Robot battle. UAVs vs. BECs. It looks like Russia’s Orion drones have finally found a worthy application. Green Country Diaries Publication in CHAT: Russia Russian experts from the Lostarmour portal note that this is most likely the first attempt to use the Orion-Inohodets UAV (video at the blue link) against unmanned boats. Judging by the use of a sight and rangefinder, this is a strike option. This option for using reconnaissance and strike UAVs has been proposed for a long time, since in areas with a high concentration of anti-aircraft weapons, they inevitably became easy prey. Such devices, created on the model of the American MQ-1 Predator drone, became fashionable at the beginning of this decade thanks to spectacular photos from Syria and Karabakh. But then their greatest weakness became apparent. When effective medium-range anti-aircraft missiles, such as the Buk-M2, appeared in the area of operation of such drones, their dominance immediately ceased. And if the Predator-type drones could compete with short-range air defense systems using onboard weapons, then it was no longer possible for them to acquire medium-range air defense systems. Orion has a pretty good set of weapons, suitable only for countering targets such as the BEK. Photo by Kronstadt Design Bureau This was especially evident in Syria, when in one day, on March 1, 2020, Syrian anti-aircraft gunners shot down six Turkish Bayraktars and one Anka with Buk missiles. These anti-aircraft missile systems have generally become something of an evil genius for UAVs of this type. No aircraft suffered more from the Buk than reconnaissance and attack drones such as the American Reaper, the Turkish Bayraktar or the Israeli Hermes. Moreover, the Houthis shot down Reapers over Yemen, also using Buks that had been upgraded in Iran. So, when the same type of Orion went into production, it was already, one might say, too late for the masses. The algorithms for combating such drones were known by that time. But despite this, the drone had areas where it could well find a worthy application. These drones are still good for some tasks: counter-insurgency, counter-sabotage operations and in cases of suppression of enemy air defense in the theater of operations. Photo TASS The Orion UAV under the Pacer program first took to the air eight years ago and was quickly chosen as the main reconnaissance and attack drone of the Russian army. In February 2021, the first case of its combat use was noted in the area of Syrian Idlib. At the same time, the Lancet was tested for the first time, but it is the Orions that can be said to be the face of the domestic sphere of unmanned vehicles. At the beginning of this decade, they were considered our best reconnaissance and strike drones, ready to compete with the Reapers and Bayraktars. A special plant was built for them in Dubna near Moscow, where the developers of the Kronstadt Design Bureau were actively assisted by excellent specialists from the legendary Raduga Design Bureau. But then the dependence on foreign components and the high price began to fatally affect the fate of the Dubna UAV. Everyone expected something similar from the Orions to what the Azerbaijani Bayraktars showed in Karabakh, but miracles did not happen. Over the past two years, these Russian UAVs have been used almost exclusively for reconnaissance and intelligence purposes. In Syria, where various banned gangs actually did not have anti-aircraft weapons, the Orion showed itself quite well. Footage from Channel One And now the good news has arrived: the Orion has found a worthy target. Unmanned boats, or UAVs, have already become known as a rather unpleasant means of fighting warships. Good, but not perfect. And Orion has a huge field of action here. It can patrol for several days, scan the sea and either strike itself or name the target for faster aircraft and fighters. The overhead costs per hour of flight of any UAV are significantly less than that of a manned aircraft. And most importantly, there are no Buks in the sea. Subscribe to our channel TG "Green Region". The feed there is much more diverse, many interesting videos and you can hear audio versions of our materials. Thank you! Green Region Diaries https://dzen.ru Subscribe to our Telegram channel so as not to miss all the most important materials that we publish: https://t.me/russiapost Source link Source link
