RuAviation

On 23 November 2023, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin visited the Federal Centre for Unmanned Aerial Systems (FC UAV) in Moscow’s Rudnevo Industrial Park. The centre’s task is to provide residents with services for manufacturing UAV parts, units and assemblies. More than 35 units of high-tech equipment, including 3D printers and laser machines, have been installed here.

Twelve companies have already become residents of the UAV Centre, including SPE Strela, part of the Kronshtadt Group of Companies. The company creates pilot and serial production of unmanned reconnaissance and strike helicopter-type unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV-HT) Termit, as well as platforms for their landing. Dmitry Medvedev and Sergei Sobyanin toured the serial production area of these UAVs and talked to the centre’s employees involved in the serial assembly of the vehicles.

Dmitry Medvedev noted that the battles during the special military operation (SMO) showed the demand for a large number of inexpensive drones, and their mass production needs to be established in a short time. “Unmanned systems have been in particular demand since the very beginning of the SMO. Probably, to put it bluntly, this was not even expected,” he said at a meeting after visiting the FC UAV.

The Termit UAV and its armament were first presented at the Army-2021 forum. At the same time, during the forum, the Russian Ministry of Defence signed a contract for the delivery of Termit and other complexes under the name Platform developed by SPE Strela. According to Boris Trunov, the head of the special design bureau of the Strela, almost all key elements of the Termit UAV are of in-house manufacture, including such equipment as the weapon control system and the observation and targeting station.

“As the course of combat operations has shown, inexpensive drones are now being used to a greater extent at the tactical level, and in large quantities. There was no mass production of them in our country in the previous period, and therefore the task is to establish such production, and in the shortest possible time,” the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council pointed out. – The centre’s facilities, as we have all seen, allow domestic companies to develop and conduct various experiments, as well as to produce high-tech unmanned aircraft systems. Good conditions have been created here for testing new drones and training operators,” Dmitry Medvedev emphasised.

The Termite is 5 metres long and about 2.3 metres high. The UAV is equipped with a variety of equipment with the ability to install C-8L missiles of 80 mm calibre with laser homing head. The missiles are equipped with a fragmentation warhead and can effectively destroy stationary and mobile targets at a distance of up to 6 kilometres. At the same time, the UAV is capable of performing free hunting missions, which involves independent search for targets. Thanks to the introduction of artificial intelligence, the Termite is able to search, capture and follow targets autonomously, the operator will only have to make a decision on the use of weapons.

Delivery of the UAV to the place of take-off for short distances is carried out by an ordinary car trailer, for long distances “Termit” can be transported by railway, sea or air transport in a container.

As Boris Trunov noted, the main advantage of the Termit UAV-HT is the possibility of off-airfield basing and operation from unprepared engineering sites: such UAVs are capable of taking off and landing almost anywhere. In addition, helicopter-type drones have the ability to hover over objects, they do not need to perform unnecessary manoeuvres like aircraft-type UAVs. “This is very convenient, for example, if you need to aim a missile,” says Boris Trunov. At the same time, he admits that helicopter-type UAVs lose out to traditional aircraft drones in terms of range and flight time.

The video of the visit of D. Medvedev and S. Sobyanin to the FC UAV shows about a dozen UAVs. Sobyanin showed about a dozen attack and reconnaissance UAV-HTs at various stages of assembly. At least three of them are already in a high degree of readiness.