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Forpost / Outpost

Initially, the name "Forpost" was given to a UAV assembled in Russia under license from components supplied by the Israeli developer - Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). There were no own Russian subsystems there. The prototype of the Outpost is the Israeli drone IAI Searcher II (“Searcher”). Then in 2009, Russia purchased two Searcher IIs for $12 million for study. In 2010, a $300 million contract was signed to assemble Searcher II from Israeli components, first at the Kazan Helicopter Plant, and then at the Ural Civil Aviation Plant (UZGA) . These were purely reconnaissance complexes, which were called "Outpost".

The set of components of these UAVs for deliveries to Russia was changed by the supplier in such a way as not to cause comments from the United States. As a result, a number of characteristics of the drone were significantly degraded compared to the prototype.

“Cooperation with Israel allowed our country to quickly resolve the issue of equipping units of the Armed Forces with unmanned vehicles, which, in turn, provided experience in operating the relevant equipment. This knowledge and experience formed the basis of the formed concept of the use of UAVs in the troops, as well as the program for the development of this area of technology for the future. At the same time, the Russian manufacturer was gaining competencies in the design and production of UAVs,” said Denis Fedutinov, editor-in-chief of the Unmanned Aviation magazine.

The new system, which received the letter “P” for the name, looks very similar to its predecessor. This was probably done to ensure the commonality of design details with the devices already used in the troops, which can simplify technical support issues. However, at the same time, all aviation equipment, on-board systems and software are now of domestic production.

The Russian Forpost-R UAV can be equipped with a gyro-stabilized optical-electronic surveillance system GOES-540 developed by the Ural Optical and Mechanical Plant (UOMZ), which is considered as the main one, or GOES-4 developed by the private St. Petersburg instrument-making company NPP AME (Aviation and marine electronics"), which is optional. Both systems include a visible optical channel, a thermal channel and a laser rangefinder.

The most significant difference between the “P” version is the demonstrated ability to carry weapons in addition to reconnaissance payload.

Forpost / Outpost, a Russian multi-purpose unmanned aerial vehicle for military use, was designed by "RTI Systems" in 2014. The development of the multi-purpose unmanned military aircraft Forpost was started by Russian specialists from RTI Systems in 2012, while the domestic designers and experts in the field of aerospace technologies and military development used Israeli Searcher II unmanned aircraft as the base In the design of this drone, however, thanks to the use of domestic electronics, the Russian unmanned air vehicle proved to be both cheaper and more efficient Which ensured the wide popularization of this UAV.

Its first test flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle Outpost models made at the end of 2013 years and due to the fact that all test UAV tests were completed successfully, and any deviation from the set parameters have been identified, within a few months the device was produced in series. Drone Outpost is designed to perform tasks such as intelligence gathering, the implementation of search and observation flights, search operations, and others. In fact, this device is very effective, which is why his operation is carried out in real time.

Unmanned aerial vehicle is equipped piston engine able to develop the capacity to 45 hp, providing acceleration drone opportunity to speed 200 km \ h., While the operating range of the device is 250 kilometers. As a means of tracking and surveillance drone on Outpost uses one electro-optical and infrared cameras, one that makes it possible to use it round the clock.

In September 2021, the Russian Ministry of Defense showed footage of the use of Forpost-R attack drones, which supported the offensive of a motorized rifle division and a tank brigade of Russia and units of the Armed Forces of Armenia and Belarus during the West-2021 exercises with air strikes. The video shows how the device drops two small-sized ammunition, which are likely KAB-20 guided bombs developed by the Central Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics (TsNIIKhM). Bombs with a seven-kilogram high-explosive fragmentation warhead are equipped with a laser or satellite guidance system.

There are very few examples of equipping tactical UAVs of a similar dimension with weapons, and almost all of them are experimental vehicles, which makes the Forpost-R almost the first drone of this dimension, which has strike capabilities, used by the troops.

The Impact UAV (Israeli IAI Searcher, assembled in Russia) has the following components: German 3W-55i engine from 3W-Modellmotoren Weinhold GmbH; American valve matrix Spartan XC3550 from Xilinx; fuel system elements from the Irish Tillotson; GPS-antenna of the American Antcom; Swiss navigation module from MicroEM; British dynamic measuring unit (DMU02 or DMU10 – depending on the year of manufacture of the UAV) from Silicon Sensing Systems; 9XTend 900 MHz radio frequency module, manufactured by the American company Digi International; WIZnet’s South Korean iEthernet W5300 network controller; GNSS receiver NV08C-CSM of the American company NVS Technologies AG.