Aeronet-35 – exhibition of unrealized projectsThe Aeronet-35 exhibition was held at the end of November at VDNH.
It attracted 130 organizations that demonstrated 170 developments in the field of unmanned aviation.
Eyes run away from interesting models. But the question immediately arises: what is Russia's current position in the field of UAVs? After the USA? After Israel? After Iran? And how could this happen?
Few people know that the first Soviet bombers BM-1 and TB-3 were created by order of the Ostekhburo as radio-controlled drones. And only then were they converted into bombers. Even the famous RD-1 aircraft ("Range Record") was developed as a kamikaze drone. It was assumed that instead of Chkalov, he would deliver half a ton of explosives to the United States. And by June 22, 1941, about a hundred Soviet torpedo boats had been turned into naval drones. Alas, the "wave control equipment" did not give the desired effect, and the boats became manned again.
LONG - RANGE SCOUTSIn the 1950s and 1980s, the USSR went toe-to-toe with the United States in the field of creating drones.
So, from 1963 to 1972, 52 Tu-123 strategic unmanned reconnaissance aircraft (DBR-1 "Hawk" complex) were manufactured in the USSR. The take-off weight of the Hawk was 35.6 tons. The maximum speed is 2700 km/h, that is 2.5 times higher than the speed of sound. The flight altitude is 22.8 km . The range is 3580 km. The "Hawk" was created to determine the results of strikes by Soviet medium-range missiles in Europe at the beginning of a nuclear war.
The American analogue of the Tu-123 – the strategic supersonic reconnaissance D-21B – the Americans managed to bring to mind only in 1969. If the Tu-123 was launched from an automobile installation, then the D-21B was launched from a B-52N strategic bomber. The first reconnaissance flight of the D-21B took place on November 9, 1969. The target of scout No. 517 was the Chinese nuclear test site Lobnor. After separating from the carrier, the drone went to the target area and took the necessary photographs. Then the guidance system failed. The drone did not turn in the direction of the ocean, where planes and ships with equipment for capturing the hardware container were waiting for it. American experts did not wait for him. Later it became known that the D-21B continued its flight and remained in the air until fuel was exhausted. The drone crashed several hundred kilometers from the Baikonur test site.
Such a find interested Soviet specialists. After studying the D-21, our military decided to create its analogue. By the decision of the Military-Industrial Complex Commission of March 19, 1971, the development of an unmanned supersonic reconnaissance aircraft (code "Raven") was started. In the same 1971, an advance project was prepared that confirmed the reality of creating a machine in the USSR of the type of American reconnaissance aircraft D-21, but with broader capabilities. In addition to the panoramic camera, radio intelligence equipment with a wide range of registration of radio-emitting military equipment was installed on board our car.
DIVISIONAL LEVEL DRONEIn 1983, Lockheed began flight tests of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of the Akila divisional level for reconnaissance and correction of artillery fire.
The aerodynamic scheme is a flying wing with a pusher propeller in an annular stabilizer. The weight of the drone is 113 kg, the piston engine with a capacity of 26 hp provided a speed of 170-200 km / h. The flight time is 1.5 hours. The launch was carried out from a catapult, and the landing was carried out using a special network mounted on a truck.
In 1982, the USSR began designing a division-level UAV "Bee". The preliminary design was completed in June 1984, flight tests began two years later. By 1991, 50 UAVs were produced, and in May 1995, the Bee was used in combat operations in the North Caucasus. The weight of the "Bee" is 138 kg, the speed is 180 km/h. The piston engine with a capacity of 33 hp, placed in an annular stabilizer, allowed to develop a cruising speed of 180 km / h. The Bee was not a copy of the Akila, but the design was close, and the tactical and technical data practically coincided.
RHETORICAL QUESTIONSAn important role in the conflict in Ukraine since the summer of 2014 has been played by long-range American reconnaissance UAVs "Global Hawk" RQ-4.
Based at Sigonella Air Base in Sicily, the RQ-4 has been flying regularly over the Black Sea along the coasts of Crimea and the Caucasus for eight years. And from the summer of 2014 until February 2022, the RQ-4 flew along the front line in the Donbass over Ukrainian territory up to the border with Belarus.
We don't have cars like the Global Hawk. And who is to blame? Since 1986, two analogues of the Global Hawk have been developed in the USSR: in the Myasishchev Design Bureau, the M–62 Eagle UAV, and in the Sukhoi Design Bureau, the S-62 Rhombus. But in the early 1990s, both projects were closed "due to insufficient funding."
Since 1993, I have regularly visited the MAKS exhibitions in Zhukovsky. Dozens of experienced UAVs from different companies were exhibited there every time. But all of them, except for the "Bee", went for scrap. Currently, 170 UAVs are on display at Aeronet-35. How many of them will go into the series, and how many for scrap?
Back in 1993, an unmanned Ka-37 helicopter was presented at MAKS, created "with the financial support of the South Korean company DHi". The first flight of the Ka-37 took place on March 2, 1993. In 1996, it was upgraded, received a more powerful engine and the name Ka-37S. Where did he go?
On May 9, 2018, the Katran unmanned helicopter was presented at the parade. Apparently, this is an analogue of the S-100 UAV from imported components. The S-100 Kamkopter has been manufactured by the Austrian company Shibel since 2005. It seems that the Katran was tested on a Russian ship – but it also disappeared somewhere.
SHIP DRONESBut in the US Navy, the picture with drones is completely different.
For example, eight RQ-2 Pioneer UAVs were placed on the battleship Iowa in 1987. In 1990-1991, Pioneer UAVs participated in the Persian Gulf War. They made 545 sorties. 13 drones were shot down and 18 damaged. Six Pioneer complexes were deployed, two on the battleships Missouri and Wisconsin, three in Marine corps units and one in the US Ground forces. One complex included four UAVs. They opened the objects of the Iraqi defense to a depth of 160 km, corrected artillery fire and controlled the defeat of targets.
By 2017, S-100 UAVs were installed on 30 ships of France, Italy and other NATO countries. Even the Mozambican Navy ordered three S-100s for its TFRS.
The company "Thales" at the salon "Farnborough-2016" presented a new shipboard UAV of the aircraft scheme "Fulmer-X" with a flight duration of over eight hours. The launch is carried out from a catapult, and the return is carried out using a grid on board the vessel. Malaysia immediately signed a contract for six "Fulmer-X" for its patrol vessels.
By November 2022, the Russian fleet remains the only one in the world that does not have ship-borne UAVs. Now the Russian Federation has a pretty decent squadron of reconnaissance vessels. Question: how much will their capabilities increase when equipped with onboard UAVs?
It is curious that back in the 1960s, helicopter-type UAVs were designed in the USSR for the project 1144 Orlan patrol ship.
The future heavy nuclear missile cruiser of the Kirov type was supposed to be armed with a promising universal missile system capable of hitting surface, underwater and even air targets. Among other things, the helicopter-type UAV was supposed to issue target designation data for him. But neither a universal missile system nor an unmanned helicopter were created then.
In 2016, information appeared in the media about equipping T-14 Armata tanks with Pterodactyl quadrocopters. This drone is not subject to interference, since the information in it enters the tank via a cable parallel to the power one. The lifting height of the "Pterodactyl" is 90 m, and the radius of action is 100 m. According to the plan, the "Pterodactyl" was supposed to enter the state tests in 2017. And where is he?
THE ADVENTURES OF "ANNUSHKA"The volume of the article does not allow us to touch on all the novelties of Aeronet-35.
I will only say that out of 170 products, only four or five are in the production stage. And the others…
I was interested in the model of the biplane "Partizan". Is our old "Annushka" finally turning into a drone? Alas, not everything is so simple here.
Since 2014, SibNIA has started the production of a deep modernization of the AN-2, called the TVS-24MS. The old Soviet ASH-62IR engine was replaced by the American TRE 331-12. After the modernization of the TTD biplane slightly improved. The maximum speed has become 350 km/h, the load is 2500 kg, etc. By August 2022, Rusaviastroy has produced 24 TVS-2MS aircraft, of which 17 are in operation.
In 2020, the Partizan drone project was created at SibNIA on the basis of the TVS-24MS. The designers decided to attach eight electric motors to the wing. The idea is to turn on these electric motors for a short time at the take-off stage and ensure better wing blowing. Since electric motors work only for a short time on takeoff, they do not require large batteries weighing down the structure. Thanks to electric motors, the aircraft can take off from a 50×50 m platform.
Is it necessary to consider this curiosity seriously? To begin with, the Americans are no longer going to supply their TRE 331-12 turboprop engine. In addition, electric motors increase the drag of the aircraft. An important advantage of the AN-2 is the maximum ease of construction, its maintenance and operation. With eight electric motors under the wing, this lightness disappears. But it takes time to inspect all these motors, their maintenance, etc.
The project, according to which the Partizan will become a replacement for the Mi-8 helicopter, is unrealistic. In conditions normal for a helicopter, an airplane, even the shortest takeoff and landing, will not perform as well as a rotorcraft. Are there many places where the original An-2 can't land? Not so much. And sometimes, where the An-2 can land, the electrified TVS-2MS may not land at all: electric motors under the lower wing impose restrictions on the type of runway coverage.
It was only in November 2022 that it became clear that the prototype of the Partizan would be manufactured only in 2023. And what do they do with the AN-2 abroad?
On October 16, 2018, the first flight of the Feihong 98 (FH-98) UAV, created on the basis of the Shifei Y5B light multipurpose aircraft, which, in turn, is a licensed copy of the Soviet An-2 aircraft, took place at the Chinese Baotou Airport.
On August 21, 2020, an FH-98 drone landed in Baotou, making the first commercial cargo delivery flight. The flight lasted one hour.
In the autumn of 2020, before the outbreak of the war in Karabakh, more than 60 AN-2 biplanes were detected from an American satellite at the Azerbaijani Yevloh airfield 50 km from the Armenian border. During the war (September 27 – November 10, 2020), the massive use of AN-2 drones was noted. The Azerbaijani side remains silent on this issue, and the Armenian side claims that they shot down 11 Annushkas. But whether it was kamikaze drones (which is most likely), does not specify.
In 1970-2022, manned AN-2s showed little vulnerability from man-portable air defense missile systems (MANPADS) and fighters. In 1999, 14 MANPADS were fired at one of the AN-2s in Yugoslavia, the target was not hit. This is due to the small infrared field of the engine. Can we, without further ado, make a kamikaze drone "Guerrillas" from decommissioned An-2?
BETTER LESS, YES BETTERThe Aeronet-35 lacked the S-70 Hunter attack UAV.
Perhaps its layout was on the first day of the exhibition, where only a select few were invited, and then it was removed. Let me remind you that the take-off weight of the S–70 is 25 tons, the range is 6000 km, the practical ceiling is 18 km, the speed is subsonic. It is assumed that it can carry guided missiles and bombs. The development of the S-70 began before July 2012, and by December 2022, 10 years later, there are as many as two prototypes in the factory testing stage. In August 2020, the media reported that the Hunter will be put into mass production in 2023. And how many of them are going to be handed over over the next three years? How much will one product cost? Will the S-70 be able to overcome the NATO air defense? The media claims that the S-70 will interact with the new Su-57 fighter. And will the S-70 be able to hunt independently, without communication with the operator? Apparently, he can't. Meanwhile, back in March 2020, the Turkish drone "Kargu-2" in Libya independently decided to destroy a soldier of the army of Khalifa Haftar.
The most vulnerable point of the UAV is communication with the operator. Several of the latest American drones have been planted by electronic warfare in Iran.
An automatic facial recognition system is already operating in the Moscow Metro. Why haven't drones been created yet that can recognize targets themselves and conduct free hunting without communication with the operator? An inertial control system or a terrain guidance system of the American TERCOM type can deliver a drone to the "hunting grounds". According to the author, now we need not 170 projects, but only a dozen. But those that can be put into production within a couple of months. Among them, there must be reconnaissance and strike drones of land and ship-based, long-range and short-range kamikaze drones and fighter drones.
First of all, combat drones. But what about the girls? And the girls – later.
Alexander ShirokoradAlexander Borisovich Shirokorad is a writer and historian.
