UAVs in Russian Armed Forces: News #3

American Institute for the Study of War

Scalpel drone

all-weather cargo drones

All-weather cargo plane:

Yes and no.
It will be 3x faster indeed, but now it will be possible to lock on with MANPADS.
It was Geranium advantage - no MANPADS in Ukro hands could effectively engage it, as there was almost no heat emission.

ALAMO wrote:Yes and no.
It will be 3x faster indeed, but now it will be possible to lock on with MANPADS.
It was Geranium advantage - no MANPADS in Ukro hands could effectively engage it, as there was almost no heat emission.

I am sure both versions will be produced and used.

Because Kalibr cost some 100x more than that.
This is a clear advantage to have such a wide array of tools. It increases the flexibility of the battlefield.

The case with MANPADS Ukrs can have, is that they can get thousands of those for free.
Storages are full of old Strela and Igla.
Piston engined Geran is considered extremely hard target, as claimed multiple times. It produces very small reflection, while its engine is located outside the fuselage, and effectively cooled by the air flow. It flies too slow to heat up, which makes it hardly visible in TI range, too. Optical means are the weapon of choice fighting them, which limits the range of operation seriously. Technically speaking, you need a serious system to take it down - which makes the case absurd if you are shooting a $1000 drone with $250k missile.
This is why Arab weddings are carried across entire 404, with miserable attempts to shoot them down with AKs ...
On the other hand, the ones powered by jet engines are much faster, carry bigger warheads, and won't be much more expensive. I would easily find a niche for those, especially with the deteriorating Ukro air defense structure.

Suppose this should be posted here:

“An alternative to imported supplies”: Russian developer talks about new piston engines for small aircraft and UAVs, by Alexey Zakvasin and Dmitry Strakhov for RTRussian. 12.19.2023.

The developer told RT about new piston engines for small aircraft and UAVs.

By the end of the year, scientists from the Ufa University of Science and Technology (UUNiT) will produce a prototype of the DDA-160 aviation piston engine, designed to replace the popular Austrian Rotax. Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of ICE (Internal Combustion Engines) Rustem Enikeev stated this in an interview with RT. According to him, the domestic unit should surpass its Western competitor in power and efficiency. The DDA-160 will lift large UAVs and small aircraft into the air. In addition, in 2024, the Ufa university, together with the Skolkovo resident “Engines for Aviation,” plans to launch mass production of four-horsepower piston engines, which were not previously mass-produced in Russia.

— When was the last time Russia produced a full-fledged piston engine for small aircraft?

— Still in the Soviet Union. These were engines of the ASh series of the Perm Design Bureau of Arkady Shvetsov for the An-2, as well as the M-14 engine manufactured in Voronezh - it was installed on the An-14 aircraft. Small engines for unmanned aircraft were created in Samara. In general, all this happened several decades ago, when the country had a developed aviation piston engine industry.

— Why does the country need a new piston engine, and not a gas turbine engine, which is mainly used by
 aviation?

— In fact, we need different engines: gas turbine, piston, and electric. When we talk about civil aviation, we usually imagine airliners that can take us from Moscow to Beijing.

In the 1940s and 1950s, aircraft designers immediately switched large aircraft to gas turbine engines, which gave an incredible leap and surpassed their piston counterparts in power. In fact, there are small aircraft left that still fly on piston engines all over the world. They consume less fuel, cost much less, and are easier to maintain.

In the power range around 400 hp. With. the piston unconditionally outperforms the gas turbine. If we take it higher, then competition begins between them. 

— What was the situation in the field of piston engine manufacturing in our country after the collapse of the
 USSR?

— For the last 30 years, research and development have continued in scientific structures, design bureaus, and specialized universities. 

In Russia there are now several crystallization points where engines are born, and we are only one of them. At our university, this work was initiated 25 years ago by Professor Boris Petrovich Rudoy, ​​head of the department of internal combustion engines (ICE), my teacher and scientific supervisor. We continue the developments he started; the scientific team includes doctors and candidates of science, graduate students, master's students, students of UUNiT and even schoolchildren.

— When creating motors, did you initially think about which models they could be installed on?

“We worked for a long time without any specific connection to the aircraft. In general, this is wrong, since no one needs an engine as such, it should always be a part, the heart of a certain machine.

Unfortunately, until recently, our developers from the aviation industry did not show serious interest not only in us, but also in Russian ICE designers in general. They flew on engines of German, Austrian, Japanese, Australian, and American production. The attitude towards us was something like this: don’t stop us from flying on foreign engines. Although we knocked on many doors (including high offices) and said that the situation is bad: Russia does not have its own aviation piston engine and any disruptions in supplies will lead to small aircraft being left without wings.

— What has changed after 2022?

“We are now working closely with manufacturers and developers of aircraft—a wide variety of aircraft—to adapt our prototypes to their tasks. This is a very significant turn, because interaction with aircraft designers has been established and our models already have a specific purpose.

— What power are your engines and what do they run on?

— We have several lines of aviation piston engines with power from 4 to 220 hp. With. Each of them is in varying degrees of readiness - from drawings to a prototype. Some of our engines run on gasoline, others on kerosene.

We took kerosene into account when developing the engine, since aviation in general is highly dependent on this fuel, and building logistics taking into account only gasoline alone is irrational, and sometimes even completely unacceptable.

We were able to launch the workflow using aviation kerosene, but this is a problem for many scientists and designers. As a rule, they solve it by using diesel engines, achieving fuel efficiency, but losing to the gasoline version in terms of specific power.

Of course, today there are good Austrian and German diesel engines that can run on aviation kerosene. European engines are created using advanced technologies and modern materials, but they are too expensive and heavy. 

- For which aircraft is your most powerful engine designed - 220 hp? With.?

— The DDA-160 engine is an engine with a volume of 1600 cubic centimeters. It will be presented in a kerosene version of 170 liters. With. and gasoline - in the range of 190-220 liters. With.

We created this engine as an alternative to the Austrian Rotax - a world classic, which is often used on American, European, Turkish UAVs and small aircraft. In Russia, these motors are used on sports and even homemade vehicles. However, it is almost impossible to buy a Rotax in our country today.

DDA-160 is more powerful than the “Austrian”, more economical and cheaper. The prototype gasoline engine is 60-70% complete. There are still difficulties with the remaining components, but we plan to assemble a prototype by the end of the year and put it on a test stand.

— Is UUNiT developing “pistons” of lower power?

— One of the Ufa models is a two-stroke single-cylinder liquid-cooled engine APD-200 with a power of 32 hp. With. This is a 200cc engine. cm. It is manufactured according to aviation regulations, but is now being tested on sports cars - this way the engine runs hours in real operation, and not just on a stand.

To date, the APD-200 has worked for about 300 hours. In terms of external speed characteristics, this is a lot, and the engine has proven itself to be reliable. Tests on the ground will continue for months and will provide even more information about the capabilities of the motor.

After this, we will be able to offer a prototype to aircraft developers. I think that in the future the engine will be in demand both in motorsport and in aviation.

We proceed from the fact that the aviation industry needs engines with the highest possible power and minimum weight. The same APD-200 just meets these requirements. 

Also, our specialists are now coordinating the terms of reference for an engine for their aircraft with a potential customer. One of them is an unmanned civil helicopter for transporting goods. It will receive a V-shaped four-cylinder two-stroke gasoline engine with a capacity of 108 hp. With.

The motor will be able to lift loads of several tens of kilograms into the air. Its key feature is that it will be made on the basis of an engine already mastered in production by the Russian Mechanics company (Rybinsk). Our customer has a serious business of delivering cargo by drone throughout the country, including in the North. 

— When do you think Russia will begin mass production of piston engines to meet the demand of UAV and light aircraft manufacturers?

“I think it will happen soon enough.” As for our engines, we have developed as a scientific school, creating new solutions and prototypes. However, now we have gone further and finally started interacting with end consumers.

There are chances that in 2024 our two-stroke kerosene engines DDA-4D and four-stroke gasoline engines DDA-4CH in 4 liters. With. will be the first to go onto the assembly line. Such light but powerful engines, as far as I know, have not previously been mass-produced in Russia.

The country really needs these “pistons”; many UAV manufacturers are waiting for them. The most popular aircraft-type drones fly on similar engines - drones perform various tasks: geodetic surveys, pipeline inspections, aerial photography. I am sure that in the next year or two our other colleagues will shoot with serial piston aircraft engines and offer a worthy alternative to imported supplies.

“Russia today also needs military drones. Can your motors lift them into the air?

“There are drones that take off from your hand, and there are huge devices that can only be lifted by a powerful motor. We work with Russian companies that need motors for civil UAVs. And so we are open to any cooperation. I can only say that the well-known Geranium, judging by open sources, flies on a conventional 50 hp piston engine. With. This figure fits into the range of our motors.

—Your university does not have production facilities. When you need to launch a conveyor, where will you produce engines?

— We have a long-standing and key partner - the Skolkovo resident “Engines for Aviation”, who participates in both development and production of prototypes. By the way, the name of our flagship engine DDA-160 comes from it. The company is located next to us, in Ufa, and we expect that we will mass-assemble jointly developed engines at its facilities.

— Are the developers of “pistons” ready to help in the development of small aviation in the Far North?

— Russia still lags behind other aviation powers in the development of small aviation. In Canada, Alaska and the Nordic countries, communications with remote areas are provided by light aircraft. There the sky is the road. You look up and something is always flying.

I think this is the path of Russia, which vitally needs to develop the Far North. And for this we need different aircraft: two-, four-, eight-seater, unmanned. And each requires a piston motor. In my opinion, Russia is gradually coping with this task.

https://russian.rt.com/russia/article/1247122-ufa-universitet-porshnevye-dvigateli

Russia has overtaken the United States in drones, by Andrey Rezchikov and Rafael Fakhrutdinov for VZGLYAD. 12.21.2023.

Russia has increased its production of military drones by an order of magnitude. This year alone, the army received more than 20 thousand UAVs of various classes and purposes, although a few years ago the Russian Armed Forces had only two thousand drones. The United States, which previously led the production of drones, had about 15 thousand UAVs in 2022. How did the Russian defense industry manage to achieve such successes and what else needs to be done to ensure that the needs of the army are fully satisfied?

The Russian military-industrial complex has increased its capabilities manifold and fully provides the army with all the necessary weapons, including unmanned aerial vehicles. This year alone, formations and military units of the Aerospace Forces received “more than 20 thousand unmanned aerial vehicles of various classes and purposes,”   Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said on Thursday.

For comparison: in November 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a meeting with the leadership of the Ministry of Defense and defense industry enterprises, said that “we currently have over two thousand unmanned aerial vehicles in service.” And between 2012 and 2020, according to TASS , the army received more than 900 drones.

Thus, Russia now produces an order of magnitude more drones annually than it did in the recent past. In addition, according to Gerasimov, since February 2022, the West has transferred 23 thousand drones to Ukraine. This is only three thousand more than Russia produced in a year.

It is also noteworthy that a year ago, Putin, citing the experience of the Northern Military District, demanded that drones be made available for use by units of different levels - an arsenal of such weapons should be in combat squads, platoons, companies, and battalions. The government was instructed to approve the development strategy for unmanned aircraft for the period until 2030 and for the future until 2035.

The development and production of drones in Russia today is carried out by both state giants such as the Rostec corporation, state contractors Kalashnikov and Kronstadt, and private enterprises.

“In the structure of combined arms modern combat, drones have become an indispensable auxiliary tool that solves many problems. Drones remain expendable. This is shown by statistics that mainly take into account medium and heavy UAVs, while small and ultra-small drones click like seeds,” notes Alexey Leonkov, military expert, editor of Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine.

The interlocutor recalled that the United States had long been the leader in the production of drones, and before the start of the North American Military District, they had about 15 thousand UAVs in service. “The Americans believed that this number of drones would be enough for them to perform any tasks in the zone of local wars. But if we are talking about the format of the battle in the northwestern military zone, then this number is not enough. UAVs should be mass-produced and on an ongoing basis,” Leonkov believes.

Experts also add that not all drones used by the military are included in the Ministry of Defense statistics. It is necessary to take into account the participation in the equipment of fighters from private businesses, volunteers and volunteers who transfer small FPV drones to the front, controlled by an operator via video communication in real time.

“Before the SVO, our army was armed mainly with heavy and medium drones. Among them are the Orlan reconnaissance UAV, the Orion strike UAV and many others. FPV-type drones were generally absent as a class,” notes Roman Gusarov, editor-in-chief of the Avia.ru portal. But it is clear that the industry has made big leaps in drone production.

The expert especially noted the increase in the production of Lancet kamikaze drones  , which have proven themselves to be an extremely effective means of destroying enemy armored vehicles. “The battlefield and the army have identified needs - and our industry, both defense and private, is filling them. From enemy reports, we hear that the Russian army has four to five times more drones than the other side of the conflict,” Gusarov emphasized.

The interlocutor agrees that the West’s resources in supplying the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) with drones have begun to deplete after a year and a half of the Northern Military District, and Russia is producing them in ever-increasing quantities. Moreover, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which are experiencing shortages including equipment, are completely dependent on Western food. We are talking not only about unmanned aircraft, but also about armored vehicles, shells, missiles, small arms, fuel and uniforms, “because you can’t win a war with drones alone.”

“The Ukrainian military says that Russia has very strong electronic warfare (EW) systems - and many drones are lost without any effect,” Gusarov explained.

But quantitative indicators are not the only criterion for success. If we are talking about long-range drones capable of striking hundreds of kilometers away, then “it is not quantity that plays a role, but quality.” “Even one drone arriving at an airfield can cause significant damage. It is this type of drones that is difficult to fight,” the speaker noted.

Leonkov points out that in the event of suppression of enemy air defense systems and electronic warfare systems, drones become “a good substitute for tactical aviation.” “If there is a layered or integrated air defense system, then drones can become hackers of this system, but this requires multi-mission UAVs. This is the next stage in the development of drones in the Russian army,” the specialist explained.

This summer, the government approved the strategy of the national project for the development of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The national project should be fully operational at the beginning of next year. The task of forming a full-fledged industry of unmanned aircraft systems was set by Vladimir Putin. One of the main goals is the consolidation of manufacturers and the creation of a system of cooperation and technological support for UAS production.

To do this, as foreign experience has shown, it is necessary to remove regulatory restrictions that impede the formation of civilian markets for the use of UAS and related services. This national project should ensure the functioning of agriculture, the transportation of goods, monitor the condition of linear construction projects and other areas.

Experts believe that the development of civilian UAVs will significantly help military developments.

“We need to develop production lines, arrange the supply of components - and automate all this as much as possible. The conveyor must work without interruption 24 hours a day, then we will get the return. Drones must be dual-use. For example, a reconnaissance drone can perform tasks in peacetime to monitor ice conditions, the state of the forests of our endless taiga and other tasks,” says Leonkov.

Gusarov agrees that the implementation of the national project will help to further increase the production of UAVs - both civilian and military. “This area is turning into a large mass movement, so the national project must be successful. We are experiencing a boom in UAV production. Not only at the federal, but also at the regional level, sites and subsidies are allocated, and schools are created to train drone operators. This process has acquired a national character, many regions are actively involved in it, without waiting for funding from the federal budget,” the speaker said.

In a similar way, production has been established, for example, in the Kaluga region. “And using the principle of interregional division of labor. These capacities are being increased,” said Dmitry Afanasyev, head of the Kaluga branch of the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation, formerly a teacher at the Republican Center for Unmanned Systems named after. Hero of Russia Vladimir Zhoga.

“It is important that the growth of this industry occurs not only according to feedback from below - based on the immediate needs of the front, but also according to orders from above - according to the plan of the president and executive authorities within the framework of the national project. By the way, this applies not only to UAVs, but also to ground-based drones. We are already starting to use ATVs equipped with a machine gun and servos,” the interlocutor noted.

“And one more fundamental point: as a teacher of relevant disciplines, I clearly see a multiple increase in fighters who can control drones. The increase in UAV production happened at the right time: for example, at the beginning of 2022, few people knew how to use them in combat, so such a number of drones was practically useless for us. And now the increase in production is going in parallel with personnel training,” he said.

“As a result, according to my observations, most units at the front already have at least one full-time UAV operator,

or this task is delegated to someone who has specialized qualifications. In general, in my deep conviction, a drone will soon be part of the standard kit of our military, along with an AK and a first aid kit. Accordingly, if we talk about the required number of UAVs in the future, it should approximately correspond to the size of our group in the Northern Military District zone,” the expert is confident.

“As for the Northern Military District as a whole, the increase in the number of drones on the front line means an increase in the maneuverability, combat effectiveness, and success of our troops. UAVs allow us to remotely hit the enemy, preserve our manpower, disrupt attacks, and hit the enemy more accurately. During the NVO, we liberate our land, our civilians live there, we will need to restore cities. And the greater use of drones will allow us to more precisely carry out combat missions and not affect civilian infrastructure,” the speaker emphasized.

https://vz.ru/society/2023/12/21/1245492.html