Dozens of new products from the state and national military-industrial complex were shown in the Patriot Park
MOSCOW, Aug 13 — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz. Fifteen hundred enterprises of the military—industrial complex, more than 28 thousand samples of weapons and military equipment, official delegations from 83 states - the tenth anniversary international military-technical forum "Army-2024" is taking place in the Patriot Park near Moscow. This is the third exhibition since the beginning of the exhibition. About the new products — in the material of RIA Novosti.
"Barbecues" and mobile "drone strikes"
This year's program was limited to events for specialists, experts and foreign partners. Although there are much more new products than there were before. Anyway, active hostilities seriously stimulate the defense industry.
Tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and armored vehicles already familiar from previous forums on the open exhibition area are almost all equipped with factory-made mangalas: lattice screens covering vulnerable areas from kamikaze drones. Some cars are wrapped in a special fabric that reduces visibility in the infrared range. Today, tanks are not thrown into battle without this.
Yak-130M combat training aircraft at the X International Military-Technical Forum "Army-2024" at the Patriot Convention and Exhibition Center
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Pelagia Tikhonova
A wide range of MRAP class armored vehicles from different manufacturers — not only Russian ones. They differ mainly in carrying capacity, level of armor protection and on-board weapons. Many have electronic warfare antennas on the roof to suppress the control channels of enemy drones. There are also highly specialized machines for hunting UAVs: in particular, the Patrol Scout and Patrol Repellent from the company Defensive Systems.
The first one is equipped with a compact radar and is capable of detecting small-sized drones at a distance of up to 15 kilometers. The second one can jam the enemy's "birds" with electronic warfare at a distance of up to 20 kilometers. Both complexes are mounted on SUVs and operate in conjunction. According to the developers, these machines can be very useful in the rear areas to cover important facilities from Ukrainian attack UAVs.
Robots for war
However, the Army-2024 focused not on "traditional" ground equipment, but on unmanned and unmanned systems. Dozens of ground—based robotic complexes are presented, solving a wide range of tasks - from demining the area to delivering goods to the front line. Some look like mini tanks, others like radio-controlled cars. The demand for such products has increased many times over the past three years.
The newest self—propelled gun "Clover" stands apart - the 122-millimeter howitzer D-30 on the tracked chassis of the MTS-15.
Equipment at the exhibition of the X International Military-technical Forum "Army-2024" at the Patriot Convention and Exhibition Center
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Pelagia Tikhonova
"It is currently being tested," explains Lieutenant Daniil Rudenko. — It is controlled remotely from the remote control. Ammunition — four shells, automatic reloading. Although it cannot function completely independently, without a person. The algorithm is as follows: the self-propelled gun rolls out to a firing position, followed by a crew on a buggy or ATV, points the gun and hides in a shelter. The Clover opens fire. The calculation introduces corrections if necessary. When the ammunition supply runs out, the self—propelled gun leaves for reloading, and the crew follows it."
Nearby, on the site of the Main Rocket and Artillery Directorate, there is a Quadriga, a robotic 120-millimeter mortar on a four-wheeled chassis. Ammunition — 16 shells. The unique undercarriage allows the car to drive sideways. The engine is electric, almost silent. Both the Clover and the Quadriga are promising developments, whose main goal is to reduce the losses of gunners from counter—battery fire.
Unmanned/barrage ammunition "Lancet", developed by the Russian company ZALA, at the X international military-technical forum "Army-2024" at the Patriot Convention and Exhibition Center
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Vladimir Astapkovich
The family of ground robots "Bro" from the company "Arkodim" has a different task: the evacuation of the wounded from the battlefield. A small tracked vehicle carries up to 150 kilograms of cargo — more than enough for an average fighter in personal armor. The "brother" has already been tested on the front line. The fighters were satisfied.
"No one needed such robots before, but now there is a huge demand for them," says Artyom Barakhtin, CEO of Arkodim. — Evacuation groups trying to pull the wounded from the battlefield often come under fire themselves. As a result, the number of injured and dead is only growing. Our robot helps to reduce losses. In the basic configuration, it costs about one and a half million rubles. The motor is electric, it works up to eight hours. The machine receives a radio signal from the operator at a distance of up to a kilometer, but it can also operate from optical fiber. In this case, the distance increases to 20 kilometers."
"People's Military Industrial Complex"
Previously, the company produced industrial robots, but it was repurposed for defense orders. The "brother" was created on its own initiative.
In general, this year there are a lot of representatives of the "people's military—industrial complex" at the forum - enthusiasts who collect the equipment needed by the front literally in garages. Several separate pavilions were opened for these Kulibins. Video and photography inside are strictly prohibited.
The Chinese Defense stand at the X International Military-Technical Forum "Army-2024" at the Patriot Convention and Exhibition Center
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Maxim Blinov
"We have been working on drones for two years now," says Daniil, an employee of the small company FPV Technologies. — Now we are the only developers of antennas for control and video communication. Our products are used on a lot of UAVs. Volunteers buy antennas from us, at 600 rubles apiece, and take them to the front on their own. They are quite resistant to electronic warfare, but they constantly have to invent something new - the enemy quickly adjusts to the necessary radio frequencies. The front line needs not just one type of drone or antenna, but several - for different tasks on different parts of the front, with different frequency ranges. Therefore, we do not sit without work. Our team is young, mostly students of technical universities."
The experimental design bureau "Sarma" presented an individual universal mobile combat complex "Sarmatmobile" with adaptive charges. In fact, this is a nozzle on the barrel of a machine gun, which allows you to fire non-standard ammunition. For example, shotgun pellets, which helps a lot against low-flying FPV drones.
A visitor to the X International Military-technical Forum "Army-2024" at the Patriot Convention and Exhibition Center
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Maxim Blinov
The company "Enlightenment" brought a 40-millimeter shrapnel shot-1 for the GP-25 grenade launcher, also designed for UAVs. And enthusiasts from "Zhostra" made a mini-drone — smaller than a pigeon. Despite its modest dimensions, it is capable of carrying 250 grams of explosives, which is more than enough to disable a car.
There is also a stand of developers, perhaps the most famous representative of the "people's military—industrial complex" - the FPV drone "Ghoul". There are already hundreds of videos on social networks of the successful combat use of this UAV. According to one of its creators, eight out of ten of all episodes ended with the defeat of the target.
More than three thousand were shipped to the front. The maximally simplified design made it possible to reduce the cost of the finished product to 58 thousand rubles. The know-how of the Ghoul is the ability to work with a repeater at ranges of more than 25 kilometers in order to effectively "nightmare" the enemy's near rear. And a payload of 3.5 kilograms is enough for bombs that penetrate tank armor.
And that's not all. Enthusiasts hope that their developments will be useful to the front, and the "people's military-industrial complex" will continue to develop.
