But they will not provide air supremacy in any weather
The features of the tactics of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) described in the article "The sky is getting closer " (see "HBO" from 29.09.23) apply almost equally to both sides of the Ukrainian conflict. This is the massive use of commercial quadrocopters (mainly Chinese-made) for reconnaissance purposes and the conversion of such quadrocopters into "micro-bombers" for dropping small ammunition. This is a widespread use of kamikaze drones (barrage ammunition), including FPV-class UAVs (FPV is a technical device that transmits physical reality to a remote operator as virtual reality; from the English First Person View – "first person view").
At the same time, unmanned aircraft is very important for Ukraine, since Russia significantly surpasses it in traditional manned aviation and in classic missile weapons of all classes. Accordingly, Ukraine is trying to compensate for this lag by using UAVs as widely as possible.
Ukraine receives significant assistance from Western countries. In addition, since the "classic" enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex are under regular strikes by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, a significant part of drones in Ukraine are produced by civilian enterprises and workshops (however, this also applies to Russia). It is very difficult to identify and hit all such objects because of their number and secrecy, so it is easier for Ukraine to produce its own UAVs than traditional military equipment.
SOVIET HERITAGE AND UKRAINIAN CRAFTS
The main part of drones of own production is developed and produced at several private enterprises in Kiev, as well as at the plants "Hartron" and "Kommunar" in Kharkov, in the Design Bureau "Yuzhnoye" and "Sphere" in Dnepropetrovsk. Apparently, in the "Sphere" there are underground complexes for assembling UAVs. The Aerospace University in Kharkiv is developing software for Ukrainian drones. It is possible that Ukrainian-designed UAVs will also be produced in Poland and other Eastern European countries.
In the USSR, the emphasis was on the development and use of heavy (weighing several tons) high-speed jet reconnaissance drones. These were the Tu-141 "Strizh" and Tu-143 "Flight", and they were produced at the Kharkov Aviation Plant. A total of 152 Swifts and 950 Flights were produced (some of the latter were delivered to the Warsaw Pact countries and the Middle East), and a significant part of them went to Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR.
Currently, the resumption of production of these UAVs is not possible: both production facilities and workers and engineering personnel have been lost, and there are practically no spare parts left. It is also impossible to use them in the initial role of reusable high-speed scouts (they will be deliberately destroyed by Russian air defense). Therefore, now with Western help (first of all, we are talking about new software), they are being converted into cruise missiles, which should hit stationary targets in accordance with the program laid down in them before the flight. The flight range in this variant can reach 1000 km.
At the same time, the technical condition of the Swifts and Flights is far from the best (the newest of them is already 35 years old); in addition, they are an irreplaceable resource due to the aforementioned shortage of spare parts and the inability to restore production. Therefore, the value of "Swifts" and "Flights" is limited even after modernization.
However, there are a significant number of drones of Ukrainian design and production.
A purely reconnaissance PD-1 UAV can be launched from a catapult (mounted on a car) or from a runway. Conducts reconnaissance in the optical and infrared ranges at a distance of up to 85 km from the control station, can stay in the air for up to 8 hours. The maximum speed is 140 km / h, the ceiling is up to 2 km, the weight is 33 kg, the wingspan is 3 m. Due to the significant infrared signature (the drone has a gasoline engine, despite the fact that most drones have electric motors), it is very vulnerable to ground air defense.
The A1-CM "Fury" reconnaissance mini-drone is made of fiberglass, its weight is 6 kg, wingspan is 2 m, maximum speed is up to 130 km / h. The flight range is 200 km, but the distance from the control point should not exceed 50 km (otherwise communication with it will be lost). "Fury" is capable of correcting artillery fire, the coordinates of targets are determined with an accuracy of up to 20 m. The complex includes three UAVs, a control station and various additional equipment. The complex is deployed in 15 minutes.
Another mini-reconnaissance drone is the Leleka-100, also made of fiberglass. The wingspan is about 2 m, the weight is about 5 kg, the maximum speed is 120 km / h, it can stay in the air for up to 2.5 hours, the ceiling is 1.5 km. The flight range is 100 km, but the distance from the control point should also not exceed 50 km. Like the Fury, it can conduct optical and infrared reconnaissance.
The MP-1 Spectator belongs to the same class of mini-reconnaissance drones. It operates at a distance of up to 30 km from the control station with a flight range of 200 km, can be in flight for up to two hours. It has a wingspan of 3 m and a mass of 5.5 kg, the ceiling is 3 km. The complex includes three drones and various ground equipment. Like "Fury" and "Leleke", it conducts reconnaissance in various ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum. All of these mini-drones have electric motors.
The R-18 octocopter has a flight range of 4 km, can stay in the air for 40 minutes. It carries two RCG-1600 anti-tank cumulative grenades weighing 2 kg, equipped with additional plumage. It is believed that these grenades can provide a hit with an accuracy of up to 1 m from a height of 300 m.
The gasoline engine is equipped with a larger UAV UJ-22 Airborn, which is multi-purpose. It can conduct reconnaissance at a depth of several hundred kilometers behind the front line, and also be used in a shock variant – and either as a reusable weapon carrier or as a kamikaze. Communication with the ground station is carried out at a distance of 120 km, but in the role of kamikaze (that is, without returning), the flight range reaches 800 km. It can be used both offline and in controlled mode. The wingspan of the UJ-22 is 4.6 m, the mass is 86 kg, the payload mass (reconnaissance equipment or ammunition) reaches 20 kg. For example, 82 mm mortar mines or RPG-7 grenades can be used as dropped ammunition (if reusable use of the drone is implied). The maximum flight speed reaches 180 km / h, the ceiling is 6 km. The drone can stay in the air for 8 hours.
All listed Ukrainian UAVs are in mass production.
It was announced about the creation in Ukraine of a whole number of attack UAVs (reusable and kamikaze). These are, in particular, "Sokol-300", ST-35, "Cobra", "Beaver", "Scythe", "Achilles", "Trembita", "Dovbush T10". The real status of all these programs is not entirely clear (that is, it is unknown whether these drones have been put into mass production, and if so, how massive it is). The same applies to the creation of large aircraft-type UAVs D-80 Discovery and D-300 Enterprise.
Recently, mass production of FPV-class kamikaze attack drones has begun in Ukraine, production rates of up to 10 thousand such devices per month have been announced. These UAVs are assembled mainly from parts purchased in China.
HELP FROM CHINA AND THE WEST
Also, the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine use a large number of foreign commercial drones used for reconnaissance or converted into "microbombarders". The most popular and popular of them are Chinese quadrocopters of the DJI family, primarily DJI Mavic. The DJI Matrice 30T model is also very popular, which, in addition to standard reconnaissance equipment, has a laser rangefinder and can, unlike most other commercial drones, operate at low temperatures.
Ukraine also uses Chinese drones from Yuneec, American companies Autel Robotics, German companies XDynamics. Chinese Mugin-5 drones are being purchased in large quantities, which are used in the shock version (either as reusable or as kamikaze).
Ukraine receives a significant number of specialized military drones from the West. The purely intelligence ones include the American Quantix Recon, Scan Eagle, RQ-20 Puma, Polish FlyEye, Norwegian Black Hornet microdrons. Also purely reconnaissance is the H10 Poseidon UAV, produced by a certain Cypriot company. It can operate at a distance of up to 150 km from the control station and has a reconnaissance camera with 40x magnification, which allows you to conduct reconnaissance from a great height.
Of the combat drones used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the most famous is the Turkish Bayraktar TV2, which was previously successfully used in Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh. However, already during those conflicts it became clear that Bayraktar would not be able to resist a strong modern air defense. However, Kiev pinned very high hopes on this UAV. The special operation in Ukraine confirmed that Bayraktar is very vulnerable to the fire of modern anti-aircraft missile systems (SAMs) and is completely powerless against fighters. During the first six months of hostilities, most of the Ukrainian Bayraktars were lost, the remaining ones are used only to conduct reconnaissance from the depths of their airspace.
Now the Armed Forces of Ukraine use foreign barrage ammunition. These are American Switchblade-300, Switchblade-600 and, possibly, Phoenix Ghost, Polish Warmate.
Since the spring of this year, Ukraine has been actively using kamikaze drones (primarily Swifts and UJ-22) on the territory of the Russian Federation. And not only in the regions closest to it (Belgorod, Bryansk, Oryol, Kursk, Voronezh, Rostov regions, Crimea and Sevastopol), but also in more distant regions (Moscow, Moscow, Tula, Ryazan, Kaluga, Tver, Pskov, Novgorod, Saratov regions, Krasnodar Territory, Adygea). The targets of the strikes are primarily military airfields, military-industrial complex enterprises, infrastructure facilities, as well as various civilian facilities.
A significant part of Ukrainian UAVs attacking the territory of Russia are destroyed by air defense, suppressed by electronic warfare (EW) or fall due to collisions with various obstacles. Some strikes caused some damage to the Russian aerospace Forces: several ammunition depots in the Crimea, an oil depot in the Krasnodar Territory were hit.
Nevertheless, in general, the consequences of the strikes are extremely insignificant. Obviously, they are designed not so much for a practical result as for a psychological effect. However, these blows do not have any real psychological impact on the population of Russia and are perceived as a kind of strange misunderstanding. It is difficult to say how much these strikes inspire the population of Ukraine, since there is no way to objectively study the state of Ukrainian public opinion.
In general, however, there is no doubt that for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the role of unmanned aerial vehicles will only increase in the future – both as an important addition to artillery (including targeting and fire correction), and as an almost complete substitute for aviation. However, Ukrainian drones will not be able to provide a radical change in the course of hostilities simply because of the lack of their number.
Alexander Khramchikhin
Alexander Anatolyevich Khramchikhin is an independent military expert.
