RUSSIA TO TEST FLY FIRST UCAV IN 2014

[Nishan_101]

Russia will test fly its first domestically-produced strike unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in 2014, First Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Sukhorukov said on Friday.

In February, Army General Nikolay Makarov, the chief of the Russian General Staff, said the drone would be first test flied in late 2012, a revision of the initial 2015 timeframe.

In early April, Russia’s Defense Ministry issued a technical specification for the development of the drone. The new aircraft is expected to have a modular structure and be able to carry various types of equipment and armament.

The Tranzas company will build the UAV's on-board electronics as well as its navigation and control systems, while the airframe, which will weigh about five tons, will be produced by the Kazan-based Sokol design bureau. Russia’s Defense Ministry sealed contracts with Tranzas and Sokol worth an estimated 3 billion rubles ($101.9 million) in October 2011.

In late March, Russian Air Force commander-in-chief Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin, told the Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid that strike drones would enter service before 2020. He did not specify how many drones will be acquired.

The United States has relied heavily on UAVs including the Predator system to carry out missile attacks on insurgents in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area.

 

[Tshering22]

It is very surprising for me that how come a cutting-edge country like Russia who's a master in aviation, found it so difficult to make drones until now?

Must be the nanotech and the electronics bit. They've the second most advanced aerospace industry on the planet for heaven's sake!

 

[Myth_buster_1]

hmmm what are the chances of those AGM hitting the camera or wheel?

 

[IND151]

good luck to Russians

 

[Saif_ullah]

Its too late to test it

 

[Varunastra]

Its too late to test it

and why's that mate??

 

[Nishan_101]

I am sure that the Pakistani Authorities aren't showing the Burraq and its most possible that it has entered in service in 2009 when they say that its first flight is going to took place in 2009. I am sure it would be like the U.S ones.