Israeli UAV's fail in Russian winter trials

[Project 627]

Russia's leading drone developer, Vega, will unveil its latest model at the MAKS-2011 air show. Company spokesman Alexei Nedelin said that the new drone, named Luch after the design bureau that developed the bulk of the technology, can be armed with up to 170 kg of weapons systems along with control systems. The Luch represents one of the first attempts to create a Russian-made next-generation attack drone.
The ambitious project's profile is raised through the official status that Vega has - it is a state-owned corporation responsible for a number of projects in the fields of electronics, radar systems, and data collection and management. The company first announced that work on the project was underway back in September last year.
But is it really Russian?
Of specific interest is the drone's configuration. Its developers say that the drone's heart is none other than a Rotax 914 engine. This should raise some eyebrows.
The Rotax 914 was developed by the Austrian company Rotax, a well-known manufacturer of engines used in many unmanned aerial vehicles. Famous drones like the U.S. MQ-1 Predator or the Israeli Heron use Rotax equipment. This is the de-facto standard for drones of this class.
In fact, the Luch is not the first conventional Russian-made attack drone equipped with this exceptionally successful engine. At the previous MAKS show in 2009, Transas Group displayed the Dozor-600, which can properly be described as an attempt to recreate the American Predator, albeit slightly scaled down.
It would be interesting to see what Vega does next with the Luch. If Vega offers it to the Russian Air Force in this form, it will immediately run into problems obtaining components. Export controls are strangling the defense industry and have been unforgiving for much smaller transgressions - imported composites, Taiwanese electronics, even special alloys from CIS countries. Now we're talking about a piece of equipment as complex and important as an engine and, what's more, one that is still widely used in NATO forces.
Besides a sound heart, a good drone needs sharp eyes and ears. Optical tracking systems (in particular, thermal imaging cameras) are a weak spot in the Russian defense industry. True, Russia has made great strides in recent years, but alas, Russian equipment still falls short of the world's best in terms of all operating parameters. The previous generation of domestic unmanned aerial vehicles (manufactured by the very same Vega) did not even fully resolve the problem of camera image stabilization, as revealed in an open meeting with General Vladimir Shamanov in 2009.
It remains unclear what equipment Vega will use in the Luch (the upcoming air show will probably clarify this issue), but Vega's colleagues from Transas installed the Euroflir 350 optronic observation system, made by French company Sagem, in their Dozor-600. In recent years, the French have generally been filling Russia's infrared technology gap. It is unlikely that the Russian Ministry of Defense will be pleased with this incursion into a sensitive area; after all, drones are one of the cornerstones of modern intelligence and control systems on the battlefield.
A very sad story
The drone industry in Russia is scraping along. After accusing developers of wasting public funds and pointedly purchasing Israeli drones for military trials, the Defense Ministry was able to squeeze a few more or less decent small reconnaissance models out of domestic developers. It is quietly using these to arm ground forces.
Developers say that Defense Ministry officials themselves did not know what they wanted. They foolishly bought Israeli drones that don't work properly at 20 degrees below zero, and only then did they listen to the voice of reason and come up with reasonable technical guidelines for developers to follow.
The one bright spot in this sad story is the fact that developers and clients have had their first chance to size each other up. Better not to mention how much effort and money was wasted to get to this point.
Now comes the second stage - raising the equipment class to medium and then to heavy, and supplying the drones with new types of weapons and intelligence systems. This will finally provide the Russian Air Force with the kind of power that American pilots have enjoyed for over ten years.



A Russian drone with a complicated history | Features & Opinion | RIA Novosti

 

[siegecrossbow]

Considering that the drones were developed in hot, arid environments the failure should not be too much of a surprise.

 

[Imran Khan]

Considering that the drones were developed in hot, arid environments the failure should not be too much of a surprise.

sir still israel is advanced and they will upgrade it to work in winter i think so .

 

[500]

India operates Israeli UAVs (Searcher, Heron etc) in Kashmir for long time. There are quite harsh winter conditions and did not hear of any complains. Looks like lobism of Russian UAV production.

Lets compare Russian UAV Luch with Israeli counterparts.

All 3 UAVs use same Rotex 115 hp engine:

----------------- wingspan ----- max t/o weight ------ endurance ------- altitude
Luch ------------- 8.7 m ----------- 800 kg -------------- 18 h ---------- 23,000 ft
Hermes 900 ------ 15.3 m ---------- 970 kg -------------- 36 h ---------- 30,000 ft
Heron ------------ 16.6 m --------- 1250 kg ------------- 40 h ----------- 30,000 ft

Israeli UAVs are clearly superrior and since they use same exactly engine, I dont think they have different winter capabilities.

 

[Imran Khan]

they need help from israel for UAVs since last 5 years

 

[siegecrossbow]

sir still israel is advanced and they will upgrade it to work in winter i think so .

I am not doubting that. I just think that getting weapons to work in a country as cold as Russia takes a lot of work. Many German vehicles and even firearms failed to work under the frigid weathers of the Russian winter.

 

[500]

I am not doubting that. I just think that getting weapons to work in a country as cold as Russia takes a lot of work. Many German vehicles and even firearms failed to work under the frigid weathers of the Russian winter.

Germans had problems with special winter oils.

As I said, since both Russian and Israeli UAVs use same Rotex engines there should not be any differences in their operation. Just lobists are trying to promote failed drones.

 

[Zabaniyah]

Israel is really proficient in this field.

 

[Archdemon]

What a bullshit! WOW, the article is not on the subject of title at all, the only thing that refers to an issue is this line:

They foolishly bought Israeli drones that don't work properly at 20 degrees below zero

no source no further details, where does it says fail? you think Russian are that dumb to buy UAVs from Israel for 400mil without testing them first and taking into the consideration the temperatures?

 

[Abingdonboy]

I don't know what's happened here. The IAF were given UAVs by their friends in Israel during the Kargil War were they operated with distinction in high and cold environments often called the "highest battlefield in the world". And they continue to do this today.

 

[anon45]

not particularly a problem for Israel's purposes.

 

[mnd]

These Israeli drones were aquired by the same lobbysm (if you like that term) of the Russian MoD. It was not really a matter of need, but evaluation and political fights.

If you look it by that way, it is not surprising that those drones aquired by subjective means did not meet specific military demands (happened in many examples) and fail, which can be related to composition, and not only engine as said here.

Russian UAV industries faced several problems, management, lack of competition, politics (lobbysm), etc. The goal promoted by the goverment is to achieve industry consolidation in the near-mid terms. They will not have a foreign base.