Soon, the export promotion of the new Kronstadt drones - Sirius, Helios-RLD and Thunder - will begin
Dubai. November 15th. INTERFAX - Russia is working on contracts with foreign countries for the acquisition of Orion reconnaissance and strike drones, the head of Rosoboronexport, Alexander Mikheev, told Interfax.
Rosoboronexport is already conducting pre-contract work on processing applications from foreign customers for the Orion-E reconnaissance and strike UAV, capable of carrying up to 200 kg of payload," Mikheev said.
He noted that at the Dubai Airshow-2021, the latest reconnaissance and strike drones of the Kronstadt company are being demonstrated for the first time: the next modification of the Orion is the Sirius, capable of carrying up to 300 kg of combat load, the Helios-RLD radar patrol UAV and the Thunder high-speed attack drone, which can carry up to 2 tons of weapons.
Rosoboronexport will soon begin promoting these unmanned vehicles on the foreign market. We also count on the early appearance of permits for other products of Russian manufacturers, including helicopter-type and multirotor drones," Mikheev said.
According to him, Russia entered the global drone market with some delay, "but now we are reducing the backlog and working at the level of leading manufacturers."
In July, the head of Rosoboronexport reported that Russia had received about 15 applications for the supply of Orion drones abroad. According to the Kronstadt company, negotiations on Orion export deliveries with delegations from 13 countries took place at MAKS-2021.
Orion's export deliveries may begin in 2022, the CEO of Kronstadt, Sergey Bogatikov, said in August.
"We are already purchasing components for the assembly of complexes for start-up buyers. We will be able to start deliveries abroad from 2022 - after the launch of a new serial plant in Dubna, but the first priority for us is to meet the needs of our army," Bogatikov said in an interview with Interfax.
The Orion UAV, developed by Kronstadt as part of the Pacer program, is the first MALE class drone (Medium Altitude Long Endurance - a class of medium-altitude drones with a long flight duration), fully developed in Russia and built from domestic components. The maximum take-off weight of the device is 1,150 kg. Orion can stay in the air for up to 24 hours, its cruising speed is 200 km / h, the maximum flight altitude is 7,500 meters.
During the modernization, Orion was able not only to conduct reconnaissance, but also to perform strike missions. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, this drone in the strike version was tested in Syria in 2019.
