took to the air and to this day performs reconnaissance missions.

This drone is the first robot ever to be able to use US airspace and airways without the permission of an air traffic controller.

Domestic UAVs

Russian drones are conventionally divided into the following categories

UAV "Eleon-ZSV" refers to short-range devices, it is quite simple to operate and easy to carry in a backpack. The drone is launched manually from a harness or compressed air from a pump.

Able to conduct reconnaissance and transmit information via 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 an increase in the flight range up to 50 km.

The landing process of these UAVs is carried out with the help of special parachutes thrown out when the drone depletes its battery charge.

Flight-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 a strike drone. And in it, first of all, the high autonomy of the device and the small weight are appreciated, thanks to which flights of up to 12 hours can be carried out. The UAV lands on a specially equipped platform with a length of about 250 m.

UAV type	Flight-D (Tu-243)	Irkut-200
Length, m	8.3	4.5
Weight, kg	1400	200
Power point	turbojet engine	Internal combustion engine with a capacity of 60 liters. With.
Speed, km / h	940	210
Flight range, km	360	200
Working time, h	8	12
Practical 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 hull assembly scheme, which excludes the tail unit.

The task of this drone is to deliver accurate missile and bomb strikes against ground targets, such as anti-aircraft batteries of air defense forces or stationary command posts. As conceived by the UAV developers, Skat will be able to perform tasks both autonomously and as part of an aircraft link.

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

Disadvantages of unmanned aerial vehicles

One of the disadvantages of a UAV is the difficulty in piloting it. So, an ordinary private who has not completed a course of special training 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 have landed with parachutes. Because some models, when the battery charge is close to critical, may give incorrect data about their location.

To this can be added the sensitivity of some models to the wind, due to the lightness of the design.

Some drones can climb to a great height, and in some cases, taking the altitude of one or another drone requires permission from the air traffic control unit, which can significantly complicate the completion of the task by a certain date, because priority in the airspace is given to ships under the control of the pilot, and not operator.

Use of UAVs for civil purposes

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

For example, some courier services use helicopter-powered robots to deliver a wide variety of goods to their customers. With the help of drones, aerial photography is carried out by many photographers when organizing special events.

And also they were adopted by some detective agencies.

Conclusion

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

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

Video

Unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV, less often UAV; colloquially also "drone" or "drone", from the English drone - drone) - an aircraft without a crew on board. UAVs can have varying degrees of autonomy - from remotely controlled to fully automatic, as well as differ in design, purpose and many other parameters. UAV control can be carried out by episodic commands or continuously - in the latter case, the UAV is called a remotely piloted aircraft (RPV). The main advantage of UAVs / RPVs is the significantly lower cost of their creation and operation (provided that the performance of the assigned tasks is equal) - according to expert estimates, combat UAVs of the upper complexity range cost approximately $ 6 million, while the cost of a comparable manned fighter is about 100 million dollars. The disadvantage of UAVs is the vulnerability of remote control systems, which is especially important for military UAVs.

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✪ Unmanned aerial vehicles (says Vladimir Mikheev et al.)

Subtitles

Definition

According to the Rules for the Use of the Airspace of the Russian Federation, a UAV is defined as "an aircraft flying without a pilot (crew) on board and automatically controlled in flight by an operator from a control point or a combination of these methods." The US Department of Defense uses a similar definition, where the only indication of a UAV is the absence of a pilot.

Unmanned aircraft system

The broader definition of "Unmanned aircraft system" may be used instead of the term "UAV". FAS includes:

the UAV itself
control point (operator console, transceiver equipment)
communication system with the UAV (it can be direct radio communication or satellite communication)
additional equipment required for the transportation or maintenance of the UAV

Classification

automatically controlled
operated by the operator from the control point (RPA)
hybrid

Maximum takeoff weight:

The US Department of Defense divides UAVs into five groups based on operational parameters:

Group	Weight, kg	Working height,	Speed (knots)	Example
I	0-9	< 360	100	RQ-11 Raven
II	9-25	< 1050	< 250	ScanEagle
III	< 600	< 5400	< 250	RQ-7 Shadow
IV	> 600	< 5400	any	MQ-1 Predator
V	> 600	> 5400	any	RQ-4 Global Hawk

World War I

During the First World War, all participating countries actively experimented with unmanned aircraft. In November 1914, the German War Ministry commissioned the Transport Technology Commission (German. Verkehrstechnische Prüfungs-Kommission) to develop a remote control system that could be installed both on ships and aircraft. The project was led by Max Wien, professor at Jena University, and Siemens & Halske became the main technology provider. In less than a year of testing, Vien managed to develop a technology suitable for practical use in the navy, but "not sufficiently reliable in conditions of electronic countermeasures", and also "not accurate enough for aerial bombing." Siemens & Halske continued aviation experiments and in 1915-1918 produced more than 100 remotely controlled gliders, which were launched both from the ground and from airships, and could carry a torpedo or bomb load of up to 1000 kg. Later, Siemens & Halske's developments were used by Mannesmann-MULAG in a radio-controlled bomber of the Bat project (Fledermaus). This reusable UAV had a range of up to 200 km and could carry a load of up to 150 kg. Flight control and bomb release were carried out from the ground and the device could be returned to the launch point, after which it had to land with a parachute.

As a result, neither the United States, nor Germany, nor other countries used UAVs in the hostilities of the First World War, but the ideas laid down in those years were later used in cruise missiles.

Interwar period

The end of World War I did not stop the development of unmanned aircraft. The rapid development of radio and aviation had a positive effect on the success of experiments with the first UAVs. In September 1924, the Curtiss F-5L seaplane made the first fully radio-controlled flight, which included takeoff, maneuvering and landing on the water.

At the same time, by the mid-1920s, it became clear that combat aircraft could pose a serious threat to the navy. To practice the skills of repelling an attack from the air, the fleet needed remotely controlled targets, which gave additional impetus to drone development programs. In 1933, the first reusable UAV “Queen Bee” was developed in Great Britain. The first samples were created on the basis of three restored Fairy Queen biplanes, remotely controlled from the ship via radio. Two of them crashed, and the third made a successful flight, making the UK the first country to benefit from the UAV.

In 1936, Captain Third Rank Delmar Farney, who led the US Navy's radio-controlled aviation project, first used the word "drone" in his report, which later became an alternative to the term "UAV". Under Farney's leadership, the US Navy first used an unmanned flying target in an exercise in 1938 and returned to the forgotten aircraft torpedo designs after World War I. In early 1938, the Navy was in talks with the American Radio Corporation about the use of television equipment for remote control of aircraft. In 1939, an exercise conducted by the US Navy off the coast of Cuba showed high aviation efficiency, so the Navy signed a contract with Radioplane to develop a large number of UAVs for use as targets in the exercise. From 1941 to 1945, the company produced over 3,800 Radioplane OQ-2 UAVs, and in 1952 it was taken over by the Northrop Corporation.

The Second World War

In addition to the mass production of Radioplane OQ-2 UAV targets for training pilots and anti-aircraft gunners, the US Navy has been actively developing disposable combat UAVs ("aircraft torpedoes"). In 1942, the Fletcher BG-1 and BG-2 models successfully attacked training water targets moving at a speed of 7-8 knots; successful training torpedoes and depth charges were made using television guidance. As a result, the fleet ordered the production of 500 UAVs and 170 launch aircraft. In order not to create an additional burden on the aviation industry, it was decided to convert the decommissioned Douglas TBD Devastator into UAVs.

At the same time, by order of the fleet, the Interstate TDR-1 was developed, capable of carrying a torpedo or a 2000-pound bomb. The first successful TDR-1 mission was the attack on the Japanese merchant ship Yamazuki Maru on July 30, 1944 - at that time the ship had been aground for two years in the Solomon Islands, but was armed with anti-aircraft artillery. In total, 195 such drones were produced from 1942 to 1945.

In the spirit of the usual lack of coordination between the army and the navy, at the same time, the US Army was engaged in Operation Aphrodite, in which 17 out-of-date B-17 bombers were to be converted into radio-controlled UAVs, filled with explosives and used to destroy factories that produced missiles V-1 and V-2. All unnecessary equipment (machine guns, bomb suspensions, seats) was removed from the planes, which made it possible to load 18,000 pounds of explosives into each one - twice the normal bomb load. Since radio control did not allow the plane to take off safely, a team of volunteers - a pilot and a flight engineer - took off. After takeoff and climb, the crew alerted the fuses, turned on the radio control system and were thrown out with parachutes. Further flight control was carried out from the side of the accompanying aircraft via radio and telecommunications. Of the seventeen UAVs, only one managed to fly to the target, explode and cause significant damage, the program was curtailed.

In addition, during the war years in the United States, a number of guided aerial bombs were created, including the ASM-N-2 Bat homing gliding bomb - the world's first fire-and-forget weapon. After the war, efforts in the development of unmanned aerial vehicles in the United States temporarily shifted towards the creation of guided missiles and aerial bombs, only returning to the idea of non-striking UAVs in the 1960s.

Cold war

In 1960, an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down over the territory of the USSR, and its pilot was captured. The political consequences of this incident, as well as the interception of an RB-47 long-range reconnaissance aircraft near the borders of the Soviet Union and the loss of a U-2 during the Cuban missile crisis, forced the US leadership to pay additional attention to the development of reconnaissance UAVs and the Firebee target conversion program was resumed. It resulted in the emergence of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft Ryan Model 147A Fire Fly and Ryan Model 147B Lightning Bug, produced in various modifications until the beginning of the 21st century.

Similarly, in the USSR, on the basis of the La-17 flying target of the Lavochkin Design Bureau, the La-17R unmanned reconnaissance aircraft was created, which made its first flight in 1963, but did not gain popularity. On September 23, 1957, the Tupolev Design Bureau received a state order for the development of a mobile nuclear supersonic medium-range cruise missile. The first launch of the Tu-121 model was carried out on August 25, 1960, but the program was closed in favor of the Korolev KB ballistic missiles. The created design was used as a target, as well as in the creation of jet unmanned reconnaissance aircraft Tu-123 "Yastreb", Tu-141 "Strizh" and Tu-143 "Flight". Unlike Ryan Model 147, which was launched from an air launch, Tupolev's UAVs could take off from mobile ground complexes. In the 1970s - 1980s, only about 950 Tu-143 units were produced. Further development of the "Flight" was the Tu-243 in the 1980s and the Tu-300 in the 2000s.

Another significant Cold War threat to the United States was Soviet strategic submarines. To combat them, the first UAV helicopter, the Gyrodyne QH-50 DASH, was developed, armed with Mark 44 torpedoes or 325-pound Mark 17 depth charges. In the period from 1959 to the withdrawal of the QH-50 from service in 1969, more than 800 units of this UAV were built.

Unmanned aerial vehicles in the Middle East were used by Israel during the War of Attrition (1967-1970), then the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and later during the fighting in the Bekaa Valley (1982). They were used for observation and reconnaissance, as well as decoys. Israeli UAV IAI Scout and small UAV Mastiff conducted reconnaissance and observation of Syrian airfields, air defense systems positions and troop movements. According to information obtained with the help of the UAV, the diversion group of the Israeli aviation, before the attack of the main forces, caused the activation of the radar stations of the Syrian air defense systems, which were struck with the help of homing anti-radar missiles, and those that were not destroyed were suppressed by interference. The success of the Israeli aviation was impressive - Syria lost 18 air defense missile systems and 86 aircraft. The success of the use of the UAV interested the Pentagon and led to the joint US-Israeli development of the RQ-2 Pioneer system.

1990-2010

The development of communication and navigation systems, primarily the global positioning system (GPS) at the turn of the 1990s (the Gulf War was the first conflict in which GPS was widely used) brought UAVs to a new level of popularity. UAVs were successfully used by both sides, primarily as platforms for observation, reconnaissance and target designation.

In 1992, the Israeli UAV was first used as a target designation weapon during the operation to eliminate the leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization Abbas al-Musavi in southern Lebanon. The UAV tracked down the convoy in which Mousavi was traveling and marked his car with a laser marker, at which a missile was fired from an attack helicopter.

In the future, the UAVs were also successfully used in peacekeeping operations by UN forces in the former Yugoslavia, in the conflict in Kosovo (1999), in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003), performing missions that were designated in military jargon as 3D (English dull , dirty, dangerous) - "boring, dirty, dangerous". The development of technology, the accumulation of combat experience and changes in the attitude of the high command of the NATO countries to the use of drones in hostilities gradually brought UAVs to the forefront of the war: from scouts and gunners, they turned into an independent strike force.

In Russia, until 2008, little attention was paid to the development and implementation of UAVs. In 2007, OKB "MiG" and "Klimov" presented the shock stealth-unmanned aircraft "Skat", but later the project was closed. The Tupolev Design Bureau also carried out work on the Tu-300, the modernization of the Tu-243 complex, but this drone was not put into service.

State of the art

USA

The main vector of UAV development at the beginning of the XXI century was the increase in autonomy. Joint project of the Air Force and the US Navy "Common unmanned strike aircraft system" (eng. Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems) had to develop not only an unobtrusive UAV, but also methods of independent coordination of UAVs on the battlefield, making them tactical decisions based on the assigned combat missions.

In 2011, the first flight was made by the X-47B UAV, which has a high degree of autonomy and can land in fully automatic mode, including on the deck of an aircraft carrier. In April 2015, the X-47B performed the first ever fully automatic mid-air refueling procedure.

Russia

In 2010, the Orlan-10 short-range UAV (weight 18 kg) was launched in St. Petersburg. Having worked on a number of large-scale exercises, including Kavkaz-2012, Orlan-10 was highly appreciated by the leadership of the Ground Forces and the Airborne Forces. The complex was adopted by the Russian army at the end of 2012; in total, more than 200 devices were produced and delivered to the troops.

Israel

Israel is a leader in UAV technology and one of the largest manufacturers alongside the United States, China and Canada. Between 1985 and 2014, 60.7% of all exported drones in the world were manufactured in Israel. In second place is the United States, which supplied 23.9% of all drones exported during this period. In third place is Canada (6.4%).

The UAV squadrons of the Israel Defense Forces are armed with a full range of UAVs - from light tactical reconnaissance and observers to the world's heaviest UAV, Eitan, and a full range of assignments - observation, reconnaissance, target designation, coordination of ground forces, assault attack UAVs, etc. etc.

Major UAV manufacturers in Israel are Israel Aerospace Industries, Elbit Systems and Rafael.

China

Civilian market

Civilian UAVs began to explode in popularity in the early 2010s. In 2010, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mistakenly assumed that by 2020 about 15,000 drones would be used for peaceful purposes. In a similar forecast by the FAA in 2016, that estimate was raised to 550,000. In a 2014 forecast by Business Insider, the civilian UAV market was estimated at $ 1 billion in 2020, but two years later this estimate was raised to $ 12 billion.

The first unmanned flying taxi model was presented at the World Government Summit in Dubai. A small drone, which can accommodate one passenger, is able to stay aloft for about half an hour in one flight. It is equipped with four "legs", each of which has two small propellers. When boarding, the passenger indicates the destination on the touch screen. The flight of such a taxi will be monitored by a ground control center. Most likely, this service will start working on an ongoing basis in July.

Drones are being used even in the zoo. For example, in the Chinese province of Heilongjiang, the Amur tigers gained excess weight and became completely lazy. This can become a real problem for animals, because their metabolism is disturbed and their immunity is reduced. That is why it was necessary to make them move. As a trainer (and stimulus for training), a drone was launched over the aviary with striped predators, which the tigers love to hunt, which helps them to get in good physical shape.

In addition, at the moment, such a direction is developing the use of UAVs, as the so-called. "Drone racing", that is, racing on self-assembled civilian drones of a multi-rotor type, most often quadrocopters, mostly small ones, with a diagonal length between opposite motors up to 25 cm, the power of which allows them to accelerate to 150 km / h. These races consist in passing a certain three-dimensional track formed by the landscape and artificial obstacles (for example, gates), for time or for speed, competing with other participants. World championships are held between the best pilots. It is actively developing in Russia.

Design

Manned and unmanned aerial vehicles are (in general) similar in design, with the exception of the cockpit and life support and air conditioning systems.

Fuselage

Software

To control the UAV, various calculation systems are used in real time.

Technical disadvantages

For resistance to countermeasures, the drone must somehow have a resistance comparable to full-fledged complexes, which somehow increases the cost of the drone and dramatically increases the risk of mass destruction of drones with minimal means. The drone is often even slower, less maneuverable and dependent on interference than a cruise missile. One example of the combat use of drones is aimed fire with homemade devices based on civilian minidrones at Abrams tanks during the assault on Mosul, which is successful as such, on the contrary, countermeasures, for example, radio suppression of the control channel, could completely disable drones of any technical level. Disputes about the technical shortcomings of drones are always devoid of essence - in practice, unequal rivals oppose each other.

Notes (edit)

What is a drone? (unspecified) . dronomania.ru.
Aviation: Encyclopedia / Ch. ed. G.P. Svishchev. - M.: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 1994 .-- P. 108 .-- 736 p. - ISBN 5-85270-086-X.
Samuel Gringard. Internet of Things: The Future Is Here = The Internet of Things. - M.: Alpina Publisher, 2016 .-- 188 p. - ISBN 978-5-9614-5853-4.
Rajesh Kumar. Tactical Reconnaissance: Uavs Versus Manned Aircraft // The Pennsylvania State University. - 1997. - No. AU / ACSC / 0349 / 97-03.- copy on PennState website
Aviation: Encyclopedia / Ch. ed. G.P. Svishchev. - M.: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 1994 .-- P. 220 .-- 736 p. - ISBN 5-85270-086-X.
Drone crash test (unspecified) . drone2.ru.
Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of March 11, 2010 N 138 (as amended on July 12, 2016) "On approval of the Federal rules for the use of the airspace of the Russian Federation"
Joint Publication 3-30 - Command and Control of Joint Air Operations - 02/10/2014.
Cir 328 AN / 190 - ICAO Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Circular
Reg Austin. UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS UAVS DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT. - John Wiley and Sons, 2010 .-- 365 p. - ISBN 9780470058190.
FAA - Unmanned Aircraft Systems - Beyond the Basics
Department of Defense. “Unmanned Aircraft System Airspace Integration Plan” (PDF) ... Date of treatment 2015-08-06.

Unmanned aircraft: terminology, classification, current state Fetisov Vladimir Stanislavovich

3.2. The current state of Russian unmanned aircraft

Despite the achievements of the Soviet period, now the development of UAVs in Russia lags significantly behind similar programs of NATO countries. Chronic underfunding (and often simply closing) of many UAS development projects in the 1990s led to the fact that many qualified specialists left the industry, the experience gained over the years was lost. Specific technologies used to create UAVs practically did not develop (especially in the field of control systems). At the same time, the need for the development of unmanned aircraft began to be felt more and more acutely. Thus, as a result of the military conflict between Russia and Georgia in August 2008, it became obvious that the armament of the Russian army is largely outdated and, in particular, it lacks modern reconnaissance drones. The urgent measures taken to improve the situation did not give the desired result, due to the absence of any strategy for the development of BAS, weak funding, and just a long inattention to the industry. As a result, the investment in the 2000s of budget money directed to the development of new UAVs turned out to be very ineffective. The Russian Defense Ministry reportedly spent 5 billion rubles on the development of the UAV. On April 7, 2010, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General Vladimir Popovkin, told the press that these investments did not bring the desired result: "Last year we tested all unmanned aerial vehicles presented by the Russian industry. None of them passed the test program." In this regard, in 2010, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation ordered 3 types of reconnaissance unmanned aircraft (small and middle class) from the Israeli company Israel Airspace Industry for the needs of its army. The total number of devices is 63 units. Types of UAVs purchased:

- Bird-Eye 400;

- Searcher Mkll.

In 2011, the work of the Ministry of Defense on the acquisition of the UAV was carried out in parallel with both domestic industrial enterprises and foreign companies. For example, in Kubinka near Moscow, Israeli specialists completed the training of Russian operators and technicians (Fig. 3.18). In the fall, foreign drones were used in the Center-2011 large-scale operational and strategic exercises. The Israeli Searcher Mkll systems received good reviews not only from military operators, but also from a number of representatives of the domestic industry. Many experts, in particular, noted that they are well developed as complexes.

Rice. 3.18. UAV Searcher Mk II in Kubinka

In parallel with the operation of Israeli UAVs in the Russian Armed Forces in 2011, a project was being implemented to organize the assembly production of these systems in our country. The corresponding agreement was signed by the leadership of the Israeli company IAI and the Russian defense-industrial complex Oboronprom. The contract is valued at approximately $ 400 million. During the year, assembly production was deployed on the basis of the Ural Civil Aviation Plant (UZGA) in Yekaterinburg (Fig. 3.19). Already at the MAKS-2011 air show, one could see the Searcher Mkll UAV, assembled in Russia, called "Outpost" (Fig. 3.20).

Rice. 3.19. Assembly of licensed UAVs in the UZGA workshop (Yekaterinburg)

Rice. 3.20. UAV Searcher Mk II "Outpost" at the MAKS-2011 air show

The positive experience for IAI in entering the Russian market served as a kind of signal for other Israeli developers of unmanned systems. In particular, in 2011 BlueBird Aero Systems and Innocon had representative offices in Russia.

The development of military-technical cooperation in the field of unmanned vehicles has not spared helicopter complexes. Back in early 2011, it became known about the contacts of the Rostov company "Horizont" with the Austrian company Schiebel, which created one of the most commercially successful unmanned aerial systems, Camcopter S-100. During the Paris air show Le Bourget 2011, the head of the Gorizont company Igor Khokhlov announced that an assembly plant for the Camcopter UAV would be set up in our country. In confirmation of this, the Russian-Austrian drone could be seen on the stand and in the open area of the Gorizont company at the naval salon in St. Petersburg in 2013 (Figure 3.21). Due to its high reliability, Camcopter was certified in Russia in a fairly short period. The S-100 devices have been tested in real conditions on an icebreaker in the Baltic Sea and since 2012 on a Project 22460 Rubin class border ship, which has shown the possibility of using a ship-based unmanned helicopter system.

Rice. 3.21. UAV S-100, manufactured by the company "Gorizont" (Rostov-on-Don) under the license of the Austrian company Schiebel

However, it is obvious that imported technologies cannot form the basis for the production of our unmanned aerial systems for a long time. This can only be admitted as a temporary forced decision. Therefore, in parallel with the procurement of imported equipment and the organization of licensed assembly in 2009-2011, tenders were announced, as a result of which a number of Russian firms received contracts for research and development work to create new types of purely Russian UAVs.

Until 2011, the Russian Air Force had two special UAV regiments, a research squadron and a UAV Combat Use Center in Yegoryevsk, Moscow Region. According to the instructions of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, since September 1, 2011, units and subunits of unmanned aircraft have been excluded from the Air Force and transferred to the Ground Forces. Therefore, today the main consumer of this type of weapons is the Ground Forces. This does not apply to UAVs of the HALE and MALE classes, which will be ordered and used by the Air Force. But so far there are practically no such devices in service.

In 2013, of the domestic UAVs in service with the Russian army were:

- Bee - 1T;

- ZALA 421-08;

- Orlan-10.

The first two of the listed UAVs are described above. The other two are short-range UAVs.

This is an ultra-small unmanned aerial vehicle. Designed for observation, target designation, fire adjustment, damage assessment. Effective in aerial and video filming at a short distance. Produced by the Izhevsk company "ZALA AERO GROUP".

UAV ZALA 421-08 is designed according to the "flying wing" aerodynamic scheme (Fig. 3.22) and consists of a glider with an automatic autopilot control system, controls and a power plant, an onboard power supply system, a parachute landing system and detachable payload units. ZALA 421-08 is launched by hand. The landing method is automatically with a parachute.

Rice. 3.22. UAV ZALA 421-08

This easy-to-control UAV receives and transmits in real time high-quality photo, video and thermal imaging information on the territory under study (Figure 3.23). The model compares favorably with low acoustic and visual signature, reliability and best-in-class target loads. The aircraft does not require a specially prepared take-off and landing site. The small dimensions of the apparatus have reduced the preparation time for the entire complex for operation to 5 minutes. The aircraft flies day and night under various, even the most severe, meteorological conditions.

The performance characteristics of ZALA 421-08:

- range of video / radio channel: 15 km / 25 km;

- flight duration: 80 min;

- wingspan: 810 mm;

- maximum flight altitude: 3600 m;

- engine type: Electric pulling;

- speed: 65-120 km / h;

- maximum takeoff weight: 2.5 kg;

- the mass of the target load: 300 g;

- navigation: INS with GPS / GLONASS correction, radio range finder;

- operating temperature range: -30 ° С… + 40 ° С.

Rice. 3.23. Ground station ZALA

Reconnaissance complex with UAV "Orlan-10"

"Orlan-10" (Fig. 3.24) is a multifunctional unmanned complex designed to monitor extended and local objects in hard-to-reach areas, including during search and repair work. Developed by the "Special Technological Center" enterprise (St. Petersburg).

The complex includes operator workstations, equipment for radio control and data transmission channels, equipment for maintenance and launch support for UAVs, a 1 kW gas generator to ensure autonomous operation. The control center of the UAV "Orlan-Yu" has the ability to control up to 4 UAVs from one control point. If necessary, using the complex, it is possible to organize a local network of up to 30 operators to control payloads of simultaneously launched UAVs.

As a map, a raster image of the terrain with reference to several points or an electronic map is used. For the route, up to 60 points are indicated at which the height and the sign of its overflight are specified: passage along the height or loitering. The route correction is carried out over the radio channel. It is possible to indicate the "Home" point and the landing point, as well as algorithms for behavior in emergency situations (loss of radio communication, lack of GPS signals, engine failure). The operator specifies the points of switching on and off the payload, and when using the camera - the coefficient of overlapping frames.

Rice. 3.24. UAV "Orlan-10". Catapult start

Complex capabilities:

- prompt replacement of the payload and the composition of the onboard equipment;

- providing video and photography in combination with the registration of current parameters (coordinates, height, frame number);

- use in adverse weather conditions and from limited sites;

- placement of instrumentation inside the wing consoles;

- the presence of an onboard generator allows the use of active loads during the entire flight;

- using one UAV as a repeater for the rest.

Main characteristics:

- takeoff weight: 14 kg;

- payload weight: up to 5 kg;

- engine: internal combustion engine (gasoline A-95);

- starting method: from a collapsible catapult;

- landing method: by parachute;

- airspeed: 90-150 km / h;

- max. flight duration: 16 h;

- max. range of the complex: up to 120 km from the ground control station (up to 600 km in autonomous mode);

- max. flight altitude above sea level: 5000 m;

- max. permissible wind speed at the start: 10 m / s;

- operating temperature range: -30 to +40 ° С.

The last two types of UAVs considered and the like are just beginning to enter service. It is quite natural that both the development companies and the customer would like to speed up the process of supplying UAVs to the troops. However, putting into service new systems for the army is a rather complicated matter. It is necessary to comply with all existing formalities associated with the passage of state tests through the Ministry of Defense. Unfortunately, the budget of the military department does not always provide funds for these needs. Accordingly, companies are forced to cover these costs at their own expense. The efforts expended are often not in vain, and the planned purchases for each of the selected complexes in the amount of the promised several dozen units are still being carried out.

The experience of foreign armies shows that today mini-UAVs are becoming a traditional means of reconnaissance in subunits at the "company-platoon" level. Efficiency of deployment and independence from other sources of intelligence information makes this class of UAVs one of the most effective tools for operational reconnaissance. If a constructive dialogue is established between industrial enterprises and the military department in our country, the volume of purchases may amount to hundreds or even thousands of units.

The next step is the consideration by the Russian military of the issue of acquiring heavier tactical-class UAVs, which are among the most demanded in the world. But if in the mini-UAV class Russian companies offer many systems, then here the choice is much more modest. In addition to two versions of Tipchak, developed by the Rybinsk design bureau Luch, these are the Inspector-601 UAV of the Aerokon company (Zhukovsky, Moscow region), and the Dozor-100 UAV of the St. Petersburg company Transas.

Dozor-100 apparatus

This UAV (Fig. 3.25) is an improved version of the Dozor-85 platform in the direction of increasing the range and duration of the flight. It could well compete with the Israeli counterparts Searcher 2 or Bird Eye. The elongated wing made it possible to improve the flight quality of the airframe and reduce fuel consumption in cruise flight. The exhaust system is hidden inside the fuselage, which ensures a decrease in thermal signature in flight and a decrease in exhaust noise. Placing the power plant in the aft part of the glider makes it possible to rationally arrange the UAV payload, freeing up space for placing antenna devices of various types. The use of a V-shaped tail unit ensures the correct alignment of the airframe when the engine is placed in the tail of the UAV fuselage.

The main characteristics of the "DOZOR-100" UAV:

- wingspan: 5.4 m;

- length: 3 m;

- height: 1.1m;

- max. takeoff weight: 95 kg;

- max. fuel weight: 24 kg;

- payload weight: 15-32 kg;

- engine: internal combustion engine 19 hp;

- flight duration: 10 hours;

- max. range: 1200 km;

- cruising speed: 120-150 km / h;

- limiting height: 4.5 km;

- operating temperature range: -50 to +40 ° С;

- payload: a forward-looking video camera, an optoelectronic system on a rotating controlled platform (FLIR), an automatic digital camera Optionally: a laser rangefinder, a forward-looking radar, an external load, a synthetic aperture radar;

- navigation and control: an inertial system integrated with a satellite navigation receiver GLONASS / GPS and a bar altimeter; air signal system; on-board computer; radio data transmission lines and command; ADS-B equipment (designed for flights in common airspace with other manned and unmanned aerial vehicles).

Rice. 3.25. UAV "Dozor-100" of the company "Transas"

Even after the conclusion of the first Russian-Israeli deal, many experts concluded that the purchased UAVs, obviously, will not cover the needs of the Russian military across the entire spectrum of necessary systems. The geographic scale of our country, as well as the tasks facing the Armed Forces, form the need for long-duration spacecraft (MALE-class). Realizing this, the Russian military also showed interest in larger systems developed by IAI - Heron-type devices. However, permission to sell them to Russia was never received.

Obviously, therefore, in the fall of 2011, the RF Ministry of Defense held a tender for medium-altitude UAVs of long flight duration and dimensions, close to the American Predator and Reaper vehicles. The decision on the competition was not easy. It is symptomatic that the Ministry of Defense refused to the previous "favorites": the Vega concern, which had the status of the parent enterprise for UAV complexes in Russia, but received not the best reviews in this area from the military, as well as the Tupolev company, which in our country has the most long experience of work in the field of unmanned systems, but is now in a very difficult personnel and technological situation. The MiG company, which several years ago proposed the concept of a promising strike UAV, did not receive the desired order. The military gave preference to enterprises that showed themselves positively in a market economy. This is the developer of high-tech electronic systems "Transas", which was entrusted with the creation of the smaller of two MALE-class drones, and one of the main suppliers of air targets for the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation - the Kazan company "Sokol" (Kazan), which is to build a Russian analogue of the UAV Reaper.

Thus, in recent years, the customer of military UAVs, represented by the Ministry of Defense, has demonstrated a fairly balanced and pragmatic approach, combining the order of Russian UAVs available on the market with the import of those types of UAVs that are not available in the product lines of Russian companies. And if the first and second are impossible, an order is made for the development of appropriate systems according to the customer's requirements.

In general, today the situation with the development and production of UAVs in Russia looks somewhat better than a few years ago. A number of necessary prerequisites have been created for the further more active equipping of the Russian Armed Forces with modern reconnaissance and reconnaissance strike systems based on UAVs.

In 2014, the State Center for Unmanned Aviation of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation was formed. It has already begun training for operators of unmanned aircraft systems.

In February 2014, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, during a meeting with students of the Siberian Federal University in Krasnoyarsk, said that almost 320 billion rubles would be spent on the program of equipping the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation with unmanned aerial vehicles, designed until 2020. At present, according to him, the Russian army already "has almost 500 unmanned aerial vehicles, which are operating", performing tasks of reconnaissance, communications, signal relaying and combat use.

Non-military UAS

(based on materials)

Non-military UAS in Russia, as well as throughout the world, have their own specific development trends. In such areas as remote sensing of the earth, control of communications and borders, signal relaying, they reduce the cost of services by an order of magnitude or even more compared to traditional space or aviation systems. The progress of non-military systems is facilitated by the miniaturization and reduction in the cost of electronic components of on-board equipment. However, there are three obstacles to the development of unmanned vehicles for civilian use.

The technical problem is that potential customers are not interested in UAVs, albeit with unique characteristics, but in full-fledged systems that perform a specific function and do not require qualified maintenance. The second problem is related to the first and is structural in nature. Most commercial customers would not like to buy unmanned systems, but services (such as flight watches) from specialized companies. Obviously, both the first and the second barriers are surmountable as large industrial companies with the appropriate resources and experience begin to deal with civilian UAS. The situation is worse with overcoming the third barrier, which commercial BAS has not yet been able to overcome. We are talking about the need to create a regulatory framework for the certification of UAVs and their integration into the existing air traffic control system. This problem has not been comprehensively solved anywhere in the world, despite significant efforts.

There are now two alternative concepts for integrating UAS into airspace. One involves the extension of all existing standards to unmanned systems, including, for example, equipping with identification and collision avoidance systems. The second concept proposes to allocate special zones for UAV flights. This way has already gone in Japan, where Yamaha serially produces thousands of specialized remotely piloted helicopters for processing farmland and has already established their export to the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. The victory, according to experts, is likely to be won by the first point of view, which will complicate the life of the industry.

Today, Russia is practically not represented in international non-governmental organizations, where the concepts of certification, standardization and regulation of unmanned aircraft flights are being created in discussions. Of the Russian companies, only Irkut is a member of one of the leading such structures - UVS International. This situation threatens to repeat the sad experience of our civil aviation's struggle with the environmental standards of the ICAO, which, at least in part, can be viewed as non-tariff barriers on the way of domestic aircraft.

Without waiting for the creation of a regulatory framework, unmanned systems, apparently, will be purchased by structures with special powers. Unmanned vehicles are actively purchased by the FSB (for special forces and border guards) and the Ministry of Emergency Situations, that is, departments that solve critical tasks with the help of UAS. The technical policy of non-military customers has its own specific features. As a rule, they seek to acquire systems that are simple and cheap to operate. Therefore, customers do not always choose Russian devices. It all depends on the ratio of price and technical characteristics.

Russian industry responded fairly quickly to the demand from government non-military customers. A number of firms in recent years have developed projects for relatively simple and inexpensive unmanned systems to operate. Among them: the Kazan design bureau "Sokol", which has been developing UAVs since Soviet times; ENIKS CJSC (also located in Kazan), focusing on small devices; Novik XXI century, the core of which was made up of the developers of the Stroy-P complex, and a number of other companies or even groups of enthusiasts. Many of these teams have been successful. Thus, KB "Seeker" of the Moscow Aviation Institute has developed an unmanned helicopter "Raven" for the FSB. Novik XXI Century has created a number of mini-UAVs, which are distinguished by rational aerodynamic and system-technical solutions. ENIKS has developed a two-kilogram UAV "Eleron" with an electric motor.

Most of these companies are implementing an innovative business model and do not have sufficient financial and administrative resources to bring their products to market. Accordingly, demonstrating their capabilities, they are looking not so much for a customer as for an investor. Almost no one succeeds in doing this. The military does not want to use imported components. State structures such as the border service or the Ministry of Emergency Situations do not have the necessary resources. Commercial customers are discouraged by the lack of a legal framework. Apparently, the situation can be corrected by competent policy decisions at the level of government and departmental structures, as well as the more active participation of large firms in the development and production of commercial UAS.

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Chapter 3. Brief history and current state of development and production of UAVs in

From the book Unmanned Aviation: Terminology, Classification, Current State the author Fetisov Vladimir Stanislavovich

3.1. The history of the development of unmanned aviation in the armies of the USSR and Russia (based on materials) The USSR was one of the leaders in the production of UAVs in the 70s - 80s. The Tu-143s alone were produced about 950 copies. And in 1988 he performed a space flight in unmanned mode