Killer effective toys

A few years ago, when MT wrote about the military use of drones, it was about American Predators or Reapers, or about innovative developments such as the X-47B. These were high end toys, expensive, futuristic and out of reach. Today, the means of this type of warfare have been greatly "democratized".

In the recent, regular game of the struggle for Nagorno-Karabakh in the fall of 2020, Azerbaijan widely used unmanned aerial vehicles reconnaissance and strike complexes that effectively counteract Armenian anti-aircraft systems and armored vehicles. Armenia also used drones of its own production, but, according to a fairly common opinion, this field was dominated by its opponent. Military experts have commented extensively on this local war as an example of the benefits of appropriate and coordinated use of unmanned systems at the tactical level.

On the Internet and in the media, this war was a “war of drones and missiles” (see also: ). Both sides circulated footage of them destroying armored vehicles, anti-aircraft systems Or helicopters i unmanned aerial vehicles enemy with the use of precision weapons. Most of these recordings come from opto-electronic systems revolving around the UAV (abbreviation) battlefield. Of course, there were warnings not to confuse military propaganda with reality, but hardly anyone denies that unmanned aerial vehicles were of great importance in these battles.

Azerbaijan had access to much more modern types of these weapons. He had, among other things, Israeli and Turkish unmanned vehicles. Prior to the outbreak of the conflict, its fleet consisted of 15 MEN Elbit Hermes 900 and 15 Elbit Hermes 450 tactical vehicles, 5 IAI Heron drones and over 50 slightly lighter IAI Searcher 2, Orbiter-2 or Thunder-B. Tactical drones next to them Bayraktar TB2 Turkish production (1). The machine has a maximum takeoff weight of 650 kg, a wingspan of 12 meters and a flight range of 150 km from the control post. Importantly, the Bayraktar TB2 machine can not only detect and mark targets for artillery, but also carry weapons with a total mass of over 75 kg, incl. UMTAS guided anti-tank missiles and MAM-L precision-guided munitions. Both types of weapons are placed on four underwing pylons.

1. Turkish drone Bayraktar TB2

Azerbaijan also had a large number of kamikaze drones supplied by Israeli companies. The most famous, because it was first used by Azerbaijanis in 2016 during the battles for Karabakh, is IAI Harop, i.e. development of the IAI Harpy anti-radiation system. Powered by a piston engine, the delta machine can be in the air for up to 6 hours and perform as a reconnaissance function thanks to the day / night mode optoelectronic headas well as to destroy selected targets with a warhead weighing 23 kg. This is an efficient, but very expensive system, so Azerbaijan has other machines of this class in its arsenal. This includes produced by Elbit Sky Strike carswhich can stay in the air for 2 hours and hit detected targets with a 5 kg warhead. Cars are much cheaper, and at the same time, they are not only difficult to hear, but also difficult to detect and track with guidance or infrared detection systems. At the disposal of the Azerbaijani army were others, including their own production.

According to popular online videos distributed by the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan, the videos were often used tactics of using unmanned vehicles in conjunction with artillery and guided missiles launched from unmanned aerial vehicles and kamikaze drones. They were effectively used not only to fight tanks, armored vehicles or artillery positions, but also air defense systems. Most of the destroyed objects are 9K33 Osa missile systems with high autonomy, thanks to equipment with optoelectronic head i radarconsidered effective against drones. However, they worked without any additional support, especially weapons that shot down drones during the approach phase.

A similar situation was with the 9K35 Strela-10 launchers. So the Azerbaijanis coped relatively easily. Anti-aircraft systems found out of reach were destroyed by those flying up at low altitudes. shock dronessuch as Orbiter 1K and Sky Strike. At the next stage, without air defense, armored vehicles, tanks, Armenian artillery positions and fortified infantry positions were destroyed by unmanned aerial vehicles sequentially plying in the area or using artillery controlled by drones (see also: ).

The published videos show that in most cases the attack is launched from a different direction than the target tracking vehicle. It draws attention hit accuracy, which testifies to the high qualification of drone operators and their good knowledge of the area in which they work. And this, in turn, is also largely due to drones, which make it possible to recognize and accurately identify targets in great detail.

Many military experts analyzed the course of hostilities and began to draw conclusions. Firstly, the presence of a sufficient number of unmanned aerial vehicles today is crucial for effective reconnaissance and enemy countermeasures. it's not about those MQ-9 Reaper or Hermes 900and reconnaissance and strike vehicles of the mini class at the tactical level. They are difficult to detect and eliminate air defense enemy, and at the same time cheap to operate and easily replaceable, so that their loss is not a serious problem. However, they allow detection, reconnaissance, identification and target marking for artillery, long-range guided missiles or revolving munitions.

Polish military experts also became interested in the topic, pointing out that our armed forces equipment of the corresponding class of drones, Such as flying eye in P. Warmate circulating ammunition (2). Both types are Polish products of the WB group. Both Warmate and Flyeye can run on the Topaz system, also from the WB Group, providing real-time data exchange.

2. Visualization of the Warmate TL circulating ammunition system of the Polish WB Group

A wealth of solutions in America

The military, which has been using UAVs for decades, that is, the US Army, is developing this technique on a multi-purpose basis. On the one hand, new projects are being developed for ever larger drones, such as the MQ-4C Triton(3), built for the US Navy by Northrop Grumman. He is the younger and older brother of the famous winged scout - Global Hawk, originally from the same design studio. While similar in shape to its predecessor, the Triton is larger and powered by a turbojet engine. On the other hand, they miniature drone designssuch as the Black Hornet (4), which soldiers find very useful in the field.

The US Air Force and DARPA are testing new hardware and software configured to launch fourth-generation aircraft. Working with BAE Systems at Edwards Air Force Base in California, Air Force test pilots combine ground simulators with airborne jet systems. “The aircraft was designed so that we could take stand-alone equipment and connect it directly to the aircraft's flight control system,” Skip Stoltz of BAE Systems explains in an interview with Warrior Maven. The demos are ultimately designed to integrate the system with F-15s, F-16s, and even F-35s.

Using standard data transfer technology, aircraft operate semi-autonomous software called Distributed combat control. In addition to adapting fighter jets to control drones, some of them are being converted into drones. In 2017, Boeing was tasked with reactivating older F-16s and making the necessary modifications to turn them into Unmanned aerial vehicles QF-16.

Currently, the flight path, the load capacity of the sensors and the disposal of airborne weapons unmanned aerial vehicles, such as raptors, global hawks and reapers coordinate with ground control stations. DARPA, the Air Force Research Laboratory and the US defense industry have been developing this concept for a long time. drone control from the air, from the cockpit of a fighter or helicopter. Thanks to such solutions, pilots of the F-15, F-22 or F-35 should have real-time video from the electro-optical and infrared sensors of the drones. This could speed up the targeting and tactical participation of unmanned aerial vehicles in reconnaissance missions near places where fighter pilot he may want to attack. Moreover, given the rapidly developing effectiveness of modern air defense, drones can fly into danger zones or not sure conduct reconnaissanceand even perform the function weapon transporter to attack enemy targets.

Today, it often takes many people to fly a single drone. Algorithms that increase the autonomy of drones can significantly change this ratio. According to future scenarios, one person can control ten or even hundreds of drones. Thanks to the algorithms, a squadron or a swarm of drones could follow the fighter on their own, without the intervention of ground control and the pilot in the command aircraft. The operator or pilot will issue commands only at the key moment of the action, when the drones have specific tasks. They can also be programmed end-to-end or use machine learning to respond to emergencies.

In December 2020, the US Air Force announced that it had leased Boeing, General Atomics and Kratos. creation of a drone prototype for transporting systems developed under the Skyborg program, described as "military AI". It means that combat drones created under this program would have autonomy and would be controlled not by people, but by people. The Air Force says it expects all three companies to deliver the first batch of prototypes no later than May 2021. The first stage of flight tests is scheduled to begin in July next year. According to the plan, by 2023, a wing-type aircraft with Skyborg system (5)

5. Visualization of the drone, the task of which will be to carry the Skyborg system

Boeing's proposal could be based on a design its Australian arm is developing for the Royal Australian Air Force under the Airpower Teaming System (ATS) group operations program. Boeing also announced that it had moved semi-autonomous test of five small unmanned aerial vehiclesnetworked under the ATS program. It is also possible that Boeing will use a new structure developed by Boeing Australia called the Loyal Wingman.

General Atomics, in turn, conducted semi-autonomous tests using one of its unmanned aerial vehicles such as Stealth Avengerin a network with five drones. It is very likely that a third competitor, Kratos, will compete under this new contract. new variants of the XQ-58 Valkyrie drone. The US Air Force is already using the XQ-58 in various tests of other advanced drone projects, including the Skyborg program.

The Americans are thinking about other tasks for drones. This is reported by the Business Insider website. The US Navy is investigating UAV techniques that could allow submarine crew to see more.. Thus, the drone will essentially function as a "flying periscope", not only increasing reconnaissance capabilities, but also allowing the use of various systems, devices, units and weapons over the water surface as a transmitter.

The US Navy is also doing research the possibility of using drones for the delivery of goods to submarines and other courts. A prototype of the Blue Water Maritime Logistics BAS system developed by Skyways is being tested. Drones in this solution have vertical takeoff and landing capabilities, they can operate autonomously, carrying loads weighing up to 9,1 kg to a moving ship or submarine over a distance of about 30 km. The main problem that designers face is difficult weather conditions, strong winds and high sea waves.

Some time ago, the US Air Force also announced a competition to create the first ever autonomous tanker drones. Boeing is the winner. MQ-25 Stingray autonomous tankers will operate the F/A-18 Super Hornet, EA-18G Growler and F-35C. The Boeing machine will be able to transport more than 6 tons of fuel over a distance of over 740 kilometers. At first, drones will be controlled by operators after taking off from aircraft carriers. They should become autonomous later. The state contract with Boeing provides for the design, construction, integration with aircraft carriers and the implementation of dozens of such machines for use in 2024.

Russian hunters and Chinese packs

Other armies in the world are also thinking hard about drones. Until 2030, according to recent statements by British Army General Nick Carter. According to this vision, machines will take over from living soldiers many tasks related to intelligence activities or logistics, as well as help fill the personnel shortage in the army. The general made a reservation that robots equipped with weapons and behaving like real soldiers should not be expected on a possible battlefield. However, it is about more drones or autonomous machines that handle tasks like logistics. There may also be automated vehicles performing effective reconnaissance in the field without the need to put people at risk.

Russia is also making progress in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles. Big Russian reconnaissance drone Militia (Ranger) it is an almost twenty-ton winged structure, which is also supposed to have the properties of invisibility. The demo version of the Volunteer made its first flight on August 3, 2019 (6). The drone in the shape of a flying wing has been flying at its maximum altitude, or about 20 meters, for more than 600 minutes. Referred to in English nomenclature Hunter-B it has a wingspan of about 17 meters and belongs to the same class as chinese drone tian ying (7), American unmanned aerial vehicle RQ-170, experimental, presented a few years ago in MT, American UAV X-47B and Boeing X-45C.

6 Russian police drone

In recent years, the Chinese have demonstrated a number of developments (and sometimes only mock-ups), known under the names: “Dark Sword”, “Sharp Sword”, “Fei Long-2” and “Fei Long-71”, “Cai Hong 7”, “ Star Shadow, the aforementioned Tian Ying, XY-280. However, the most impressive recent presentation was the Chinese Academy of Electronics and Information Technology (CAEIT), which, in a recently released video demonstrates testing of a set of 48 armed unmanned units fired from a Katyusha launcher on a truck. Drones are like rockets that expand their wings when fired. Ground soldiers identify drone targets using a tablet. Each one is loaded with explosives. Each unit is about 1,2 meters long and weighs about 10 kg. The design is similar to American manufacturers AeroVironment and Raytheon.

The US Bureau of Naval Research has developed a similar drone called Low-Cost UAV Swarming Technology (LOCUST). Another CAEIT demonstration shows drones of this type launched from a helicopter. “They are still in the early stages of development and some technical issues have yet to be resolved,” a Chinese army spokesman told the South China Morning Post. "One of the key issues is the communications system and how to prevent it from taking over and neutralizing the system."

Weapons from the store

In addition to the mind-bogglingly large and intelligent designs that are created for the army, especially the US army, very inexpensive and not very technically sophisticated machines can be used for military purposes. In other words - free drones they became the weapon of less equipped fighters, but of decisive forces, mainly in the Middle East, but not only.

The Taliban, for example, use amateur drones to drop bombs on government forces. Ahmad Zia Shiraj, head of the Afghan National Security Directorate, recently reported that Taliban fighters are using conventional drones normally designed for filming i take picturesby equipping them explosives. Previously, it has been estimated since 2016 that such simple and inexpensive drones have been used by Islamic State jihadists operating in Iraq and Syria.

A budget “aircraft carrier” for drones and other aircraft and for small rocket launchers can be ships of the multi-purpose type warship “Shahid Rudaki” (8)

8. Drones and other equipment on board the ship "Shahid Rudaki"

The published photographs show cruise missiles, Iranian Ababil-2 drones and many other equipment from bow to stern. Ababil-2 officially designed for observation missions, but can also be equipped explosive warheads and function as "suicide drones".

The Ababil series, as well as its variants and derivatives, have become one of the distinctive weapons in the various conflicts that Iran has been involved in in recent years, including Yemeni Civil War. Iran is equipped with other types of smaller drones, many of which can be used as suicide droneswhich could potentially be launched from this ship. These unmanned aerial vehicles pose a very real threat, as evidenced by 2019 Saudi oil industry attacks. Oil and gas company Aramco was forced to suspend 50 percent of its operations. oil production (see also: ) after this event.

The effectiveness of the drones was felt by the Syrian forces (9) and the Russians themselves, equipped with Russian technology. In 2018, thirteen drones claimed that the Russians had attacked Russian forces in the Syrian port of Tartus. The Kremlin then claimed that SAM Pantsir-S it shot down seven drones, and Russian military electronics specialists hacked into six drones and ordered them to land.

9. Russian T-72 tank destroyed by an American drone in Syria

To protect yourself, but with benefit

chief of the US Central Command, General Mackenzie recently expressed great concern about the growing threat posed by drones., combined with the lack of reliable and cheaper than previously known countermeasures.

The Americans are trying to solve this problem by offering solutions similar to those they use in many other areas, i.e. with the help of algorithms, machine learning, big data analysis and similar methods. For example, the Citadel Defense system, which is used by the world's largest a set of data adapted to detect drones using artificial intelligence methods. The open architecture of the system allows for quick integration with various types of sensors.

However, drone detection is only the beginning. They must then be neutralized, destroyed, or otherwise disposed of, which is less expensive than the cost of millions of dollars. Tomahawk Rocketwhich a few years ago was used to shoot down a small drone.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense announces the development of autonomous lasers capable of turning off and even shoot down potentially dangerous unmanned aerial vehicles. According to Nikkei Asia, the technology may appear in Japan as early as 2025, and the Ministry of Defense will develop the first one. anti-drone weapon prototypes by 2023. Japan is also considering the use of microwave weapons, "incapacitating" flying drones Or flying. Other countries, including the US and China, are already working on similar technology. However, it is considered that lasers vs drones not yet deployed.

The problem with many strong armies is that they defend small unmanned aerial vehicles there is a shortage of weapons that are not so much effective as profitable. So that you don’t have to launch rockets for millions, in order to shoot down cheap ones, sometimes just bought in a store, enemy drone. The proliferation of small unmanned aerial vehicles on the modern battlefield has led, among other things, to the fact that small anti-aircraft guns and missiles, such as those used in World War II against aircraft, have returned to favor with the US Navy.

Two years after the fight against drones in Tartus, Russia introduced self-propelled anti-aircraft gun Conclusion - air defense (10), which should "create an impenetrable barrier for enemy drones from a hail of shells exploding in the air with fragments." The conclusion was designed to make neutralize small unmanned aerial vehicleswhich fly several hundred meters above the ground. According to the Russian Beyond website, the derivation is based on the BPM-3 infantry fighting vehicle. It is equipped with an automatic combat module AU-220M with a rate of fire of up to 120 rounds per minute. “These are missiles with remote detonation and control, which means that anti-aircraft gunners can launch a missile and detonate it with a single keystroke during flight, or adapt its trajectory to track the movement of the enemy.” The Russians openly say that Derivation was created to "save money and equipment."

10. Russian anti-drones Derivation-Air Defense

The Americans, in turn, decided to create a special school where soldiers would be taught how to fight against unmanned aerial vehicles. The school will also become a place where newcomers will be tested. drone defense systems and a new anti-drone tactic is being developed. So far, it is assumed that the new academy will be ready in 2024, and in a year it will work in full.

Drone Protection however, it can be much easier and cheaper than creating new weapons systems and training advanced specialists. After all, these are just machines that can be fooled by models. If aircraft pilots have come across them more than once, then why should cars be better.

At the end of November, Ukraine tested the Shirokyan test site inflatable self-propelled artillery mount type 2S3 "Acacia". This is one of many fake carsproduced by the Ukrainian company Aker, according to the Ukrainian portal defense-ua.com. Work on the creation of rubber copies of artillery equipment began in 2018. According to the manufacturer, drone operators, viewing counterfeit weapons from a distance of several kilometers, are unable to distinguish them from the original. Cameras and other thermal imaging devices are also helpless in the face of new technology. A model of Ukrainian military equipment has already been tested in combat conditions in the Donbass.

Also, during the recent fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian forces used mock-ups - wooden models. At least one case of shooting down a fictitious set of wasps was recorded by an Azerbaijani drone camera and published by the press service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense as “another crushing blow” to the Armenians. So drones are easier (and cheaper) to deal with than many experts think?