A video was posted on the YouTube channel "Alexander Rogatkin Studio" showing the destruction of a helicopter-type drone by a new Russian Orion UAV.
The Orion unmanned aerial vehicle is called the best Russian strike UAV in service. Earlier, the Network posted footage of its combat use in the Syrian Arab Republic, and in the new video you can see how the drone strikes an unmanned helicopter.
The tests were conducted at the Crimean training ground. During them, the drone shot down the target with a guided missile, the distance was four kilometers. "For the first time, the military department declares that Russian drones have the capabilities of a fighter and can destroy enemy drones," the description to the video says.
Aerial drone battle / © Studio of Alexander Rogatkin
"Orion" refers to medium-altitude UAVs of long flight duration (MALE, Medium Altitude, Long Endurance). The developer is the Kronstadt company. The drone can conduct visual, radar or radio-technical reconnaissance, patrolling a given area for a long time. The duration of the Orion flight is 24 hours.
The drone's armament is represented, among other things, by the KAB-20 and KAB-50 adjustable aerial bombs, the UPAB-50 guided gliding aerial bomb and the X-50 guided missile. The maximum payload weight is 200 kilograms. The maximum take-off weight is 1000 kilograms. The cruising speed of the device is 120-200 kilometers per hour.
The first Orion complex transferred to the troops. Two control vehicles and three drones
Image Source: NTV
The export version of the drone received the designation "Orion-E". The version for the Russian Armed Forces is called the "Pacer".
According to the head of the Kronstadt company Sergey Bogatikov, the radius of application of Orion-E will be increased due to satellite communications. Now it can be controlled via a radio channel at a distance of 250 kilometers.
In the future, Russia will receive even more advanced UAVs. The next step after Orion is called the Sirius UAV. In the spring it became known that the construction of the first prototype will be completed next year. Sirius was unified with Orion in such key components as the ground control system, avionics and power plant.
The real revolution is associated with a promising shock UAV "Hunter", which was recently shown for the first time in a version with a flat nozzle. This is an extremely large vehicle, the take-off weight of which, according to estimates, reaches 25 tons. Presumably, it can carry a combat load weighing about three tons. The Russian military will start receiving serial UAVs in the middle of the decade.