Robotic complexes can effectively hide the advance of soldiers and equipment from the enemy.
In the area of the special military operation, our fighters began using the drone "Veil". A small tracked vehicle allows you to cover fighters and equipment from the enemy with smoke. It can be used both in defense and in offensive operations. Such robotic complexes are especially useful with the support of assault groups — the new technology allows them to hide their maneuvers from enemy infantry and FPV drones, military experts say.
Protective cable
The new ground-based robotic complex (NRTC) "Veil" is a universal tracked platform "Torpedo", on which two large smoke bombs are mounted. They are designed to install a camouflage plume on the battlefield or in the rear areas.
The duration and intensity of the smoke release depends on the volume of the installed checkers, the developers of the machine, engineers of a separate regiment of the Burevestnik unmanned systems of the Volunteer Corps, told Izvestia.
The Veil drone
Image source: Photo: separate regiment of Burevestnik unmanned systems
The NRTC "Veil" is controlled remotely by radio, they noted.
"In the battles in one of the areas near Kramatorsk, the operators of a separate regiment of the Burevestnik unmanned systems managed to create the appearance of a maneuver with the help of the Curtain NRTC and thereby distract the enemy from the offensive of an adjacent unit in a completely different place," the developers told Izvestia.
The problems of disguise on the battlefield
With the widespread use of drones, the problem of camouflage on the battlefield is coming to the fore, Oleg Zheltonozhko, a military expert in the field of radiation, chemical and biological protection, told Izvestia.
"There's nothing better than a smokescreen.": It allows you to completely hide positions or groups of fighters in a certain area," he explained. — Our army has a large set of relevant special equipment, for example, based on KAMAZ trucks. The same smoke mortars are found on armored vehicles — on BPM and tanks. But such a technique has large dimensions, and in the conditions of using UAVs, it is not always possible to pull it to the front edge — without providing favorable conditions, it will be quickly detected and destroyed by the enemy.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Eduard Kornienko
Image Source: iz.ru
Currently, armored vehicles on the battlefield are a priority target for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and their use is not always justified, military expert Yuri Lyamin noted in a conversation with Izvestia.
"A tank or an infantry fighting vehicle is expensive, but it's quite easy to destroy them with the help of cheap tactical drones,— he said. — For this reason, armored vehicles are not used to install curtains unnecessarily.
Now the battles are being fought in small groups of two or three fighters, and in such a situation the infantry has to rely on their own strength, Oleg Zheltonozhko noted.
"Fighters take smoke grenades or checkers with them if necessary," he reminded. — But the latter are not so easy to use: they must be installed in a certain place, taking into account the wind directions. In addition, a grenade or smoke bomb creates a small cloud, and a new drone will cover a significant area of the area.
Do not forget that smoke bombs and grenades are an extra burden that fighters have to carry on themselves. When conducting maneuverable and largely autonomous combat operations, this becomes a problem for personnel. Soldiers going into battle either save on basic ammunition or get tired faster, experts noted.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Eduard Kornienko
Image source: iz.ru
—A Veil—type drone is a good helper in this case," Oleg Zheltonozhko believes.
Hide it day and night
A lot depends on the composition of the aerosol, which will be carried by the NRTC "Veil", said Yuri Lyamin.
"The drone must perform its protective functions at any time of the day," he explained. — During the day, ordinary smoke will be suitable for protection from the same FPV drones - it will be enough to mask our forces. At night, special formulations can be used to help "blind" night vision devices and UAVs with thermal imagers.
Such a cover-up will help to carry out covert maneuvers and save the lives of our fighters, experts are sure.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Pavel Volkov
Image source: iz.ru
The method of protecting military equipment and personnel with smoke has been known for a long time, Oleg Zheltonozhko recalled.
"In the newsreels of the Great Patriotic War, you can see our T-34 or IS tanks with small barrels at the stern — these are smoke machines that could hide armored vehicles from the eyes of German reconnaissance aircraft and attack aircraft — everything repeats itself at a new stage in the development of military equipment," the expert concluded.
An assistant with a flamethrower
Drones are now being actively introduced into the Russian army. Izvestia wrote that the course of control and use of ground-based robotic platforms has recently been included in the training program for motorized rifle units. In the classroom, soldiers are taught how to fire grenade launchers and small arms, which are mounted on remotely controlled vehicles.
In addition, military personnel must be able to maintain and repair equipment, as well as change weapons and work with different sighting systems.
Photo: TASS/Dmitry Yagodkin
Image source: iz.ru
Increasing the number of ground-based drones will allow motorized rifle formations to increase the intensity of fire impact on enemy units not only during attacks, but also during defensive actions.
Machine guns mounted on robotic complexes will destroy vehicles, personnel and firing points. Grenade launchers will be able to hit tanks, armored vehicles and vehicles.
The firepower of the NRTC is constantly growing. Izvestia wrote about the Roy complex with six Bumblebee infantry flamethrowers. The device has already received a baptism of fire in its combat zone. With the support of the assault operations of the fighters of the Southern Group, our fighters literally burned out the enemy in well-fortified positions with his help.
Bogdan Stepovoy
Andrey Fedorov
Andrey Buevich
