Not many people know that the first unmanned vehicles appeared at the end of the century before last thanks to the famous inventor, whom many are inclined to consider also a mystic scientist, Nikola Tesla. It was Tesla who was the first to design and demonstrate an object that was controlled using a radio signal. It happened back in 1898. Twelve years later, the idea of Tesla's radio-controlled unmanned aerial vehicles and initial aviation successes were taken up by an American engineer named Kettering. It is he who is considered the creator of the world's first military UAV, the purpose of which was as follows: at a certain point in time, this aircraft must fall like a stone on the enemy, causing certain damage. In the mid-1910s, the American military department became interested in Kettering's developments, and several devices of the described type were ordered for the needs of the US Army.
Time passed, and the design of drones was improved. Today it is already difficult to imagine an army of a developed state in which UAVs would not be used. Ever since the drones received significant electronic, optical and shock stuffing, which allows not only to control the airborne with the help of the remote control and to carry out high-quality survey of the terrain, but also to deliver preventive strikes, UAVs are often referred to as drones. This word translated into Russian means "drone". These aircraft were first used as reconnaissance aircraft, again by the Americans in the late 40s - early 50s of the last century. The first UAV with military reconnaissance functions, developed in 1948, was called the AQM-34 "Firebee" ("Fire Bee"). It was a construction of impressive size and weight. The wingspan of the AQM-34 was more than 4.4 m, and the total weight exceeded 2.2 tons. Obviously, significant efforts were required to launch such an apparatus. However, this did not prevent the Americans from successfully using their reconnaissance UAV in military conflicts, including in Vietnam. For a long time, it was the Americans who were considered, so to speak, trendsetters in terms of creating UAVs of various modifications.
AQM-34 "Firebee"
The next modification of the UAV can be called a classic multifunctional drone. Drones are military variations of unmanned aerial vehicles that are robotic and, based on a complex of software and hardware features, can perform various tasks, being in the air for several hours and flying several hundred kilometers without additional charging.
Drones have become simply indispensable in modern reconnaissance and combat conditions. The main advantage of using drones, among which there are often so-called multicopters (UAVs equipped with several propellers), is that the risk of hitting the crew of the aircraft completely disappears (there is simply no crew), and in addition, there is a cheaper option for use for the same intelligence rather than the use of helicopter technology with a crew on board. Today, various armies of the world are considering the opportunity to buy a multicopter (drone) for military purposes. Some have to be content with foreign designs, while others follow the path of stimulating internal development.
If we talk about Russia, then a few months ago on the agenda was the task of acquiring Israeli-made unmanned aerial vehicles and their subsequent operation. At the same time, the leadership of the main military department, which was the main customer of the UAV, was not embarrassed by the fact that Israeli drones were far from being a new generation of combat drones and, moreover, were not cheap at all.
After debriefing (in the literal and figurative sense), the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation decided to go along the path of funding research in the field of domestic UAV developments. But so far, there is still a long way to go in this direction. Here's one example.
Just a few days ago, information came that the domestic vehicles Zastava and Forpost are being tested at the Salka flight range near Yekaterinburg. These UAVs were developed by one of the enterprises of the defense industry complex "Oboronprom", namely the Ural Civil Aviation Plant. According to representatives of the defense industry complex "Oboronprom", tests of Russian UAVs are successful even at air temperatures of about -30 Celsius. At an altitude of 2 kilometers, to which the Zastava and Outpost were raised, the temperature dropped to critical values of -50-55 Celsius, but the drone systems were operating normally.
Tests of the UAV "Forpost" (IAI Searcher Mk II), assembled at the JSC "Ural Civil Aviation Plant" for the Ministry of Defense of Russia. Salka, 25.12.2012 (c) OJSC OPK Oboronprom
Despite the fact that UAVs are created by domestic specialists, neither Zastava nor Forpost can be called Russian in full measure. The fact is that at UZGA they work according to the diagrams and drawings that were provided by the same Israeli side - IAI Ltd. In addition to the drawings, the Israelis transferred control and testing stands, training and technological equipment to the Ural enterprise. In other words, Zastava and Outpost are Israeli drones that have been given Russian names on Russian territory and are being assembled by Russian workers. Zastava is nothing more than a BirdEye 400 UAV, and Outpost is a Searcher MkII.
It would seem that such a "screwdriver assembly" of foreign drones should not be rejoiced at. But OPK Oboronprom has a different opinion. On the basis of prototypes of Israeli UAVs in the Urals, it is planned in the near future to create their own drone, which in its characteristics will surpass many of the existing counterparts. How soon will this future be? - there is no answer to this question yet. But there is an answer to what type the new Russian drone may belong to.
According to a representative of the Russian Helicopters holding, it will be a helicopter-type unmanned drone, possibly a multicopter. While the holding does not disclose the details of the new drone, but they talk about possible problems. One of the difficult tasks that the developers will have to solve is that a relatively flat landing area is needed for a helicopter-type UAV (and the developers plan to land a drone for military purposes, including behind enemy lines). To solve this problem, it is possible that a semblance of a gyroscopic system will be used, capable of maintaining balance even at relatively large angles of inclination. At the same time, we must not forget about reducing the specific noise from several screws.
In the meantime, Russian experts are puzzling over how to modernize Israeli drones and create their own unmanned reconnaissance and combat aircraft systems, armies of other countries of the world are using UAVs very actively. Not so long ago, the Americans spread information that their drones managed to destroy an entire militant camp in Pakistan. The air strike was carried out on the bases of representatives of al-Qaeda (at least, as the representatives of the command of the US army say) in the province of North Waziristan. Shortly before that (last Sunday), a group of militants in the Pakistani province of South Waziristan was destroyed by an American UAV airstrike. The Americans then counted 9 killed, who were immediately christened representatives of the Taliban movement.
The Pakistani authorities have repeatedly expressed their disapproval of the actions of the Americans in the airspace of their country. The fact is that official reports on the performance of military operations by the American military do not always coincide with the data provided by the Pakistanis. It often happens that an American drone strikes a group of militants, and women and children are killed and wounded … However, not a single American UAV operator, at the signal of which the missile was fired at civilians, has yet been justly punished. More often than not, it all boils down to the fact that Americans admit their guilt, declaring a fatal and unintentional mistake. And who can even check: was it a mistake or a deliberate action? Certainly not the Pakistani authorities, even if they want to initiate such a check …
Information about the use of UAVs with reconnaissance functions also comes from the Far East (not Russian). Tokyo and Beijing almost simultaneously announced that they were creating special groups of drones, ready day and night to monitor the territory of the disputed Senkaku Islands (Diaoyu), as well as the waters that wash these islands. The reconnaissance will be carried out with the aim of witnessing a possible "invasion" of the territory of the islands from the side of his opponent. Neither Tokyo nor Beijing have yet talked about what measures the parties to the conflict are ready to undertake in the event of the "invasion" being recorded. But if it comes to a real conflict, then the world may witness the first large-scale confrontation between drones of different states.
