The 5th generation strategic missile carrier called the Advanced Long Range Aviation Complex (PAK DA) may become unmanned. This was told in the United Aircraft Company (UAC).
"To fully control the aircraft from the ground, we need a developed network of satellites in space. Plans to build up an orbital constellation indicate that we will have such a network," a UAC source told Lifenews.ru, indicating that Russian specialists have experience in creating large drones, citing Buran as an example.
The Ministry of Defense signed a contract for research work on the creation of the PAK DA with JSC Tupolev in 2009. Then the general designer of the company Igor Shevchuk said that the missile carrier would become "a fundamentally new aircraft, which will be based on conceptually new solutions."
The development of the aircraft, according to the representative of the UAC, will become a serious help for Tupolev, which is experiencing financial difficulties. "Tupolev's civil projects now do not allow him to survive, and the defense order will load the company with work," he explained.
Earlier, First Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin said that the development of the PAK DA is included in the state armament program until 2020, and the creation of the aircraft will go "calmly, without forcing", since the strategic missile carriers Tu-160 and Tu-95 are currently in service will last another 20-25 years.
