Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Bezpilotniy Letayuschiy Apparat - BPLA
From 2024, the national project “Unmanned Aircraft Systems” will be fully operational in Russia. It should become the main management mechanism for implementing the development strategy for domestic UAVs, which was approved by the government last summer. According to the document, over the next six years, a new branch of the economy related to the creation and use of drones should appear in the country.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin, at an extended meeting of the Ministry of Defense, announced the need to increase the production of UAVs. “We need to seriously increase the production and supply of high-precision projectiles and various types of drones. I know that changes are happening, they are happening quite quickly, I will say more about this, but we still need to work on it, we need to consolidate this trend,” the Kremlin website quotes the head of state.
“It is important to continue to increase the supply of the most popular models, as I have already said, including the formation of a serial line of unmanned aerial vehicles - from heavy strike and ultra-small vehicles,” the president said. The Russian leader also noted the need to involve high-tech businesses and engineering design companies in the development and production of UAVs.
The class of drones that caused the most controversy among Russian experts were heavy UAVs. These include such Russian devices as Forpost-R and Inokhodets, which is also known under the factory name Orion. Industry specialist Denis Fedutinov said “They are slow, unmaneuverable, and due to their weight and size characteristics, they are quite noticeable to air defense systems”.
"If we accept that in the future our geopolitical and possibly military rival is the United States or Europe, acting directly or through their proxies, we need significant adjustments in the development and use of UAVs. For effective use in counter-countermeasures, other drones are needed. These could be devices that use visibility reduction technologies, or technologies that use group interaction as part of unmanned systems or mixed manned and unmanned aerial vehicles,” suggests Fedutinov.
And even in conditions close to those that we observe within the framework of the SVO, a number of functions are retained for them,” the interlocutor is sure. “So, they can conduct reconnaissance while outside enemy-controlled airspace. The United States actively uses its heavy Global Hawk and even Reaper drones in flights in international airspace, collecting intelligence data a couple of hundred kilometers deep into our territory,” the analyst says. “In the future, the use of the same high-altitude Altius or other devices close to them in capabilities in order to look into a significant depth of enemy territory, collecting information on ground targets, would be a very useful addition,” the expert argues. Military expert and co-founder of the Vatfor project Oleg Makarov has a slightly different point of view. “Before the start of the special operation, when FPV drones were not yet in use, it was believed that a drone was a brigade-level, or at most battalion-level device. The brigade had a UAV chief, who had at his disposal several heavy vehicles capable of performing reconnaissance to great depths,” he says. “Today this concept has been revised. Despite the fact that the emphasis is on small copters, heavy drones have not disappeared anywhere. Otherwise, units with such drones would simply cease to exist. And their task is still the same – conducting reconnaissance behind enemy lines,” the analyst adds. "Unfortunately, Russia has a much weaker satellite constellation, and it is necessary to carry out reconnaissance deep into enemy territories. And in order to have situational awareness of what is happening along that front line, we need to fly as deep as possible,” the analyst emphasizes. Russia was a relatively late entry in the field of modern unmanned aerial vehicles for military use. However, by 2020 engineers from major defence firms were working on a range of projects, including a heavy drone bomber, long-and-medium range reconnaissance UAVs, and smaller systems for local recon and defence.
Despite its standing as a major military power, Russia’s developments in the field of drones had been limited, until recently, with the United States, China, Iran, Britain, and South Africa developing and fielding drones in the 2000s and early 2010s as the Russian military did without. After the Great War and before the Great Patiotic War, for a time the Soviet Union led the world in tanks and combat aircraft. But the Soviets modernized prematurely, and found themselves with largely obsolete equipment when war came. a similar pattern of leading and then lagging development emerged with respect to unmanned air vehicles.
During the Cold War, Soviet engineers developed a series of unmanned tactical reconnaissance aircraft, fitting the turbojet-powered UAVs with cameras and TV datalinks to enable them to snoop on enemy activities. Moscow was an undisputed leader in this field: In the 1980s, it manufactured 950 Tu-143 reconnaissance UAVs alone. However, the Defense Ministry then wound up drone production, since it no longer had either the money or ideological reasons to commission this type of aircraft.
In the 1990s, efforts to modernise these systems and create new ones were beset by overwhelming financial difficulties. It was the Americans who prompted the Russian military to revive the program. Successful U.S. operations with the use of UAVs in Afghanistan and Pakistan had shown that no war of the future can be conducted without drones. Another impulse behind Russia’s drive to develop its own UCAVs was the 2008 war in South Ossetia. When the Russian Defense Ministry saw that the Georgian side was using Israeli drones, it concluded that this type of aircraft was essential for the new century.
UAVs had been actively developed in the world, and Russia had to make great efforts to speed up work in this area. The price of an unmanned aerial vehicle is far less than that of a piloting plane. This type of plane can fly for several dozens of hours non-stop. This is impossible for manned aircraft. One major advantage of the use of UAVs is that it doesn’t put the life of a pilot on the line. Russia had lagged far behind in the sphere of unmanned aircraft from the United States, Israel, a number of Western countries and even China. At the same time, the intensive efforts of the Ministry of Defense and the OPK will at least reduce the distance to 5-10 years, and the testing ground in the form of a Syrian operation will help test the latest technology in real combat.
Russia resumed research into drones in the late 2000s and early 2010s, with the Sukhoi Design Bureau at work on the "Okhotnik" ("Hunter") flying wing combat UAV, and OKB Sokol developing the Sokol Altius long-endurance reconnaissance, strike and electronic attack drone for use by the Air Force and Navy. Other companies are working on a number of other projects, ranging from a drone wingman for the new Sukhoi Su-57 fighter, to artillery projectiles that can launch small UAVs. In late 2020, the Russian Defence Ministry announced that the military would begin taking delivery of long-range strike drones fitted with guided missiles and specialised ammunition in 2021.
- Light UAVs of medium range . A number of domestic samples can be attributed to this class of UAVs. Their mass varies between 50-100 kilograms. These include: T92M "Chibis", ZALA 421-09, Dozor-2, Dozor-4, Bee-1T.
- Medium UAVs . The take-off weight of medium-sized UAVs ranges from 100 to 300 kilograms. They are designed for use at ranges of 150-1000 kilometers. In this class: M850 “Astra”, “Binom”, La-225 “Komar”, T04, E22M “Berta”, “Berkut”, “Irkut-200”.
- Medium-weight UAVs. This class has a range of application similar to the UAVs of the previous class, but they have a slightly higher take-off weight - from 300 to 500 kilograms. This class includes: "Hummingbird", "Dunem", "Dan-Baruk", "Aist" ("Julia"), "Dozor-3".
- Medium-range heavy UAVs. This class includes UAVs with a flight mass of 500 and more kilograms, designed for use at medium ranges of 70-300 kilometers. In the heavy class the following: Tu-243 "Flight-D", Tu-300, "Irkut-850", "Nart" (A-03).
- Heavy UAVs of long duration flight. The category of unmanned aerial vehicles, which is quite popular, includes the American UAVs Predator, Reaper, GlobalHawk, Israeli Heron, Heron TP. There are practically no samples in Russia: Zond-3M, Zond-2, Zond-1, Sukhoi unmanned aerial systems (Bass), within which a robotic aviation complex (RAC) is being created.
- Unmanned combat aircraft (UAF). Currently, the world is actively working on the creation of promising UAVs capable of carrying weapons on board and intended for strikes against ground and surface stationary and mobile targets in conditions of strong opposition from enemy air defense forces. They are characterized by a range of about 1,500 kilometers and a mass of 1,500 kilograms. By 2020 in Russia in this class are two projects were presented: "Proryv-U" and "Skat".
To change the situation at the front, drones alone are not enough, although about a thousand of them will be produced by the end of the year. “It is necessary to change the contour of combat use. Until recently, we had discord in our command. Commanders are accustomed to holding everything in one hand. From receiving information to making and executing a combat decision, it often took up to 1.5 hours,” said military expert Vladislav Shurygin in broadcast of the program "Time will Tell" on 27 October 2022. According to him, "The latest algorithms have reduced the time to 10 minutes. If we connect all the intelligence data, we will get a new information field. It is necessary to further implement digital management . Then any commander will be able to see the whole picture of the battle in real time."
Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the list of instructions following the events on the development of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) held on April 27, 2023. The document set the task of integrating UAVs into the single airspace of the country, including through the digitalization of the industry. The UAS National Project was initiated personally by the President, who on April 28 said that "the success achieved here will mean a qualitative change in our economy and qualitative changes in the lives of our people, a strong, confident, forward movement of the whole country" .
In general, in Russia it was necessary to expand the introduction of unmanned aircraft, including by eliminating administrative, technical and other barriers, to consolidate the purchase of domestically produced UAS in the state civil order until 2030, attracting leasing companies with state participation. Together with the Ministry of Defense and the FSB of Russia, the government should change the approaches “to carrying out measures that limit the use of digital geospatial data” from UAVs in order to significantly increase the efficiency of using such information. The deadline for the execution of the order was set to 01 August 2023.
The government was also instructed to take measures aimed at stimulating the use of domestic digital platforms and solutions in the field of personnel training, design, production, certification, operation of UAS and control over their use. The report to the president must be made before August 1, 2023, then once every six months.
President of the Kalashnikov Concern Alan Lushnikov on 26 May 2023 announced the creation of a division of unmanned aerial vehicles, the consolidation of development and production capacities and the expansion of production. According to the head of the concern, the task will be everything that is necessary for the effective functioning of the UAV.
The cluster being created by the Kalashnikov concern (part of Rostec) will multiply the production of reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the industrial director of the cluster of conventional weapons, ammunition and special chemicals of the state corporation Bekhan Ozdoev said 13 July 2023. "We are expanding in those areas where demand has grown manifold and current capacities are not enough. For example, Kalashnikov is creating a division of special vehicles. This structure will multiply the production of reconnaissance drones and loitering ammunition. The same Lancets are very much needed today, during the NMD they had proven their effectiveness more than once. It is not for nothing that foreign media call them the most massive killer of the Armed Forces equipment," Ozdoev said. He explained that in addition to the drones themselves, the division will produce ground-based means of launching them, as well as test vehicles, mobile command posts from the complexes for adjusting precision-guided munitions, and maintenance equipment for special-purpose equipment.
The special military operation finally confirmed the critical need for the development of the domestic sphere of production of drones: daily reports from the fronts about the success of Russian troops in the use of drones, aircraft-type drones and loitering ammunition show in which direction the armed forces will inevitably develop. From January 1, 2024, the national project "Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)" would be launched in the country. The final documents on the national project would be signed in September 2023.
https://topwar.ru/179892-bespilotnik-perehvatchik-volk-18-jeffektivnyj-i-avtonomnyj.html">Interceptor drone "Wolf-18". Efficient and autonomous
Volk-18 / Wolf-18
"Volk-18" is a helicopter-type UAV with four rotor-engine groups. Its armament includes three small rocket launchers that shoot nets at enemy drones, entangling them and bringing them down. If that fails, the drone rams the enemy UAV, breaking it up in mid-air. Russian defence giant Almaz-Antey has wrapped up testing of an designed to find and shoot down or ram enemy drones autonomously. The drone measures 60x60 cm, has a takeoff weight of up to 6 kg, and a flight time of about 30 minutes. Russia’s need for mini-drones became apparent during the country’s mission in Syria, with the military regularly intercepting and destroying small off-the-shelf drones packed with explosives launched by jihadists at the Russian air base in Latakia.
The appearance of the product is determined in accordance with the tasks being solved and taking into account a specific set of units. As the project developed, the exterior of the drone did not change, but the internal units underwent a major update. In addition, new control principles were developed and implemented to simplify the use of the interceptor.
The widespread use of UAVs and the development of technology observed in recent years led to the emergence of new risks. The combat potential of army reconnaissance and strike aircraft is well known. The experience of recent conflicts also shows the fundamental possibility of carrying out attacks using inexpensive civilian UAVs. Accordingly, the topic of protection against drones is becoming increasingly important and necessary. Means of protection against such threats are necessary for the army, as well as law enforcement and civilian structures.
Several main methods of combating UAVs were proposed, which were being implemented in a wide variety of projects from different countries. One of them involves neutralizing the target using non-lethal contact means. The new Russian Volk-18 belongs to this class.
In the main interception mode, Volk-18 uses a net shot. The latter should cover the target, preventing its further flight. In the case of helicopter-type UAVs, the mesh entangles the propellers and stops the motors. Unmanned aircraft are threatened not only by engine stopping, but also by jamming of control surfaces. After such an impact, the aircraft cannot continue controlled flight; he plans or falls - and breaks. Apparently, Volk-18 is capable of sending both light and medium-sized UAVs to the ground. It “hits” the propeller, allowing it to intercept targets larger than the interceptor itself.
Intercepting with a net has obvious advantages, although it does impose some requirements. The wicker “damaging element” effectively solves its problem, and a missed shot does not threaten surrounding objects. At the same time, it requires fairly high pointing accuracy. In addition, the intercepted object falls uncontrollably, which poses some threat.
The prospective UAV is made in a carbon fiber body of complex shape. A voluminous fuselage is provided to accommodate controls, batteries and “weapons”. Four propeller groups are mounted on two T-shaped units. Electric motors with a peak power of 550 W are used with two-blade propellers with a diameter of 400 mm. The length and width of the product without rotors does not exceed 600 mm, height – 400 mm. Take-off weight – 6 kg, of which 2 kg payload. The battery charge is enough for 30 minutes of flight with patrol and target interception.
In the forward part of the fuselage there is a transparent fairing, under which several optical-electronic devices are located. During the recent modernization, new optical devices with improved characteristics were introduced. Provided visibility in a sector of 20x25 degrees. On-board electronics ensures that a video signal is sent to the operator's console.
The modernized "Wolf-18" received a new control system that allows it to operate both according to commands from the remote control and in automatic mode. The latter allows the drone to independently enter a given area, conduct surveillance and identify targets, as well as target them and intercept them. In this case, the operator only has the decision to attack.
Under the optics fairing on the nose there is a hinged weapons compartment cover. Below it there are three devices for launching grids. Shooting is carried out at the operator’s commands or automatically, but with his permission. In case the ammunition is used up, it is possible to ram the target.The small-sized "Wolf-18" does not impose any special requirements on the means and conditions of transportation to the place of use. Its preparation for flight does not take much time and is not particularly difficult. At the same time, independent patrolling and automated target interception are ensured. Thus, based on the totality of its characteristics, an interceptor drone can be of great interest to a wide range of operators.
In 2019, Russian industry presented the first domestic helicopter-type unmanned aerial vehicle designed to intercept small targets. According to reports, the Wolf-18 interceptor drone had successfully completed flight and combat tests, and now preparations were underway for new tests. The results of future government tests would determine the real prospects of this development.
The Wolf-18 project was developed by Prom Composite and NPO Almaz, part of the Almaz-Antey Concern. The finished sample was demonstrated for the first time at the Army 2019 forum. Then some characteristics and main capabilities of the product were revealed. No successes were reported during the trials.
At the National Exhibition and Forum of Civil Aviation Infrastructure NAIS-2021 held in Moscow running 9-10 February 2021, Almaz-Antey showed for the first time the Wolf-18 UAV of a modified version. The enhanced version of the interceptor drone was said to be a substantial improvement over a previously unveiled version of the UAV, featuring a new optical locator system which increases target detection range, and an enhanced control system. Updated product specifications were announced, and in addition, important news about the progress of the project was announced. The developers claimed that the interceptor drone recently passed flight tests. All features of the product’s operation in the air were checked. In addition, Volk-18 carried out a test interception of small UAVs. Already it was planned to conduct state tests that will determine the future of the new development.
“Flight testing of the upgraded version of the Volk-18, including the destruction of real-life drone targets, has been successfully completed. The UAV has been improved significantly. We plan to enter state testing this year,” a company representative said. Elaborating on the Volk-18’s capabilities for autonomous operation, the Almaz-Antey official explained that “now, the operator only confirms the decision to attack the enemy drone. Search, identification, target selection, manoeuvres and the actual destruction of UAVs are carried out independently. Among Russian drones this is the first system of its kind.”
Russia continued to develop various systems for combating unmanned aircraft, using a variety of operating principles. The upgraded version of the Volk-18 UAV is the first domestic development of its kind, combining direct impact on the target and the possibility of automatic operation. The Volk-18 interceptor had undergone flight tests and demonstrated its ability to intercept small air targets. In 2021 it was planned to begin state tests, after which the product would be able to go into series and enter into operation in different structures. The starting customer is likely to be the armed forces, which have a keen interest in air defense systems.
As followed from the latest news in February 2022, the Wolf-18 project successfully solved the problem of detection and guidance equipment. Moreover, after modernization, the interceptor drone was able to operate automatically and successfully perform all its functions. The successful completion of work on Volk-18 may become an incentive for the further development of automated interceptor drones. New samples of this kind, developed by different organizations, may be shown in the very near future. The development trends of unmanned aircraft clearly show that such equipment will not remain without tasks.
Serial production of an un-named model of multifunctional UAVs for the civilian market had been launched at the site of the North-Western regional center of the Almaz-Antey concern - the Obukhov plant in St. Petersburg. The first four hundred products will be assembled in November 2022, and about a thousand drones are planned to be produced by the end of this year. This was reported 29 October 2022 by the concern's press service, with an associated photograh of the Wolf-18 [though this project was not mentioned by name or by function in the text].
The project was based on the most popular and convenient UAV functionality – “quadcopter”. Carbon fiber, filled polymers and other modern Russian materials are used in production. The widespread use of additive technologies provides UAVs with high strength, low weight and high performance characteristics. The device can be operated under strong wind loads and negative temperatures. Almost all components of the product, including the flight controller along with its software, were created and manufactured by the St. Petersburg enterprises of the Almaz-Antey concern.
The UAV is supplied in a waterproof case that protects the kit from mechanical influences and provides ease of storage and transportation. The kit includes the UAV itself, two replaceable batteries, a tablet computer with installed software, a control panel, a kit for transmitting video to a mobile device, a set of spare blades and a key for their installation, connecting cables and chargers.
Sporobey / Sparrow FPV drone
Serial production of the Sparrow FPV drone, designed byr the Novosibirsk Design Bureau "Spectrum" to destroy armored vehicles, will begin in October 2023. Andrey Bratenkov, executive director of the Spectr Engineering design bureau, told TASS about this 29 September 2023. “We have received a conclusion on the successful results of official tests of the Sparrow FPV drone and the communication repeater for unmanned aerial vehicles Oblachko in the special operation zone. It was decided to mass produce our products for the needs of the Northern Military District from October of this year,” Bratenkov said. According to him, data on the number of products that will be supplied to Russian troops is not disclosed.
“The weight of the ammunition is 500 grams, it is capable of penetrating armor up to 200 millimeters. According to the characteristics of the Sparrow, it is like a mini Lancet. The first batch of drones and ammunition has already been transferred to the Russian military,” the agency’s interlocutor said. The drone weighs 1300 grams.
The Sparrow's flight range is up to 5 kilometers. Another advantage of the new FPV drone is its low cost. The UAV is compact, small in size, its length is only 23 centimeters. “A person can carry about 10 of these drones without straining too much,” added Bratenkov.
The Cloud communication repeater is used at non-standard frequencies and ensures the operating range of the Sparrow FPV drone at distances of more than 5 km. The repeater also allows the UAV operator to be in cover during combat work. The distance between the repeater and the operator can reach 300 m, which provides additional protection for the operator and the crew as a whole.
For a quadcopter to fly, it must be capable of three different types of movement: vertical movement, lateral movement, and rotational movement. Based on Newton’s third law, each of these can be achieved using the quadcopter’s four propellers.
When the propellers spin, they push air down. Similar to a helicopter, pushing the air down is the action in Newton’s third law of motion. The reaction is a force, called lift, which pushes the quadcopter up. Each of the propellers will create lift, and the total lift for the quadcopter will be the sum of the four propellers’ lifts. The total force of the lift must be stronger than the force of gravity for the quadcopter to take off. Once in the air, the quadcopter can hover with no vertical movement by having the forces of lift and gravity equal.
When the force of lift acts straight upward, the quadcopter moves vertically. But, when lift acts at an angle, it can also move laterally. This is because part of the force of the lift is upward and part of it is to the side, resulting in lateral movement that can be from side-to-side or forward and backward.
Lateral movement occurs by varying the speed of the propellers. Increasing the speed of the two propellers on one side of the quadcopter and/or decreasing the speed of the two propellers on the other side creates uneven amounts of lift on the two sides. The lift created on the side with the faster spinning propellers is greater than the lift created on the opposite side. The result is that the quadcopter moves in the direction of the side where less lift is created.
The final type of movement happens when the quadcopter rotates. This type of movement relies on a force called torque, a twisting force that causes rotation. When a propeller spins, this force is produced. And, according to Newton’s third law of motion, an equal and opposite force is produced as well.
First person view (FPV) technology for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provides an immersive experience for pilots and enables various personal and commercial applications such as aerial photography, drone racing, search and rescue operations, agricultural surveillance, and structural inspection.
When piloting a UAV remotely for such applications, avoiding collisions with obstacles is a fundamental requirement. This requires the FPV video feed to be adapted such that the pilot is able to recognize the obstacle with sufficient time to stop the UAV before collision. The performance of existing FPV systems vary considerably in the quality of the video being transmitted, as well as the delay between the capture device and display.
UAV FPV systems that are commercially available also have their shortcomings; for instance, they do not sense and adapt to the channel conditions. The DJI FPV system is a popular commercial option, which provides two video modes - low latency and high video quality, but it is not adaptive, i.e., the system does not switch automatically between these modes as a function of the channel conditions. Digital FPV video transmitters such as Connex Prosight HD (designed for drone racing) or Insight SE employ fixed video resolutions, up to 720p and 1080p respectively, and are also not adaptive.
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