American drones of a new generation. Combat drones: the eight most terrifying
Just 10-15 years ago, stories about unmanned combat vehicles were classified as science fiction. Of course, work in this direction has already been carried out, but the projects were still far from being implemented. In 2005, Israel took the first step by sending several literal toy airplanes with cameras to the Syrian side. The planes returned with intelligence data and after a few hours only horns and legs remained from the enemy’s air defense. Since then, combat drones have become much cooler. Take a look at these ten most dangerous UAVs in the modern world: from a small helicopter to an intercontinental strategic bomber.
Triton MQ-4C
A real giant among unmanned vehicles. The Triton MQ-4C was developed by Northrop Grumman for the Pentagon. The wingspan of this giant is comparable to the wingspan of a Boeing 747, but so far there is no exact information about the scope of application of the giant drone.
WU-14
Chinese experimental hypersonic drone designed to deliver missiles across the continent. In fact, the Chinese Ministry of Defense at one time declared the WU-14 as a “scientific aircraft”, but later recognized its military purpose. The WU-14 is the most powerful drone on our list as it is designed to deliver nuclear weapons to a target.
CH-5
A Chinese development, which can easily be called a modified clone of the American “Reaper of Death”. The UAV was created by the military corporation China Aerospace Science and Technology and has already been tested in combat conditions. The drone is equipped with two new types of ammunition (which ones are not yet known) and a laser guidance system.
Taranis
Until now, almost all information about the British intercontinental UAV project is classified. Only the basic parameters of Taranis are known (weight - three tons, length - 11 meters, wingspan - 10 meters) and the fact that the drone is equipped with stealth technology.
Northrop Grumman X-47BC
The brainchild of American geniuses from the famous Northrop Grumman. The second generation combat UAV is capable of taking off and landing without an operator at all, only with the help of an on-board computer. The wings are equipped with rocket launchers, which are controlled by a person from the ground.
IAI Harpy
This is a kamikaze drone designed to detect and destroy enemy personnel and armor. The drone dives at the target from a great height, hitting it with a high-explosive fragmentation projectile.
MQ-9 Reaper
Perhaps one of the most famous and deadliest drones in the world. The Reaper replaced the MQ-1 Predator unmanned reconnaissance system. Reaper is capable of taking off to a height of thirteen kilometers, lifting a total of 4.7 tons and staying in the air for a whole day. It will be very, very difficult to elude such a steel predator.
Outpost
In fact, the Russian “Outpost” is a slightly modified version of the battle-tested Israeli Searcher 2. At the moment, these complexes are just beginning to arrive in the Russian Army, but are already being used in combat operations in Syria.
C-Worker 5
Not only airplanes, but also sea vessels are becoming unmanned. The UK presented its C-Worker 5 boat, capable of developing low speed, but staying on one fuel tank for a whole week. The ship is planned to be used for reconnaissance and trawling; in extreme cases, it can be blown up remotely and cause something like sabotage.
S-100 Camcopter
The Australian company Schiebel introduced its unmanned helicopter back in 2005, but until now it has not lost its relevance at all. The S-100 Camcopter can track large enemy groups at a distance inaccessible to detection and is most often used as a reconnaissance aircraft. However, this screw baby also has “teeth”.
Almost everyone calls a military unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) a drone, but this is a misconception that insults their pilots (yes, they have pilots). The word "drone" is often associated with a quiet buzzing sound, which is why male bees are called drones. But using the word “drone” to describe a complex system deployed on a modern battlefield is ludicrous and insulting to its operators.
"Drone" implies no input from an expert operator, so the term is not widely used by the military. Outside of military applications, the word "drone" is more often associated with quadcopters, small remote-controlled aircraft that enthusiasts use for a variety of activities, including quadcopter racing, aerial photography, and just plain fun.
They are new to the military
UAVs are not new to military weaponry, but it may surprise you to know that they were first used back in the 19th century! Austrian troops attacking Italy in 1849 approached Venice armed with 200 balloons. These balls were equipped with bombs with installed synchronized fuses. Their success was not complete, as many of the balloons were blown back towards the Austrian front line, but some still achieved their goals. This is the first example of the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle in military operations.
Since then, remotely controlled vehicles have been developed and used in many armed forces of different countries. Until GPS became a widespread technology that made it possible to control devices from a satellite anywhere in the world, they were controlled using a radio link.
They are run by very few people.
One of the biggest downsides to manned aircraft is the overall number of people required to fly them. We need pilots, co-pilots, crew on board and others, depending on the type of transport. You also need people to fuel the vehicle, move it, maintain and repair it, and even store it when it's not in use.
In fact, they are not very different. Moreover, they sometimes require even more people to operate them than most manned vehicles. In addition to the people who maintain and operate the craft, there are operators for every sensor and camera on board. For comparison, an F-16 requires about 100 people to operate, a Predator requires 168, and a Reaper requires 180. But these are American UAV systems.
They rarely break and require minimal support
Operating any military vehicle is an expensive pleasure, and in this regard, UAVs are not much different. However, UAVs have a serious problem: they often crash. Of course, it is better to lose an unmanned vehicle than a manned one, because in the first case there is no need to search and rescue the pilots. However, the military does not really like it when their technology falls into the clutches of the enemy, so crashed UAVs also often require a mission to retrieve the debris or completely destroy the fallen vehicle.
Since 2004, the number of UAV accidents has been steadily increasing, possibly due to increased operational hours and general fatigue of systems that were used extensively in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2004 there were only nine accidents, and in 2012 there were already twenty-six. Many accidents are the result of hostile actions aimed at destroying the craft, and many more fall from the skies for unknown or unspecified reasons.
If their communication is disrupted, they will fall
Most UAVs use satellite communications, which are difficult to disrupt. It is very difficult, almost impossible, to confuse them from the ground, since their entire connection goes upward in a thin beam. If the drone’s communication systems are disrupted, it switches to autopilot until it restores communication with the operator.
Commercial drones are much easier to confuse because their communication is based on radio, so increasing the energy on their operating frequency will usually cause communications to fail. When it comes to military unmanned aerial vehicles, things are much more complicated.
Intentionally disrupting communications is a dangerous undertaking because it requires a large amount of energy to operate the equipment. Various setups already exist, and people make their own projects like "rifles" when they want to shoot down a commercial drone, but we do not recommend using them.
They can remain airborne for a short period of time
This misconception may be due to the relatively short duration of flights that commercial drones and drones can support. Most quadcopters can stay in the air for 15 minutes, and very few can stay in the air for twice as long. The main reason for this is energy storage and consumption. Most commercial drones are small and powered by an onboard battery. Almost all UAVs, however, carry fuel like a regular aircraft. Therefore, they can stay in the air much longer than their civilian counterparts.
The Predator, one of the most used UAVs in combat, can stay in the air for 27 hours. The Russian equivalent, Dozor-600, designed to serve similar purposes (currently in development), can remain in the air for up to 30 hours. Global Observer Stratospheric Persistent recently developed a UAV that can stay aloft for up to 168 hours due to its high operating altitude (20,000 meters) and the use of liquid hydrogen as fuel.
Anyone can fly the drone (like in a video game)
While there is a common belief that a good gamer (a person who plays video games) can be a good UAV operator, it doesn't necessarily work the other way around. Most UAVs will deny this and many of them have even written down in detail and explained why the control of the device has little to do with a video game. Most UAVs in military service are difficult to fly, like any other aircraft, and require a well-trained and qualified pilot. Some games may duplicate this to some extent, but very few people good at Microsoft Flight Simulator will be able to sit in a cockpit for eight hours without a break.
Another important difference is that the UAV pilot can attack and destroy a target, which could very well be a living, breathing person. Not a single video game brings a person even close to completing such a mission (do not confuse the virtual with the real).
They have "purge lists"
The main purpose of almost all UAVs is reconnaissance and security. In operation, they act as "eyes in the sky" and are used to ensure the security of headquarters working on site. Of course, some drones are equipped with weapons and are used to destroy targets; but this is not their main mission. In fact, they do not have any “clearance lists” that identify targets submitted for destruction by name.
For a UAV to fire on any target, it must first identify and inspect it, and then the ground commander will decide whether to shoot or not. Unfortunately, there are also erroneous decisions, as in the case of manned aircraft, and civilian targets are mistakenly attacked. That is why the opinion has emerged that UAVs perform a task regardless of decisions on the ground, that is, they destroy a target without definition, regardless of the situation.
The military maintains lists of high-ranking targets, but they are not loaded on board the device and are considered as possible targets.
They are autonomous
As we have already found out, almost all UAVs require qualified operators who can control the device and use its various systems. They can hardly be considered autonomous, although some flight operations are supported by computers, similar to the autopilot found on any commercial airliner today.
While it can be said that the military is not currently operating autonomous killer robots as many people think, no one is saying that this will not happen in the future. Currently, for example, the US Navy and Army are exploring the possibility of creating autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles due to a shortage of pilots, and DARPA is tasked with developing a set of six aircraft that can “collaboratively find, track, identify and engage targets.”
They are made for one purpose: to kill.
Most drones in service with the armies of various countries are used for aerial reconnaissance or surveillance in one form or another. The same Predator was developed for these tasks until the conflict in Iraq began. Fleets of small craft have never been, and are unlikely to be, armed due to their size and other missions.
But what will happen next is still unknown. Many countries are developing UAVs specifically for combat purposes. In 2013, Boeing was able to upgrade the F-16, which is typically flown by two people, to be fully unmanned. The lack of personnel in the cabin allowed the vehicle to achieve 9G acceleration, which would be incredibly dangerous for humans.
In addition, UAV helicopters with machine guns, as well as stealth and other types of combat vehicles are being developed. The future of drone warfare looks like it will make all our misconceptions come true.
Just 20 years ago, Russia was one of the world leaders in the development of unmanned aerial vehicles. Only 950 Tu-143 aerial reconnaissance aircraft were produced in the 80s of the last century. The famous reusable spacecraft Buran was created, which made its first and only flight in completely unmanned mode. I don’t see any point in somehow giving up on the development and use of drones now.
Background of Russian drones (Tu-141, Tu-143, Tu-243). In the mid-sixties, the Tupolev Design Bureau began creating new unmanned reconnaissance systems for tactical and operational purposes. On August 30, 1968, Resolution N 670-241 of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was issued on the development of a new unmanned tactical reconnaissance complex "Flight" (VR-3) and the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft "143" (Tu-143) included in it. The deadline for presenting the complex for testing was specified in the Resolution: for the version with photo reconnaissance equipment - 1970, for the version with equipment for television reconnaissance and for the version with equipment for radiation reconnaissance - 1972.
The Tu-143 reconnaissance UAV was mass-produced in two variants with a replaceable nose part: a photo reconnaissance version with recording information on board, and a television reconnaissance version with the transmission of information via radio to ground command posts. In addition, the reconnaissance aircraft could be equipped with radiation reconnaissance equipment with the transmission of materials about the radiation situation along the flight route to the ground via a radio channel. The Tu-143 UAV is presented at an exhibition of aviation equipment at the Central Aerodrome in Moscow and at the Museum in Monino (you can also see the Tu-141 UAV there).
As part of the aerospace show in Zhukovsky MAKS-2007 near Moscow, in the closed part of the exhibition, the MiG aircraft manufacturing corporation showed its unmanned attack complex "Scat" - an aircraft designed according to the "flying wing" design and outwardly very reminiscent of the American bomber B-2 Spirit or its a smaller version is the X-47B maritime unmanned aerial vehicle.
"Scat" is designed to strike both pre-reconnaissance stationary targets, primarily air defense systems, in conditions of strong opposition from enemy anti-aircraft weapons, and mobile ground and sea targets when conducting autonomous and group actions, joint with manned aircraft.
Its maximum take-off weight should be 10 tons. Flight range - 4 thousand kilometers. Flight speed near the ground is at least 800 km/h. It will be able to carry two air-to-surface/air-to-radar missiles or two adjustable aerial bombs with a total mass of no more than 1 ton.
The aircraft is designed according to the flying wing design. In addition, well-known techniques for reducing radar signature were clearly visible in the design. Thus, the wingtips are parallel to its leading edge and the contours of the rear part of the device are made in exactly the same way. Above the middle part of the wing, the Skat had a fuselage of a characteristic shape, smoothly connected to the load-bearing surfaces. Vertical tail was not provided. As can be seen from the photographs of the Skat model, control was to be carried out using four elevons located on the consoles and on the center section. At the same time, certain questions were immediately raised by the yaw controllability: due to the absence of a rudder and a single-engine design, the UAV needed to somehow solve this problem. There is a version about a single deflection of the internal elevons for yaw control.
The model presented at the MAKS-2007 exhibition had the following dimensions: a wingspan of 11.5 meters, a length of 10.25 and a parking height of 2.7 m. Regarding the mass of the Skat, all that is known is that its maximum take-off weight should have been approximately equal to ten tons. With such parameters, the Skat had good calculated flight data. At a maximum speed of up to 800 km/h, it could rise to a height of up to 12 thousand meters and cover up to 4000 kilometers in flight. It was planned to provide such flight data using a two-circuit turbojet engine RD-5000B with a thrust of 5040 kgf. This turbojet engine was created on the basis of the RD-93 engine, but was initially equipped with a special flat nozzle, which reduces the visibility of the aircraft in the infrared range. The engine air intake was located in the forward part of the fuselage and was an unregulated intake device.
Inside the characteristically shaped fuselage, the Skat had two cargo compartments measuring 4.4 x 0.75 x 0.65 meters. With such dimensions, it was possible to hang guided missiles of various types, as well as adjustable bombs, in the cargo compartments. The total mass of the Stingray's combat load should have been approximately two tons. During the presentation at the MAKS-2007 salon, next to the Skat there were Kh-31 missiles and KAB-500 adjustable bombs. The composition of the on-board equipment implied by the project was not disclosed. Based on information about other projects of this class, we can draw conclusions about the presence of a complex of navigation and sighting equipment, as well as some capabilities for autonomous actions.
The Dozor-600 UAV (developed by Transas designers), also known as Dozor-3, is much lighter than the Skat or Proryv. Its maximum take-off weight does not exceed 710-720 kilograms. Moreover, due to the classic aerodynamic layout with a full fuselage and a straight wing, it has approximately the same dimensions as the Skat: a wingspan of twelve meters and a total length of seven. In the bow of the Dozor-600 there is space for target equipment, and in the middle there is a stabilized platform for observation equipment. A propeller group is located in the tail section of the drone. It is based on a Rotax 914 piston engine, similar to those installed on the Israeli IAI Heron UAV and the American MQ-1B Predator.
The 115 horsepower engine allows the Dozor-600 drone to accelerate to a speed of about 210-215 km/h or make long flights at a cruising speed of 120-150 km/h. When using additional fuel tanks, this UAV is capable of staying in the air for up to 24 hours. Thus, the practical flight range is approaching 3,700 kilometers.
Based on the characteristics of the Dozor-600 UAV, we can draw conclusions about its purpose. The relatively small take-off weight does not allow it to transport any serious weapons, which limits the range of tasks it can perform exclusively to reconnaissance. However, a number of sources mention the possibility of installing various weapons on the Dozor-600, the total mass of which does not exceed 120-150 kilograms. Because of this, the range of weapons permissible for use is limited only to certain types of guided missiles, in particular anti-tank missiles. It is noteworthy that when using anti-tank guided missiles, the Dozor-600 becomes largely similar to the American MQ-1B Predator, both in technical characteristics and in the composition of its weapons.
Heavy attack unmanned aerial vehicle project. The development of the research topic “Hunter” to study the possibility of creating an attack UAV weighing up to 20 tons in the interests of the Russian Air Force was or is being carried out by the Sukhoi company (JSC Sukhoi Design Bureau). For the first time, the plans of the Ministry of Defense to adopt an attack UAV were announced at the MAKS-2009 air show in August 2009. According to a statement by Mikhail Pogosyan in August 2009, the design of a new attack unmanned system was to be the first joint work of the respective departments of the Sukhoi and MiG Design Bureaus (project " Skat"). The media reported the conclusion of a contract for the implementation of the Okhotnik research work with the Sukhoi company on July 12, 2011. In August 2011, the merger of the relevant divisions of RSK MiG and Sukhoi to develop a promising strike UAV was confirmed in the media, but the official agreement between MiG " and "Sukhoi" were signed only on October 25, 2012.
The terms of reference for the attack UAV were approved by the Russian Ministry of Defense on the first of April 2012. On July 6, 2012, information appeared in the media that the Sukhoi company had been selected by the Russian Air Force as the lead developer. An unnamed industry source also reports that the strike UAV developed by Sukhoi will simultaneously be a sixth-generation fighter. As of mid-2012, it is expected that the first sample of the strike UAV will begin testing no earlier than 2016. It is expected to enter service by 2020. In 2012, JSC VNIIRA carried out a selection of patent materials on the topic of R&D “Hunter”, and in In the future, it was planned to create navigation systems for landing and taxiing heavy UAVs on the instructions of Sukhoi Company OJSC (source).
Media reports that the first sample of a heavy attack UAV named after the Sukhoi Design Bureau will be ready in 2018.
Combat use (otherwise they will say exhibition copies are Soviet junk)
“For the first time in the world, the Russian Armed Forces carried out an attack on a fortified area of militants with combat drones. In the province of Latakia, army units of the Syrian army, with the support of Russian paratroopers and Russian combat drones, took the strategic height of 754.5, the Siriatel tower.
More recently, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General Gerasimov, said that Russia is striving to completely robotize the battle, and perhaps soon we will witness how robotic groups independently conduct military operations, and this is what happened.
In Russia, in 2013, the Airborne Forces adopted the latest automated control system “Andromeda-D”, with the help of which it is possible to carry out operational control of a mixed group of troops.
The use of the latest high-tech equipment allows the command to ensure continuous control of troops performing combat training missions at unfamiliar training grounds, and the Airborne Forces command to monitor their actions, being at a distance of more than 5 thousand kilometers from their deployment sites, receiving from the training area not only a graphic picture of the moving units, but also video images of their actions in real time.
Depending on the tasks, the complex can be mounted on the chassis of a two-axle KamAZ, BTR-D, BMD-2 or BMD-4. In addition, taking into account the specifics of the Airborne Forces, Andromeda-D is adapted for loading into an aircraft, flight and landing.
This system, as well as combat drones, were deployed to Syria and tested in combat conditions.
Six Platform-M robotic systems and four Argo systems took part in the attack on the heights; the drone attack was supported by Akatsiya self-propelled artillery units (SPGs) recently deployed to Syria, which can destroy enemy positions with overhead fire.
From the air, behind the battlefield, drones conducted reconnaissance, transmitting information to the deployed Andromeda-D field center, as well as to Moscow to the National Defense Control Center of the command post of the Russian General Staff.
Combat robots, self-propelled guns, and drones were linked to the Andromeda-D automated control system. The commander of the attack to the heights, in real time, led the battle, the operators of combat drones, being in Moscow, led the attack, everyone saw both their own area of the battle and the whole picture as a whole.
The drones were the first to attack, approaching 100-120 meters to the militants’ fortifications, they called fire on themselves, and immediately attacked the detected firing points with self-propelled guns.
Behind the drones, at a distance of 150-200 meters, Syrian infantry advanced, clearing the heights.
The militants did not have the slightest chance, all their movements were controlled by drones, artillery strikes were carried out on the discovered militants, literally 20 minutes after the start of the attack by combat drones, the militants fled in horror, abandoning the dead and wounded. On the slopes of height 754.5, almost 70 militants were killed, there were no dead Syrian soldiers, only 4 wounded.”
Military drones have received a lot of attention over the years, but few people get them right. Yes, most descriptions of them accurately describe how they are used in battle, but just as often these stories give a false impression, ridiculous and not supported by facts. Here are ten of the most common misconceptions about military drones.
Almost everyone calls a military unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) a drone, but this is a misconception that insults their pilots (yes, they have pilots). The word "drone" is often associated with a quiet buzzing sound, which is why male bees are called drones. But using the word “drone” to describe a complex system deployed on a modern battlefield is ludicrous and insulting to its operators.
"Drone" implies no input from an expert operator, so the term is not widely used by the military. Outside of military applications, the word "drone" is more often associated with quadcopters, small remote-controlled aircraft that enthusiasts use for a variety of activities, including quadcopter racing, aerial photography, and just plain fun.
They are new to the military
UAVs are not new to military weaponry, but it may surprise you to know that they were first used back in the 19th century! Austrian troops attacking Italy in 1849 approached Venice armed with 200 balloons. These balls were equipped with bombs with installed synchronized fuses. Their success was not complete, as many of the balloons were blown back towards the Austrian front line, but some still achieved their goals. This is the first example of the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle in military operations.
Since then, remotely controlled vehicles have been developed and used in many armed forces of different countries. Until GPS became a widespread technology that made it possible to control devices from a satellite anywhere in the world, they were controlled using a radio link.
They are run by very few people.
One of the biggest downsides to manned aircraft is the overall number of people required to fly them. We need pilots, co-pilots, crew on board and others, depending on the type of transport. You also need people to fuel the vehicle, move it, maintain and repair it, and even store it when it's not in use.
Drones, in fact, are not very different. Moreover, they sometimes require even more people to operate them than most manned vehicles. In addition to the people who maintain and operate the craft, there are operators for every sensor and camera on board. For comparison, an F-16 requires about 100 people to operate, a Predator requires 168, and a Reaper requires 180. But these are American UAV systems.
They rarely break and require minimal support
Operating any military vehicle is an expensive pleasure, and in this regard, UAVs are not much different. However, UAVs have a serious problem: they often crash. Of course, it is better to lose an unmanned vehicle than a manned one, because in the first case there is no need to search and rescue the pilots. However, the military does not really like it when their technology falls into the clutches of the enemy, so crashed UAVs also often require a mission to retrieve the debris or completely destroy the fallen vehicle.
Since 2004, the number of UAV accidents has been steadily increasing, possibly due to increased operational hours and general fatigue of systems that were used extensively in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2004 there were only nine accidents, and in 2012 there were already twenty-six. Many accidents are the result of hostile actions aimed at destroying the craft, and many more fall from the skies for unknown or unspecified reasons.
If their communication is disrupted, they will fall
Most UAVs use satellite communications, which are difficult to disrupt. It is very difficult, almost impossible, to confuse them from the ground, since their entire connection goes upward in a thin beam. If the drone’s communication systems are disrupted, it switches to autopilot until it restores communication with the operator.
Commercial drones are much easier to confuse because their communication is based on radio, so increasing the energy on their operating frequency will usually cause communications to fail. When it comes to military unmanned aerial vehicles, things are much more complicated.
Intentionally disrupting communications is a dangerous undertaking because it requires a large amount of energy to operate the equipment. Various setups already exist, and people make their own projects like "rifles" when they want to shoot down a commercial drone, but we do not recommend using them.
They can remain airborne for a short period of time
This misconception may be due to the relatively short duration of flights that commercial drones and drones can support. Most quadcopters can stay in the air for 15 minutes, and very few can stay in the air for twice as long. The main reason for this is energy storage and consumption. Most commercial drones are small and powered by an onboard battery. Almost all UAVs, however, carry fuel like a regular aircraft. Therefore, they can stay in the air much longer than their civilian counterparts.
The Predator, one of the most used UAVs in combat, can stay in the air for 27 hours. The Russian equivalent, Dozor-600, designed to serve similar purposes (currently in development), can remain in the air for up to 30 hours. Global Observer Stratospheric Persistent recently developed a UAV that can stay aloft for up to 168 hours due to its high operating altitude (20,000 meters) and the use of liquid hydrogen as fuel.
Anyone can fly the drone (like in a video game)
While there is a common belief that a good gamer (a person who plays video games) can be a good UAV operator, it doesn't necessarily work the other way around. Most UAVs will deny this and many of them have even written down in detail and explained why the control of the device has little to do with a video game. Most UAVs in military service are difficult to fly, like any other aircraft, and require a well-trained and qualified pilot. Some games may duplicate this to some extent, but very few people good at Microsoft Flight Simulator will be able to sit in a cockpit for eight hours without a break.
Another important difference is that the UAV pilot can attack and destroy a target, which could very well be a living, breathing person. Not a single video game brings a person even close to completing such a mission (do not confuse the virtual with the real).
They have "purge lists"
The main purpose of almost all UAVs is reconnaissance and security. In operation, they act as "eyes in the sky" and are used to ensure the security of headquarters working on site. Of course, some drones are equipped with weapons and are used to destroy targets; but this is not their main mission. In fact, they do not have any “clearance lists” that identify targets submitted for destruction by name.
For a UAV to fire on any target, it must first identify and inspect it, and then the ground commander will decide whether to shoot or not. Unfortunately, there are also erroneous decisions, as in the case of manned aircraft, and civilian targets are mistakenly attacked. That is why the opinion has emerged that UAVs perform a task regardless of decisions on the ground, that is, they destroy a target without definition, regardless of the situation.
The military maintains lists of high-ranking targets, but they are not loaded on board the device and are considered as possible targets.
They are autonomous
As we have already found out, almost all UAVs require qualified operators who can control the device and use its various systems. They can hardly be considered autonomous, although some flight operations are supported by computers, similar to the autopilot found on any commercial airliner today.
While it can be said that the military is not currently operating autonomous killer robots as many people think, no one is saying that this will not happen in the future. Currently, for example, the US Navy and Army are exploring the possibility of creating autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles due to a shortage of pilots, and DARPA is tasked with developing a set of six aircraft that can “collaboratively find, track, identify and engage targets.”
They are made for one purpose: to kill.
Most drones in service with the armies of various countries are used for aerial reconnaissance or surveillance in one form or another. The same Predator was developed for these tasks until the conflict in Iraq began. Fleets of small craft have never been, and are unlikely to be, armed due to their size and other missions.
But what will happen next is still unknown. Many countries are developing UAVs specifically for combat purposes. In 2013, Boeing was able to upgrade the F-16, which is typically flown by two people, to be fully unmanned. The lack of personnel in the cabin allowed the vehicle to achieve 9G acceleration, which would be incredibly dangerous for humans.
In addition, UAV helicopters with machine guns, as well as stealth and other types of combat vehicles are being developed. The future of drone warfare looks like it will make all our misconceptions come true.
Modern drones are not the same anymore. It was once upon a time that they could modestly observe what was happening. Today, these vehicles carry bombs on board and are capable of attacking with them.
Scientific and technological progress has already reached the point where it has begun to create combat drones. We’ll talk about the eight newest ones now.
New British classified UAV Taranis.
nEUROn
European ambitious project. It is planned that this UAV will be stealthy, with incredible striking power:
- weapons— capable of carrying 2 guided bombs weighing 230 kg each.
Its production is planned no earlier than 2030. Although, the prototype has already been built, and in 2012 it even took to the skies. Specifications:
- take-off weight - 7000 kg;
- engine - Rolls-Royce Turbom Adour turbofan;
- maximum speed - 980 km/h.
Northrop Grumman X-47B
This is an attack UAV, the production of which was undertaken by Northrop Grumman. The development of the X-47B is part of the US Navy program. Goal: creating an unmanned aircraft capable of taking off from an aircraft carrier.
Northrop's first flight took place in 2011. The device is equipped with a Pratt & Whitney F100-220 turbofan engine. Weight - 20215 kg, flight range - 3890 km.
DRDO Rustom II
The developer is the Indian military-industrial corporation DRDO. Rustom II is an upgraded version of Rustom drones, designed for reconnaissance and combat strikes. These UAVs are capable of carrying up to 350 kg of payload.
Pre-flight tests have already been completed, so the first flight may well take place even this year. Take-off weight - 1800 kg, equipped with 2 turboprop engines. Maximum speed is 225 km/h, flight range is 1000 km.
"Dozor-600"
At the moment, Dozor has the status of a still promising reconnaissance and strike UAV. Developed by the Russian company Transas. Designed to conduct tactical reconnaissance in the front line or along the route. Capable of transmitting information in real time.
Specifications:
- take-off weight - 720 kg;
- engine - petrol Rotax 914;
- maximum speed - 150 km/h;
- flight range - 3700 km.
Taranis
A British project, led by BAE Systems. At the moment, this is just a test platform for creating a highly maneuverable, stealthy attack drone for transcontinental operation. Basic technical data is classified. All we managed to find out is:
- date of first flight - 2013;
- take-off weight - 8000 kg;
- engine - turbofan Rolls-Royce Adour;
- maximum speed is subsonic.
Boeing Phantom Ray
Another demonstration platform of a promising UAV for reconnaissance purposes. The Phantom Ray is designed as a flying wing and is similar in size to a conventional fighter jet.
The project was created on the basis of the X-45S UAV and boasts its first flight (in 2011). Take-off weight - 16566 kg, engine - General Electric F404-GE-102D turbojet. Maximum speed is 988 km/h, flight range is 2114 km.
ADCOM United 40
Another reconnaissance and strike UAV. Developed and produced by ADCOM (UAE). First shown at the Dubai Air Show (November 2011). The baby's take-off weight is 1500 kg, equipped with 2 Rotax 914UL piston engines. Maximum speed is 220 km/h.
"Scat"
Another incredibly heavy reconnaissance and attack vehicle (weight - 20 tons), developed at the Russian MiG Design Bureau using stealth technology. Only a full-size mock-up was shown to the general public; it was demonstrated at the MAKS-2007 air show.
The project was canceled, but developments remained. They are planned to be used in promising Russian attack UAVs. Weapons include tactical surface-to-surface missiles and aerial bombs. The maximum speed of the monster is 850 km/h, flight range is 4000 km.