Media: The Pentagon is afraid of losing the secrets of the MQ-1C Grey Eagle heavy attack drone in Ukraine
Ukraine has not yet received the promised four heavy American MQ-1C Grey Eagle drones, the transfer of which was previously approved by the White House, but is now blocked by the US Department of Defense. "Newspaper.Ru" together with military experts, I figured out what the Pentagon was afraid of.
The Kiev authorities requested from Washington the supply of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) MQ-1C Grey Eagle with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles back in April, and in early June, the administration of US President Joe Biden decided to include four such drones in the assistance package for the AFU.
At the same time, Reuters, which reported this, clarified that this decision is only preliminary and requires the consent of Congress and the Ministry of Defense. And just like that, the Pentagon allegedly blocked the transfer, the American media said.
"Firstly, because the delivery of drones falls under the American "Missile Technology Control Regime", and this is a very complicated procedure. Secondly, the Pentagon's Defense Technology Security Directorate suggested that the MQ-1C Grey Eagle, which is considered one of the best attack drones in the US army, could fall into the hands of Russian specialists if it is hit or simply falls. In addition to missiles, there are radar and surveillance equipment on board such UAVs, which can be used, if they fall into the hands of the Russian military, against the United States itself," he explained to the newspaper.Ru" member of the Board of Military Experts Sergey Belousov.
"It is for these secrets, apparently, that the US military is afraid, believing that Russia can not only get access to technical information of the equipment, but also "hack" with their help communication channels that allow to conduct reconnaissance and control missile and bomb weapons," Belousov believes.
Reuters also notes that Grey Eagle technologies can be "copied for the purpose of forgery, as well as partial borrowing of individual components and structures."
Such concerns are understandable given that, for example, the unmanned aerial fleet of Iran was created over the past 10-15 years on the basis of copying American UAVs that fell on Iranian territory. So, the Shahed-129 attack drones look very similar to the American MQ-1 Predator. Tehran also copied the American Insiti ScanEagle and RQ-170 Sentinel drones.
"All these statements from the United States that thanks to Ukraine, the Russians will steal the technology of the best drones in the world from the United States, then copy them - this is a fake for internal use," he told the newspaper.Ru" editor-in-chief of the publication "Avia.Ru" Roman Gusarov. - They say that nothing sensible is being produced in Russia and they are only looking for an excuse to get Western technologies and do not need to give them such a chance. In fact, there is such a factor that Americans are afraid of the failure of their modern technology in real combat operations. It's one thing to praise your product at international exhibitions or use it against the Taliban (the organization is banned in Russia) with Kalashnikovs and RPGs from the last century, and it's another thing to use drones to defeat Russian air defenses and electronic warfare. Therefore, only obsolete and light weapons are sent to Ukraine."
Gusarov stressed that if an American drone falls in a more or less complete form, then the value will be in studying its characteristics, first of all, the "friend-foe" recognition system, which is the most important information for any army.
"This is the most important thing and probably the reason for the fears. And we will definitely not talk about forgery. The Russian Defense Ministry has its own standards. We have no need for American technologies of this kind. There is no need for such import substitution, copying, duplication and other actions from this series," Gusarov believes.
Viktor Sokrko
