Russian UAVs making a comeback

ISN Security Watch: The issue of the overall development of various types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including unmanned helicopters for civilian and military purposes, has been and still is well addressed by the Moscow-based analysts and defense correspondents. However, what has been lacking is analysis concerning the issue from the Western perspective.

When it comes to the issue of the use of UAVs by the Russian armed forces, this has been less publicised. This is partly because the open source information related to the operations of the 58th Army in Chechnya has not shed any light on the issue, and/or perhaps partly because there has been no reason to shed any such light.

The Chechen war provided the original impetus for using UAVs during combat. The technological level of the UAVs used in Chechnya has been low and lags behind the development and manufacture of UAVs in Israel and the US.

Another reason for the lack of information is the level of teaching of military operators to use UAVs effectively in Russia. It is not as advanced as it is in other countries such as the US.

Furthermore, the depreciation in the efficiency of the UAVs and the lack of interest by the military bureaucrats in procuring them has added to the lack of information on the issue.

A certain change in attitude and in the provision of funding by the Russian Defense Ministry can now be detected. The worldwide accelerated development of UAVs has caused the Russian Defense Ministry to focus on UAV design, development, and manufacture, and to allocate funds for this task.

Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine reported in October 2001 that Russian military experts were beginning to realize that they were missing the revolution in unmanned aircraft technology and, as a result, were urging design bureaus to begin working on a range of home-grown products.

According to another report published in September 2003 by the same publication along with other Russian-language reports, during the Chechen conflict, unmanned aerial vehicles proved to be indispensable systems for the Russian ground forces, but the Russian military experts and high-ranking officers of the armed forces in particular seriously underestimated their importance. This was in spite of the former Soviet Union’s wide experience with the vehicles, at least in peacetime. Three design bureaus were extensively involved in the design and manufacture of UAVs in the former Soviet Union: Yakovlev, Tupolev, and Kamov.

Until October 2001, Russian UAV efforts had been largely limited to one system that had been used by the army for artillery spotting. In addition, the Russian air force has not asked industry to design and build a medium- or high-altitude reconnaissance system. In another report from Aviation Week and Space Technology, dated 8 October 2001, Konstantin Makienko, deputy director of the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) said: “We have a great disadvantage in the area of UAVs. Building UAVs should be one of the Russian military’s top priorities.”

Apparently, the Yakovlev design bureau, which stands at the forefront of UAV research, development, manufacture, and upgrades, has been given the green light.

In addition, General Vladimir Mikhailov, Commander-in-Chief (CINC) of the Russian Air Force said in another interview with the publication: “During the 1990s, there was no funding for UAVs and the air force badly needed such systems. Right now we are accelerating our efforts and many of our design bureaus are working on developments in this area.”

The Sukhoi design bureau is the latest newcomer.

Problems have also been encountered in reconciling the differing outlooks of the land forces, air force, navy, Federal Security Service (FSB) and Emergencies Ministry - the main current and potential UAV users - and in narrowing the differences in military and civil certification procedures.

According to a report published last year in Asia-Pacific Defense Reporter, the Emergencies Ministry has decided to pursue its own system, the Irkut-MChS. Whether the problems mentioned above have been finally resolved remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that over the last two to three years, Russian UAV development and manufacture has accelerated.

It also remains unclear how much money has been allocated for UAV development, since Russian open sources have not disclosed such information.

Furthermore, the companies themselves consider such information classified. However, Jane’s Defence Weekly reported in April last year that the Russian Defense Ministry had provided some funds, while in other cases the companies involved invested their own funds.

The designers, however, lament the lack of orders from the air force, and do not agree with having to spend their own money on research and development.

For the companies involved, UAVs have been perceived as goods for export, particularly to India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. So far, neither of these countries have actually purchased UAVs.

There is an additional potential source of funding, some observers say: Countries in Southeast Asia associated with the marketing of the Russian UAVs, for instance South Korea, have probably provided some funding and/or some UAV technologies have been sold to China. This information has not been independently confirmed.
The Yakovlev design bureau: The Pchela UAV

In an interview with Jane's Defence Weekly in 1998, Colonel Valery Barkovski, the Russian Air Force’s Head of Procurement for UAVs during the Chechen conflict, said one of the most pressing requirements that emerged during Russia’s UAV operations in Chechnya was the ability to deal with multiple objectives and targets. He also said the operator often had insufficient time to interpret all incoming information.

Describing operations with the Pchela-1T UAV, also known as the Yakovlev Yak-61 Shmel or Bumblebee, he said that in flight the UAV might get a number of objectives into view at the same time and, in such a situation, automatic recognition was necessary.

As a result, a decision was made to upgrade the Pchela-1Ts ground station, the Stroy-P, with an automatic target detection and recognition system. This system is programmed to identify a set number of images and can then detect and classify up to ten targets and automatically provide targeting coordinates.

Colonel Barkovski said another important concern in operating the Stroy-P system was to ensure its security, particularly when operating near battle areas or in situations where battle lines were not clearly established.

He added that it also had been determined that a mission-planning station was required for operational liaisons with the higher command and other units, as well as for the deciphering of recordings and other missions. Despite the success of the trial system, it was more than two years before Stroy-P and Pchela-1T were accepted into service by the Russian military.

Another article published in Flight International in 2004 says that although a first series of 36 Pchela-1Ts for three Stroy-P ground stations was produced by the Smolensk aircraft factory in 1991-1992 and used in combat for the first time in April-May 1995, the Pchela UAVs were officially commissioned by the Russian armed forces on 16 June 1997.

In addition, production resumed only in 2002, when six new vehicles were made and a further four returned into service after major repairs. In other words, the Russian armed forces were very slow in assessing the performance of UAVs.

The whole process underscores the armed forces’ depreciation and perhaps also its misunderstanding of the efficiency of the UAVs. Even though the UAV’s limited use in combat showed that “the data obtained by UAVs could not be obtained by other means”. In addition, the prompt delivery of information to those concerned allowed the forces to respond to changing situations in a timely and effective way.

Meanwhile, in-service Pchela air vehicles are being upgraded to provide secure, real-time, data links to manned reconnaissance and strike aircraft. The Yakovlev design bureau has also completed Russian Defense Ministry acceptance trials of an upgraded Pchela-1K UAV equipped with a night-capable infrared surveillance system.

In June 2002, Flight International reported that funding for the Pchela versions in the following year was expected in the defense budget for 2003. According to another story in April last year, an infrared sensor-equipped Pchela-1K was believed to have entered service in 2005, with between six and ten more to follow suit in the near future.

The Yakovlev design bureau began research and development of a new UAV for the Russian military in 2005, with a system that is expected to be similar in dimensions to the in-service Pchela 1, but with more advanced sensors.
Looking to the future

In April 2004, Irkut Corporation (formerly known as the Irkutsk Aviation Production Organisation (IAPO)) purchased more than 75 per cent of the Yakovlev design bureau. As a result, in addition to combat training aircraft such as the Yak-130 designed by the Yakovlev bureau, UAVs are becoming a major focus for Irkut.

In an interview with Jane’s that same year, Irkut chief executive Alexei Fedorov said: "The UAV segment will develop faster than any other for the next 20 years.”

“The system integration for UAVs is much more important than the UAV itself at this point. Systems integration is a new area for us,” he was quoted as saying.

Following integration of French avionics and Israeli components together with a Russian platform and Indian sub-components into the Su-30MKI for the Indian Air Force, Irkut has created a systems integration division. The new division’s first project is expected to be on the development of a UAV designed for para-public missions. Test flights have started.

Fedorov says the company has begun development of a UAV for search-and-rescue and border patrol missions and to provide surveillance for fire crews. The company will base the UAV’s systems on the Aria 200 integrated avionics suite developed for the Beriev Be-200 amphibious fire-fighting craft. This system, for instance, may be bought and used by the Emergencies Ministry, which has already purchased the Be-200. In addition, export opportunities for such a system based on the Be-200 aircraft looks very promising.
The Tupolev and Kamov design bureaus

In addition to Pchela UAV, the Tupolev design bureau has developed a larger and faster Tu-243 Reis-D jet-powered UAV. According to various sources, the Reis-D UAV was developed, tested, and manufactured for the army in the late 1980s.

The Russians continue to work on a large, high-speed unmanned weapons platform for attacking carrier battle groups. According to the Venik’s Aviation website, this UAV may be similar in size and performance to the Tupolev Tu-123 Yastreb, which was produced in the early 1960s.

Tupolev is believed to have completed flight tests of the Tu-300 Korshun. This three-tonne, jet-powered reconnaissance UAV with strike capability is equipped with an infrared camera and side-looking radar, and can carry a standard KMGU (bomb) container, or other weapon loads up to 1,000 kilograms, on a hard point under the fuselage.

Kamov flew first an unmanned helicopter known as the Ka-37 in 1993 after developing it using its own funds. The Ka-37 looked like a scaled-down version of a Kamov manned helicopter. The Ka-37 provided an impetus to design of the Ka-37S prototype in 1996, with a new engine. The Ka-137 is a next generation of the Ka-37, and, as a result, has been substantially redesigned. According to Vectorsite.net, the Ka-137 is currently in service with the Russian border guards and possibly coast guard patrol boats.

Kamov is understood to be working on new models to operate from compact warships, notably the new 1,000-tonne corvette for the Russian navy, carrying sensor equipment.

Moscow-based Mil Helicopter Plant chief designer Alexei Samusenko said in an interview with Defense News last year that the design bureau will complete a blueprint of its unmanned helicopter. The company began work on its unmanned helicopter program in 2000. Samusenko said the prototype of Mil’s first unmanned helicopter may be built this year.

He also said that until then, the company has been investing its own money in the program, but he refused to specify how much. He further added that Mil was drawing up the technical proposal with a concrete set of equipment for the two prospective customers: the Russian Defense Ministry and the Emergencies Ministry. So far, as of last year, the Russian air force had not put forward a tender for an unmanned helicopter, he said.
The crucial importance of UAVs

The advantages and specificity of the UAVs underlines their role as highly mobile component of the air force. They are capable in a short time of collecting reliable intelligence about the enemy spread over a large territory and located in depth and at the same time of attacking the most important enemy targets according to the changing situation on the ground. These characteristics define the increased importance of the UAVs, which can be used for both military and civilian operations.

As a result, the complex targeting program takes into account the development and manufacture of various types of UAVs up to the year 2010 and beyond. This program includes not only the development and manufacture of the UAVs for the air force but also for other interested services and ministries.

It is clear that the Russian Defense Ministry and other ministries, agencies, and armed forces staff members, have finally realized the crucial importance of UAVs. It is also possible to envisage further cooperation between Russian and EU companies in the design and development of UAVs.

The flexibility of reasons for using UAVs can be further impetus for Russia. The US Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) announced last month that it would discuss the use of UAVs for counter-terrorism and anti-piracy operations in Southeast Asian nations. According to the Journal of Net-Centric Warfare, flyovers of the Strait of Malacca should start in three years. Six RQ-4 Global Hawks, the same model that has been used in the Iraq war, will reportedly be flown in the operation.

There is also no doubt that the extensive use of UAVs by other countries, such as by the US in Afghanistan and Iraq, underscored the importance of timely intelligence that can very often mitigate military losses.

Dr. Eugene Kogan is a noted expert in the field of defense technologies. He has held a series of research fellowships at some of Europe's most renowned research institutes, including the Forschungsinstitut der Deutschen Gesellschaft fuer Auswaertige Politik; Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik; the Swedish Defence National College; and the Swedish Defence Research Agency.