"Russian Drones Lag U.S. Models by 20 Years" Topic

"The Russian military will acquire long-range, presumably jet-powered strike drones to help replace its arsenal of decrepit Cold War-era Tupolev heavy bombers, according to Moscow's long-range aviation commander, Lt. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev.

Just one problem: The new drones won't be ready for combat until 2040 at the earliest, Zhikharev told Russian news agency RIA Novosti. That's a full two decades after the U.S. plans to deploy its own jet-propelled, armed unmanned aerial vehicles.

Remember when U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney called Russia America's "number-one geopolitical foe?" Romney subsequently dialed back that rhetoric. But the two-decade gap between U.S. and Russian drone technology is still a useful reminder that Moscow does not pose a major military threat to any country that isn't its immediate neighbor.

Zhikharev's admission of the drone gap comes at a desperate time for the once-mighty Russian aerospace industry. Political pressure is building for the Kremlin to acquire modern weaponry on par with that of the U.S., European and the most advanced Asian militaries. This summer, newly reelected Russian president Vladimir Putin vowed to equip the air force with a new manned bomber, a new early-warning radar plane and several types of drones. "This is a most important area of development in aviation," Putin said of UAVs.

But while Russian industry has reliably churned out upgraded versions of Cold War jet fighters while also slowly developing the T-50, Moscow's first stealth fighter prototype, aerospace companies have struggled to design working UAVs. Drones demand lightweight materials and systems, but Russian flight hardware "tends to be overbuilt," according to U.S. trade publication Defense Industry Daily.

Lack of technological foresight is another problem. Putin's recent cheerleading for drones belies decades during which the Russian military willfully neglected robotic aircraft.

In 2007, Moscow's state-owned gas and oil producer Gazprom teamed up with aerospace firm Irkut to develop two models of camera-equipped medium drone for patrolling Gazprom's thousands of miles of pipelines. In size and endurance, Gazprom's civil UAVs were roughly equivalent to American and European military models, including the U.S. Predator. Even so, the Kremlin was "not overly impressed" and "largely ignored" the drones, U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Cindy Hurst wrote.

A year later Russia went to war with its neighbor Georgia, a country of only 4.5 million people that nevertheless had been able to equip its armed forces with Israeli-made Hermes drones, totally outclassing Russia's surveillance forces. After the war Russia spent $53 USD million on its own fleet of probably a dozen or so Israeli UAVs, including Searcher and I-View models.

These remain Moscow's only modern drones. Belated efforts to design indigenous flying robots have all fallen flat. In January 2010 a prototype of the Vega Company's Stork UAV crashed and burned on takeoff, as seen in the video above. The crash apparently ended that particular program.

In essence, Russia is starting from scratch on homemade robot warplanes, some 20 years after other advanced nations began getting serious about UAVs. Russian officials are promising a first flight for an indigenous, Predator-class drone in 2014, but in light of past failures the plan lacks credibility. It's not hard to see why a jet-powered drone bomber could require a full 30 years to develop, starting today.

The U.S. military, by contrast, already operates hundreds of medium drones, including armed Predators and Reapers — to say nothing of thousands of small drones and dozens of airliner-size Global Hawks.

Meanwhile, American firms have produced four different jet-propelled, drone bomber demonstrators in anticipation of a Navy contest to put armed UAVs on carrier decks by 2018. And the Air Force is planning to make its newest bomber, due to enter service in the 2020s, "optionally manned." That means it can switch from a piloted warplane to a drone with the flip of a few switches.

Against these robots, Russia's 2040 drone bomber could seem hopelessly late — if it enters service at all"
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Anybody had wargaming with drones yet?
It seems that they can balance a battle like the Georgia Army show.

Amicalement
Armand

I've got one for my Angola games. The South Africans were using 'Seeker' UAVs, based on a sanctions-busting Israeli design, as artillery OPs during the 1987-89 campaigns.

This from May of last year. I wonder how well the Israeli UAVs would have been helping their knowledge. Robert

Quid Pro Quo: UAVs for Russia

Russia's surveillance needs are genuine, and the recent war in Georgia demonstrated the value of UAVs – to the Georgian side. Most of those UAVs were Israeli-made.

UAVs have a much smaller field of view than manned aircraft, and at the moment they also have much higher accident rates. In exchange, they offer extremely long endurance, the potential for centralized monitoring, and much lower costs per-hour. This combination is ideal for monitoring critical infrastructure. Such as, for example, long oil and gas pipelines that are the chokepoint of a Russian economy relying on energy exports.

Russia's UAV-related problems are two-fold.

The first problem is that they are behind in UAV technology. Russia's defense sector is still weak as a result of the devastating budget cutbacks in the 1990s, when Russia's economy and defense spending both collapsed. Small to medium size UAVs are not a technically difficult aerospace project. The problem is that finding production resources and time can be difficult in a centralized system that has yet to recover and modernize, and needs its available engineers to support existing strategic and/or export-oriented projects. Russia lack of progress in this field suggests that issues remain.

So, too, do reports of Russian UAV performance in Georgia. Defense Update:

"An example of Russian UAVs technology is the Tipchak system developed by the Lutch Design Bureau. According to Mr Popovkin, the drone was operational during the recent fighting with Georgia, but had demonstrated many problems, among them a distinct acoustic signature audible from long distance, which, coupled with the low ceiling, yielded high vulnerability to ground fire. The developers are currently working on a new-generation Tipchak, expected to be delivered in about three years…. The new Russian UAV weighs 132 pounds, has a payload of 32 pounds and can stay in the air for two hours per sortie. The Tipchak can operate as high as 10,000 feet. The drone carries a day/night camera payload. It has an operational range of 40 km and mission endurance of about two hours."

The second problem is less tractable, as it has been a long-standing Russian weakness. UAVs require miniaturization and lightweight components for their payloads, or their performance suffers badly. This has always been a problem for Russian equipment, which tends to be overbuilt rather than over-engineered. Russia has also traditionally had issues producing reliable electronics, which are required for the UAVs' back-end.

Consistent reports surfaced that Israel and Russia were discussing a deal for UAVs, and a May 24/09 Jerusalem Post article raised them again with a $50 USD-53 million UAV deal that was reportedly signed in April 2009.

The UAV systems in question reportedly include 3 IAI products. The largest is the Searcher-II tactical UAV. Searchers have an endurance of 12-15 hours. They have received excellent reviews from Russia's traditional defense ally India, for instance, and were recently bought by Spain for service in Afghanistan. The order also reportedly includes smaller I-View MK150 short-range UAVs that use parachutes to land, and hand-launched Bird-Eye 400 mini-UAVs. Officials reportedly told the Jerusalem Post that deliveries would begin by the end of 2009.

Ultimately, according to RIA-Novosti, Russia aims to develop a fleet of at least 100 UAVs with flight ranges of up to 240 miles, and airborne endurance of 12 hours or more. That's beyond the specifications of these Israeli UAVs, although the Searcher-II comes close.

In May 2009, Jerusalem Post also reported that a follow-on deal "is likely to include the sale of IAI's long-range Heron." IAI's Heron comes in 3 variants, all of which are Medium Altitude, Long Endurance (MALE) platforms in the same class as the USA's MQ-1 Predator. They would exceed Russia's desired specifications several-fold, but they would also represent a transfer of more advanced UAV technology. Subsequent comments by a Russian official underlined the risks inherent in that approach – but sometimes strategy makes strange bedfellows, and the risk/reward calculus isn't always straightforward."

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That's the best news I've seen today, e.g. the Russian 20 year lag in tech.

I haven't used them yet, but plan to in my SciFi games.

Most squads will be equipped with several, hand-launched mini-UAVs, for close-in recon, and protection.

Well, the UAVs didn't help the Georgians that much. They got clobbered when the Russians actually intervened.

IAI delivers 12 UAVs to Russia in key deal – UPI.com

IAI delivers 12 UAVs to Russia in key deal – UPI.com.
Israeli Air Force induction ceremony for Heron TP

TEL AVIV, Israel, Jan. 17 (UPI) — Israeli Aerospace Industries has delivered a dozen unmanned aerial vehicles to Russia under a $400 USD million contract that will eventually allow Moscow to manufacture advanced drones that will significantly enhance its military capabilities.

The delivery of the short-range Bird-Eye 400 and I-View Mk 150 aircraft, plus the longer-range Searcher II, in recent weeks is part of an Israeli effort to encourage the Russians not to provide Iran and Syria with advanced weapons systems that could threaten the Jewish state, The Jerusalem Post reported.

"It is reasonable … to argue that Israel viewed UAV sales and joint military technology activity as a means of bringing influence to bear on Moscow," Jane's Defense Weekly observed.

The UAVs delivered by state-owned IAI, flagship of Israel's high-tech defense industry, stemmed from a ground-breaking April 2009 contract worth $53 USD million. That marked Russia's first purchase of a foreign weapons system.

That, in turn, led to the $400 USD million deal between IAI and Russia's Oboronprom OPK Group in October 2010 under which the Russians will independently manufacture the Heron 1, one of Israel's most advanced UAVs capable of strategic missions.

As part of the deal, IAI trained some 50 Russian pilots at its main facility near Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv.

It isn't clear whether IAI will provide Russia with the Heron TP, or Eitan, a 4.5-ton aerial titan that is understood to be able to carry air-to-ground missiles.

That seems unlikely, in the short term at least, given the Heron's strategic capabilities, which Israel is reluctant to share. But JDW says Moscow has expressed an interest in the Heron TP.

The craft is 79 feet long and has a wingspan of 86 feet and can stay aloft for 20 hours at high altitudes, making it capable of reaching Iran from Israel.

UAVs have become a major export of Israel's defense industry.

"Israel is the world's leading exporter of drones, with more than 1,000 sold in 42 countries," Jacques Chemia, chief engineer of IAI's UAV division, said recently.

Moscow's decision last June to scrap an $800 USD million contract to provide Iran with powerful S-300PMU air-defense missile systems clearly has helped Israel overcome its reservations about providing technology to Russia.

Tehran wanted the systems to protect its nuclear installations, which the Israelis have threatened to attack. The S-300s would have been a formidable obstacle for Israeli warplanes.

Israel wants Moscow to ditch plans to sell Syria the advanced supersonic P-800 Yakhont cruise missile that could pose a series threat to Israel's navy, particularly if they are passed on to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

From the Russian point of view, the deals with Israel underline how Moscow is accelerating efforts to obtain major military platforms from the West, a fundamental revision of Russian military procurement strategy.

Securing licenses from foreign defense manufacturers, such as IAI, to produce the equipment in Russia is significant as it will bolster the Kremlin's plans to revive its moribund defense industry over the next decade.

"While design bureaus and major builders have experience building major platforms such as fighter aircraft, tanks and submarines, they are hopelessly behind European and U.S. manufacturers in their ability to produce modern electronics and advanced equipment," according to an Oxford Analytica assessment in August.

The Russian air force received no new aircraft from 1994-2003 and only three since then. These were early models of the T-50 fifth-generation fighter that was supposed to revitalize the air force by 2015. But because of design problems, particularly with the power plant, the air force is unlikely to start taking delivery of the first jets until 2018 at the earliest.

Russia has been unable to get off the ground with advanced UAVs, a shortcoming that became all too evident during the brief 2008 war with the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

It was Georgia's use of long-endurance Hermes 450 tactical spy drones, built by Israel's Elbit Defense Systems, to provide battlefield reconnaissance that caught Moscow's interest.

This issue was sufficiently sensitive that the Israelis were uneasy about to selling UAVs to Russia, particularly since Moscow was providing advanced weapons systems to Iran and Syria.

Washington was concerned enough about the proposed UAV sales that it "requested clarifications" from Israel's Defense Ministry, the liberal daily Haaretz reported in June.

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Thanks for the good info Robert!.

Amicalement
Armand

I strongly suggest for a good overview of UAV development and other military robotic hardware that everyone read Wired for War. One point I will make from that book is that while the West, in particular the United States, is decades ahead of other powers regarding robotic military devices, as well as other sophisticated gear, many of our potential rivals such as China, and yes Iran, are doing a great deal of reverse engineering of captured or illegally purchased US software and hardware. In addition most of the parts and computer systems needed to create today's UAVs and ground robots can be purchased off the shelf.

With that in mind I find the above articles a bit arrogant and overconfident. Conflict is the mother of invention and Russia has always had a strong persecution complex. And China and India want to be the next global player in a post United States dominated world. Of course, none of these powers has, as of yet the total infrastructure in terms of top universities, modern tech industries, and know how to make this happen, yet. However, we in the West have done the hard work already so that decades long gap I think is an illusion.

More in line with Tangos last question from a wargaming perspective Force on Force, Ambush Alley, and Tomorrow's War have wonderful elegant rules for the use of UAVs. Mainly the UAVs come into play through the Fog of War cards. In Tomorrow's War you have the possibility of your force being "on the Grid" which provides for advanced surveillance either via drones, satellites, etc.