• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Chirok (Teal) Reconnaissance Strike Drone

Russia unveiled a full-size prototype of its lightweight, amphibious Chirok (the Russian word for teal), capable of manned and unmanned flight, at the MAKS-2015 air show near Moscow. Able to take off and land most anywhere, the air-cushioned aircraft is much in demand. The aircraft is made of carbon fiber composite material, with a wingspan of 10 meters and maximum takeoff weight of 750 kilograms. The Chirok can lift over 300 kilograms of payload (fuel excluded), and reach a declared flight ceiling of 6,000 meters. Its maximum flight range is expected to be 2,500 km on a single fueling.

All the Chirok needs to get going is a hard surface measuring mere 25 by 25 meters. Once its air cushion is inflated, it can overcome obstacles 30 centimeters high or holes 50 centimeters deep. Chirok’s air cushion is fully-retractable during flight. Rostech Corporation holds the patent for the fabric that the UAV's air cushion is made of. “Chirok is a unique aircraft that can land and take off from practically any flat surface.

The Chirok will be produced in two versions: a manned aircraft and an unmanned drone. Unlike other aircraft and drones, it was designed as a dual-use drone and piloted aircraft from the beginning. According to Nevzorov, who heads the Moscow Research Radio Engineering Institute, a division of Rostec’s United Instrument Corporation (UIC), Chirok has several specialized functions that make it unique.

The prototype Chirok presented at MAKS-2015 underwent flying tests that began in January 2015. It was expected to perform some aerobatics in 2016 at an amphibious air show in Russia’s Black Sea port of Gelendzhik. Serial production may start as early as 2016. The civilian UAV version of Chirok could be used for conducting patrols, monitoring disaster areas and forest fires, delivering equipment to remote oil rigs and be used as unmanned air ambulance.

Though the drone will most likely be used for reconnaissance and wild fire monitoring missions, delivery of necessities to distant oil rigs etc., its construction also enables carrying assault military appliances. The Chirok could be equipped with high precision weapons, such as small-size guided missiles. Unlike most existing UAVs, the Chirok has enough inner space to fit the weapons internally, so that under-wing missiles won’t interfere with aerodynamics and landing. Because the aircraft is of moderate size and made of composites, it also has excellent stealth characteristics.

The aircraft’s military version can be used for transportation, surveillance and reconnaissance, and even be transformed into an assault aircraft, with high-precision weapons, such as small-size guided missiles and guided bombs, sheathed inside its hull. Yevgeny Sabadash, chief designer of the Chirok, said the initial concept for the aircraft was developed in the early 1990s. Amid economic problems for the former Soviet civil aviation industry, all work on the Chirok came to a standstill and was only revived in full a few years ago.