The very first day of the Army-2022 exhibition clearly showed that human participation in wars is gradually decreasing, the main combat load falls on robots. The forum presented the M-81 robot for land combat, an unmanned army truck, an unmanned helicopter, and most importantly – the latest combined-type drone. But for some reason, experts call cheap UAVs from China the main rivals of the drone.
One of the heroes of the first day of the Army-2022 forum was the Russian-Belarusian unmanned helicopter system BAS-750, which was presented by the head of Rostec Sergey Chemezov. According to him, the system includes two unmanned helicopters with a take-off weight of 750 kg, a ground control station and a ground flight support station. At the same time, it is completely autonomous and mobile. The continuous flight of rotorcraft can last up to six hours, RIA Novosti reports.
"As part of this complex, at the request of the customer, there can be three or four devices, and stationary consoles are used to control them, where several people are located," Denis Fedutinov, an expert on unmanned aviation, explained to the newspaper VZGLYAD. – We do not produce such a heavy helicopter-type drone in Russia. This is a rocket-attack vehicle that has a number of advantages over aircraft-type UAVs: the ability to use poorly prepared take-off and landing pads, the ability to take off and land in vertical mode, hover over a certain point, fly around any object."
However, much more attention on the first day of the exhibition was attracted by a lighter model of combat quadrocopters, which was presented by the Navy. More precisely, not a model, but models in three weight categories: 30, 50 and 100 kg. The model of the latest (UAV) combined type is a device with a wing for flight in airplane mode and four rotors for vertical takeoff and landing. Each of the three models has its own maximum take-off weight, payload mass, range and duration of flight, reports TASS.
The main purpose of the new quadcopter is aerial photography, aerial optical and thermal imaging reconnaissance, determination of target coordinates and communication relay. Also, medium (50 kg) and heavy (100 kg) drones can carry a load of up to 25 kg and use weapons of destruction.
The device can be based at airfields and on the decks of ships. The flight range is up to 1.5 thousand km, depending on the version, and the maximum speed reaches 140 km / h. It can stay in the air continuously from 8 hours (light variation) to 15 hours (heavy drone).
According to experts, such a model is especially needed now in the Armed Forces. At the same time, new Russian developments, apparently, will not be able to compete in the foreign market or in the civilian sector with Chinese manufacturers of mini-drones, complains Fedutinov. "The same company Mavic focused on the civilian commercial market, and the huge sales of drones around the world allowed it to receive financial resources that were directed to improving the devices. Now these Chinese models are used, among other things, for reconnaissance in combat," the expert says.
For civilian purposes, Russian business is likely to continue to buy Chinese drones, since they are better in price–quality ratio, he believes. "But the military is forced to take into account not so much the cost of products as the associated risks associated with the use of imported equipment or making payments for their purchase abroad. Therefore, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will purchase products of the Russian companies "NELK" and ZALA, part of the Kalashnikov concern, – their UAVs are in no way inferior to the Chinese, except for the price," Fedutinov added.
Approximately the same is the opinion of the former general director of the Aviation Complex named after him. Ilyushina, Head of the Center for the Development of Transport Technologies Alexey Rogozin. In his Telegram channel, he noted: Chinese Mavic and Autel have already occupied their niche, supply channels exist – no Russian manufacturer can compete with them, and not because of a lack of design ideas, but because it is impossible to make cheaper than Chinese devices produced by tens of thousands.
"We need to go into other niches – increased flight performance at humidity and negative temperatures, high payload, noise immunity. You can't do it cheaper than Mavic, but you can do it better – for specific tasks. Now the most important thing is something else: who will be able to work out the design in real use and organize mass production," Rogozin urges.
In addition, a prototype of an unmanned military truck "Ural" is shown at the exhibition for the first time, the sample is completely devoid of a cabin and controls for a person. It is made in two-tone camouflage to show the possibility of use for both military and civilian purposes.
As explained in the Ural company, the car equipped with "technical vision" has already passed preliminary tests. It is assumed that it will be operated both with a remote control and in a robot version – that is, it will drive completely offline. Representatives of Ural clarified that the car can be used to transport goods in dangerous areas, for example, on the front line.
"Unmanned trucks are a developing trend. Americans have been working on them actively and for a long time. At one time, before the invasion of Afghanistan, they investigated the Soviet experience and found out that up to a third of our losses were due to operations to supply remote checkpoints and garrisons. Therefore, the United States shifted its logistics in Afghanistan to PMCs, and also initiated programs to create robot trucks. So we can say for sure: to reduce losses and to reduce the staffing of rear units, unmanned trucks are the best solution," explained Sergey Denisentsev, an expert at the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST).
In addition, Russian designers presented a sample of the M-81 robotic complex, also capable of transporting weapons. The development, which looks like a dog, belongs to the Russian engineering company "Intellect of Machines", working in the areas of robotics, weapons and artificial intelligence.
As the representative of the company said, within the framework of civilian use, the robot can work in an emergency zone for reconnaissance, passage through rubble, as well as the delivery of medicines. At the same time, it is also adapted for combat – for independent targeting, targeting, patrolling and guarding, transporting weapons and ammunition.
"As for the robot's ability to conduct aimed fire, we are probably talking about large-caliber machine guns.
In general, the experience of the Ukrainian special operation has shown the urgent need for such robots in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation – to act, for example, in the conditions of the dungeon where the Azov militants were hiding. Also, such robots are indispensable in mined areas and where the territory can be shot by snipers," says corresponding member of the Academy of Military Sciences Alexander Bartosh.
"And in general, the robot war is an almost inevitable future. By the way, this is understood in the USA and China, where they are closely engaged in this direction. Russia's lag in the development of unmanned military equipment is fraught for the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation with an increase in manpower losses and a decrease in the pace of offensive operations," the military expert warns.
As the newspaper VZGLYAD reported, the International Military-Technical Forum "Army-2022" opened on Monday at the Patriot Convention and Exhibition Center. Within the framework of the forum, which will last until Sunday, about 1.5 thousand enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex will present more than 1,000 new models of military equipment. The Ministry of Defense plans to conclude contracts worth more than 522 billion rubles at the forum.
Rafael Fakhrutdinov
