At the IDEX-2019 international arms exhibition held in Abu Dhabi from 17 to 21 February, Izhevsk gunsmiths presented a new development. Concern Kalashnikov brought its novelty to the United Arab Emirates. We are talking about an intelligent weapon - the KUB-BLA high-precision unmanned strike system. Such systems have been actively developed in many countries of the world for several decades, but for Russia this kamikaze drone is the first of its kind. How successful the project will be, whether it will be able to occupy its niche in the international market, whether it will be in demand by the Russian armed forces, we will receive answers to these questions in the near future.
It is worth noting that the kamikaze drone, or kamikaze drone, is the definition of such UAVs that have long been entrenched in the press, but the official designation for such weapons is loitering ammunition. The principle of operation of such drones is quite simple. Loitering munitions are projectiles with different weights of explosives in the warhead, capable of performing a long-term flight over a given terrain or to a specific point, searching for and then hitting detected ground targets with an air attack. Loitering ammunition usually does not return from a flight, hence such a stable comparison with the kamikaze - Japanese suicide pilots who were widely used by the Land of the Rising Sun at the final stage of World War II in the Pacific theater of operations.
Impact drone from ZALA AERO
The engineers of the ZALA AERO group of companies are responsible for the development and creation of the new KUB-UAV attack unmanned aerial vehicle. Today, ZALA AERO is rightly considered one of the leading domestic developers of air drones for various purposes. The company also specializes in the creation and production of a unique target load for drones and other technical means that ensure their effective use. Since January 2015, the ZALA AERO group of companies is organizationally part of the Concern Kalashnikov Joint Stock Company.
The ZALA AERO group of companies was formed in Izhevsk back in 2004, and already in 2006 it presented the first unmanned aerial vehicle. Today the company designs and manufactures a wide range of flying drones, both aircraft and helicopter types. In total, more than a thousand unmanned systems under the ZALA brand are in operation in the Russian Federation. The field of use of such technology is quite wide - from reconnaissance and rescue operations and state border protection, to monitoring emergency situations and objects posing an increased danger. The company is especially proud to be the leader of the Russian market in the provision of air monitoring services in the fuel and energy sectors of the Russian economy. It can be stated that the company has extensive experience in the creation and production of unmanned vehicles, therefore, problems with the launch of serial production and the development of the new unmanned strike complex "KUB-BLA" should not arise, of course, if the device is in demand by customers. Earlier, Concern Kalashnikov has already reported on successful tests of a new unmanned strike system and the readiness of the KUB-UAV to be used by the military.
The foreign press has already paid attention to the development of the Izhevsk gunsmiths. For example, one of the main American print media, the Washington Post, literally sang a laudatory ode to the novelty of the Russian defense industry. The newspaper's journalists called the KUB-UAV unmanned strike complex a revolution in the world of weapons, comparing the drone with a Kalashnikov assault rifle. True, what exactly is revolutionary is actually quite difficult to understand. The pioneers of the creation of such loitering ammunition are the United States, as well as Israel, which have been developing and producing them for the past several decades; representatives of the Kalashnikov Concern, who openly write about this in their own materials, agree with this. Perhaps the main feature of the new Russian attack drone will be the low price. In terms of cost-effectiveness, the complex is likely to really bypass the latest American and Israeli models. Under certain conditions, this can be regarded as revolutionary, since the low price will make the device available to a wide range of customers, just like in its time it happened with the Kalashnikov assault rifle, which conquered the whole world.
Features and capabilities of the "KUB-UAV" loitering ammunition
According to the statements of representatives of the Kalashnikov concern, with whom it is difficult to disagree, today loitering ammunition and drones - carriers of guided munitions - are one of the main and most promising directions in the development of UAVs. The KUB-UAV complex presented by the Kalashnikov Concern engineers implements the concept of engaging remote ground targets from the air. The drone can deliver an explosive charge at the previously known coordinates of a ground target, which can be entered manually even before launch or independently find the target using a special targeting load on board.
According to Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov, the Kalashnikov Concern is organizationally part of this state corporation, the new unmanned strike system is a step forward, a step towards a new method of warfare. According to Chemezov, today Russia is confidently among the leading countries specializing in the development and production of such weapons systems. The loitering munition presented in Abu Dhabi can move at an average speed of 80 to 130 km / h and stay in the sky for up to half an hour. In this case, the explosive charge installed on the drone is delivered to the area of the attacked target, regardless of the terrain or the presence of shelters. The drone can fly up to the target at high and low altitudes, while it absolutely does not care whether the target is hidden in ravines and ravines or not. "KUB-UAV", like other models of modern drones-kamikaze, is an effective and accurate weapon, which is difficult to resist using classical systems and air defense means.
The main advantages of the new complex are the employees of the Kalashnikov Concern: the high accuracy of the loitering ammunition, hidden launch, ease of use and quiet operation. The drone can move from the launch site to the target in the range of speeds from 80 to 130 km / h, which is a decent indicator, given the small size and weight of the aircraft. The device is launched into the air using a special catapult. The payload of the kammikaze drone is 3 kg, the flight duration is 30 minutes. Based on the published video and photographic materials, as well as the declared mass of the payload, experts believe that the total mass of the unmanned vehicle does not exceed 10-15 kg. The length of the unmanned vehicle does not exceed 1210 mm.
Foreign loitering ammunition
The first kamikaze drones appeared in 1989, it was then that the IAI Harpy loitering munition flew in Israel for the first time. The main purpose of the projectile was the fight against enemy radar. This is a fairly large drone with a maximum weight of 125 kg and a range of up to 400 km. The complex can make a completely independent flight, and Harpy can also be manually controlled by an operator. If the order to attack the target is not given, the "Harpy" can simply return back to the airfield and land. The Israeli development is a hybrid of a loitering munition and a reusable reconnaissance drone.
Giez WARble Fly
The Israeli miniature loitering ammunition Hero-30 can be called close in size and capabilities to the Russian novelty. This kamikaze drone stays in the sky for 30 minutes and is able to engage targets up to 40 km away from the launch site. The total mass of such a drone is only 3 kilograms, only one fighter can carry the Hero-30, if necessary, he can carry the drone with him for at least 24 hours in a row. Of this mass, about a third is accounted for by the warhead itself, and another third by rechargeable batteries.
There are analogs of tiny "air assassins" in the United States. For example, the silent killer Switchblade, designed by engineers at AeroVironment. This loitering ammunition is launched from a special tube installation, which strongly resembles a classic mortar. With a mass of about 2.5 kilograms, the drone develops a maximum speed of 158 km / h. The drone can stay in the air for no more than 10-15 minutes and hit targets at a distance of up to 10 km (optionally up to 15-45 km), the very small size of the complex affects. But the device is extremely mobile, the drone itself, together with a launch device and a bag for transportation, weighs only 5.5 kg, significantly expanding the capabilities of rifle units at the platoon-company level.
But these are already well-known, previously presented projects. At the IDEX-2019 exhibition, in addition to the Russian novelties, new models of loitering ammunition produced by Eastern European countries and Turkey were also presented, which can directly compete with the "people's" strike drone. So Polish developers presented a completely new drone called Giez WARble Fly, this model had not been demonstrated anywhere before the exhibition in Abu Dhabi. The Polish copy differs from a number of other similar complexes by the presence of a replaceable warhead; in total, there are five different versions to choose from - anti-personnel and anti-tank versions, a vacuum charge, as well as an idle and training warhead. The drone is launched from a special tube. Flight speed - 150 km / h, flight range - 5-10 km, wingspan - 1.6 meters.
RAM UAV
The Ukrainian defense industry also presented its version of the loitering ammunition at the exhibition. The developers of the neighboring state presented the RAM UAV model. The creation of the apparatus was carried out by the engineers of the "Defense Electronic Technologies" company. In order to improve the stealth performance of the device, the drone is made of modern composite materials. To reduce the visibility, the model was equipped with an electric motor, which remains quiet in operation. The maximum take-off weight of the device is 8 kg, the wingspan is 2.3 meters, the flight distance is 30 km, the warhead weight is 3 kg. There is currently no information on the tests and launches of the novelty in open sources of information.
Turkish developers also presented their vision of kamikaze drones. STM (Savunma Teknolojileri Muhedislik) has presented the second variation of the ALPAGU BLOK II drone. According to the assurances of the developers, the model is distinguished by a developed AI, the presence of an autonomous control system, the video surveillance system and image processing algorithms have also been improved. It is reported that the ALPAGU BLOK II loitering ammunition was designed taking into account the tests of the first version of the apparatus by the Turkish military. The range of the drone is 5-10 km, the flight time is up to 10-20 minutes, the developers have not yet disclosed other information about the model.
The performance characteristics of the "KUB-UAV" (information from the website kalashnikovgroup.ru, except for the mass of the drone):
Overall dimensions: length - 1210 mm, width - 950 mm, height - 165 mm.
Flight speed - 80-130 km / h.
The flight duration is up to 30 minutes.
Payload weight - up to 3 kg.
The weight of the drone is up to 10-15 kg (presumably).
Launch - from a catapult.
