The domestic military-industrial complex will establish a large-scale production of various types of UAVs, the Russian Security Council said. At the same time, the Ministry of Defense declares the special importance of mass training of operators of combat drones. Where and how can you master this profession, what are the requirements for its owners and why are UAV operators so important for the army? The use of drones in the area of the special operation in Ukraine is an urgent need.
They have proven their effectiveness, so Russia will have to establish a large-scale production of various types of UAVs. This statement was made on Friday by the Deputy chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, visiting the enterprise for the production of drones "Orlan". According to him, in the "Special Technology Center" in St. Petersburg, a control check of the deliveries of this model took place within the framework of the state defense order – with the participation of federal agencies, including law enforcement.
At the end of September, the Ministry of Defense recognized that many domestic UAVs do not meet the requirements of the department. It is worth noting that now the department has signed a contract for the supply of Orlan-10 and Orlan-30, the department has signed a contract with Kronstadt JSC for the manufacture and supply of another model – the Pacer drone, and with Enix JSC – a contract for the Aileron-3 UAV.
Also on the eve of the security forces in the Donbass promised to organize their own production of copters, said the commander of the UAV operator training group of the 9th People's Militia Regiment (NM) of the DPR with the call sign Tarik. "The enemy has a huge number of copters, and they, like us, are Chinese... But we already meet a lot of homemade – the other day they shot down (such a device) artisanal, but of good quality. We are now trying to establish such production at home... There are prospects to overtake the enemy in this regard," he told RIA Novosti.
In addition, the regiment began training in the military specialty "operator of an unmanned aerial vehicle". "Civilian drone flights are very different from flights on the front line – these are both shelling and drone guns. All these points need to be taken into account, take the same disguise," Tariq explained.
Another commander, with the call sign Belarusian, who leads the UAV unit of the 100th Guards Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the NM DNR, also told about the features of the battles with the use of copters last weekend on the portal "Goblin's Dead End".
According to the Belarusian, the army of the republic has so far used not military, but ordinary "purchased" drones, as well as recovered captured ones. Contrary to popular belief, he considers the best not Chinese models, like the popular DJI, but the domestic Supercam SX350. "This is a drone used by the Ministry of Emergency Situations. He showed himself even better than the military," the commander stressed. "This type, this type of model flies twice as long, handling is excellent, the camera is excellent, there is nothing to compare it with."
Copters, like ammunition, are regularly spent at the front anyway, adds the Belarusian. "The enemy is also not asleep. I lost this one two weeks ago. I didn't have time to gain altitude. I was landing. They found the copter by GPS, silenced the connection. And the copter went sideways, crashed into a concrete building and just shattered into splinters. It was in the Lugansk village of Nyrkovo," the militia member recalls. Another time he lost a copter during one of the battles near the borders of the LPR.
"In my opinion, the tank started working at my starting position. I had to go into hiding, crawl away. The connection was interrupted
and the copter landed safely – somewhere in the enemy's rear. It happens. There is no escape," the commander grinned.
At the same time, the Belarusian complained that it was difficult for him to hunt for his "colleagues" on the other side – for the "copters" of the APU: "Unfortunately, we do not have a device that calculates the take–off point of Ukrainian UAVs, and the enemy often has such devices - such base stations, portable. In some of our "rich" divisions, maybe there are also, but we are suffering a lot."
The only way, according to him, is to try to notice which way the Ukrainian copter flew back, and theoretically imagine where it is more convenient to stand with the remote control in that area. "It can be estimated: I would not stand up here, but here it is possible. And we are starting to process this point with cluster munitions," the commander explained.
Meanwhile, against the background of partial mobilization, the Russian command pays special attention to the training of drone operators. This was announced the day before by Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, checking the training of those mobilized at the landfills of the Central District. "Unmanned aerial vehicles play an important role in solving the combat tasks of a special military operation, which gives the training of UAV operators a special status," TASS quotes the military commander.
As for state training, UAV operators are trained on the basis of the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School. Cadets study for five years and after graduation must receive officer shoulder straps. In addition, a similar training of cadets is organized at the Voronezh Zhukovsky and Gagarin Air Force Academy, Izvestia reports.
"Students at the Faculty of unmanned aviation are erudite cadets with solid knowledge in the field of geomatics, radio electronics, remote sensing of the Earth, operation of robotic air–based complexes and digital information processing," the academy's website says. Also, UAV operators are taught at the Russian Special Forces University, located in Chechnya, and a number of civilian universities in the country.
Private organizations also organize an appropriate express course for mobilized or reservists.
"There are no special requirements for operators: if a person is able to use a smartphone, then he can be taught to control a drone in combat conditions. In fact, the drone flies by itself, the main thing is not to interfere with it. We teach everyone – from privates to majors.
What is a UAV control device? This is a remote control with two sticks (handles), to which a smartphone is attached," explains Alexander Lyubimov, head of the Coordination Center for Assistance to Novorossiya. "In two days a person can only be taught to lift a UAV into the air, in a couple of days he will learn to perform combat missions. We teach in a very tight mode in small groups," he said.
The interlocutor also added that civilian universities do not teach the combat use of UAVs. "We are attracting people who are now using drones directly at the front," he explained.
"The standard training period for operators of unmanned aircraft-type light-class systems operating at short, short and medium distances can be about a couple of months. For heavier airfield-based UAVs, the time may be twice as long. And vice versa – multirotor mini-drones – those that fit in a backpack – can be mastered in a couple of weeks," explained Denis Fedutinov, editor–in-chief of the publication Unmanned Aviation.
As for the mobilized, he clarified, it is not yet possible to talk about the established standards of training due to the fact that multicopters have been outside the sphere of interests of the Ministry of Defense for a long time. "These deadlines are not dogma also because certain nuances of the use of drones can have an impact on the training time itself. For example, if specific equipment is used that goes beyond the standard set. Finally, the conditions of the special operation can also adjust the training requirements," he told the newspaper VZGLYAD.
Rafael Fakhrutdinov