In April of this year, a number of mass media reported about the order by the Russian Ministry of Defense of a new type of aviation equipment. The domestic military intends to receive a heavy unmanned aerial vehicle designed for air strikes. Previously, such information has already appeared, but this time it was asserted that the development companies received a specific technical task.
The first information about the intentions of the Ministry of Defense regarding drones appeared back in 2009. Then the responsible persons from the military department announced plans for the creation and purchase of UAVs for various purposes, and M. Pogosyan disclosed information that the new drone is likely to be a joint development of the Sukhoi and MiG companies. After that, for a couple of years, the news in the unmanned sphere in the vast majority of cases concerned the development and purchase of other vehicles with remote control. As for the heavy attack drone, there was practically no information about it until mid-2011. The information vacuum was a little "filled" in August last year, when reports were received regarding the merger of the "unmanned" departments of the MiG and Sukhoi. At the same time, it was clarified that the new UAV will be heavy and have a shock purpose.
This news was followed by a break again. Apparently, the joint design department was engaged in the development of the appearance of a promising drone. Preliminary work, if they really were, was completed by April 2012, when it was reported that the terms of reference for the new UAV had been approved by the Ministry of Defense. At the same time, no details of the assignment were disclosed due to the secrecy of the project. At the same time, already in April, some aviation experts began to assert that the new device would be made according to a modular scheme. In favor of this assumption, the possibility of a relatively simple change in the capabilities of such a UAV was cited. However, no official data on this matter has yet been received.
On July 6, 2012, new information was added to the treasury of information about the heavy attack drone, which, nevertheless, should not be considered as official and completely correct. The newspaper Gazeta.ru, citing an anonymous source in the defense complex, writes that the Sukhoi company will be engaged in the design of the heavy UAV. Why the MiG specialists were withdrawn from the project and other details of the personnel side of the design, the source did not specify. Likewise, the source said nothing about the specifications of the assignment or the cost of the program. Such a small amount of data looks strange to say the least. Why the source, while maintaining anonymity, did not share other information is completely unclear. And the actual receipt of information from unnamed sources can serve as a reason for all sorts of suspicions and conclusions.
At the same time, one should not forget about the almost complete absence of any information confirmed by officials. For this reason, all the information available at the moment, with rare exceptions, should still be considered versions, or even pure speculation. On the other hand, this situation is an excellent reason for analytics and reasoning on the prospects for unmanned vehicles in the Russian aviation industry. One of the most interesting opinions about promising drones was expressed by the chairman of the public council at the Ministry of Defense, military expert I. Korotchenko. According to him, a promising device should not only be an advanced type of weapon, integrated into the most modern communication and control systems, but also a platform for testing the latest technologies. In principle, nothing prevents in the future from applying developments on the topic of heavy attack UAVs in the creation of sixth generation fighters. In addition, the new drone in the future will be able to become a flying laboratory for the development and testing of control systems with elements of artificial intelligence.
At the same time, other unmanned vehicles, which are currently being developed, can serve as a platform for new technologies. According to available data, Transas and Sokol Design Bureau are now simultaneously designing two unmanned vehicles: with a takeoff weight of up to a ton and up to five tons, respectively. The work is being carried out jointly, within the framework of an agreement on strategic cooperation. In the same way as with the heavy drone, information about the projects of "Transas" and "Sokol" is still closed. Based on the declared mass parameters, we can conclude about the multipurpose purpose of the devices. At the same time, Russian Helicopters recently began designing a multi-purpose unmanned helicopter. Moreover, the Israeli company IAI can be involved in the project as a partner.
