Image source: topwar.ru
The head of the US Navy's Air Warfare Directorate, Rear Admiral Andrew Loisel, answered questions from the Naval News online publication about the prospects for creating combat drones for the US army. According to him, the program for creating new UAVs will develop in three directions, based on the technical characteristics and purposes of using drones.
The first group is drones that can overcome the enemy's air defense system and stay in an air environment with a high degree of threats for a long time. We are talking primarily about reconnaissance UAVs, as well as kamikaze attack drones.
The second group, having reached the enemy's territory and being under threat of destruction, performs a specific mission and then returns. These are attack drones that have protection from enemy radars.
The third group of drones, the most expensive, is capable of solving a complex of tasks. In particular, to interact with manned aircraft, to strike with air-to-air missiles and, in the future, to perform the functions of electronic warfare.
According to the Rear Admiral, one of the important promising tasks is to create drones capable of traveling a long distance due to additional fuel loading.
— Loiselle shared his plans.
Currently, the Rear Admiral said, one of the promising developments is the unmanned tanker Boeing MQ-25 Stingray. Now this UAV is capable of taking on board up to 6800 kg of fuel and refueling aircraft at a distance of up to 500 nautical miles (575 miles / 925 kilometers). Its main purpose is to increase the flight range of manned aircraft by refueling in the air.
For example, the F-35C fighter-bomber with a full tank is capable of covering a distance of more than 1,200 nautical miles (1,380 miles / 2,220 kilometers). In the case of refueling using the MQ-25 UAV, the flight range is almost doubled.
Further, the online publication tried to classify some drones in service with the US Navy into groups designated by Loisel.
The first group includes the General Atomics MQ-9 "Reaper" drone, which is capable of being in the air for a long time and striking in conditions of high threat of defeat. The resource of the MQ-9A ER of the US Marine Corps is 30 hours, and with external fuel tanks, its power reserve can reach 42 hours when transporting 450 kg of ammunition.
Naval News compared this drone with the Turkish Bayraktar TB-2, which, according to experts, is successfully used during the military conflict in Ukraine and "destroyed several assault boats and landing ships of the Russian Navy." Remark: the authors do not specify that almost all Bayraktars were shot down by Russian air defense.
The second group includes Kratos XQ-58A, Boeing X-45 and Northrop Grumman X-47 aircraft designed to deliver pinpoint strikes in high and medium threat conditions.
The last group can be attributed to the multi-purpose UAV Martin V-BAT. This drone is capable of conducting reconnaissance, creating a distributed control network and conducting electronic warfare. At the same time, the drone has a small size and is easily transported on the ground.
