The railway brigade of the Central Military District, deployed in Khakassia, for the first time will be armed with small unmanned aerial vehicles "Tachyon". This was reported by the Ministry of Defense of Russia.
“UAV complexes will be used by military railway workers of the Central Military District at planned exercises and in the course of fulfilling tasks to eliminate the consequences of emergency situations as aerial reconnaissance equipment,” the website of the department notes.
It is assumed that in emergency situations, drones in real time will be able to monitor the situation in the areas of the centers of forest and field fires, the protection of bridges and hydraulic structures during floods and emergency rescue operations.
"The unmanned aerial vehicle is designed according to the" flying wing "aerodynamic scheme and consists of a glider with an automatic control system," the defense department said.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the Takhion short-range UAV complex is used in the army for airborne reconnaissance of enemy targets “in the interests of units” of the ground forces, airborne troops, and coastal forces of the navy. This information, in turn, is subsequently used including “for target designation of shock (fire) means, radio signal relay”.
“The payload includes interchangeable modules with a thermal imaging camera, a color video camera on a gyro-stabilized turntable, a camera, and relay equipment. The launch method is from a manual catapult, ”the military department previously reported.
It is worth noting that the Tachyon devices can be used at any time of the day at a range of up to 40 km, even in adverse weather conditions, for example, with gusts of wind reaching 15 m / s. The operating temperature range of the device is -30 ... + 40 ° С, speed - up to 120 km / h, maximum flight height - 4 thousand m.
- Russian Defense Ministry
- RIA News
- © Natalya Seliverstova
"Tachyon" - the brainchild of Izhevsk LLC "Izhmash - Unmanned Systems". The drone was introduced in 2012, and at the end of 2014 they began to enter service with the UAV units of the Eastern Military District. Currently, the Tachyon is used by ground forces, as well as units of the Russian Navy.
“Will help the command”
As a member of the Association of Operators and Unmanned Aerial Systems Developers Eduard Baghdasaryan stated in an interview with RT, “Tachyon” gives the army, above all, such an important advantage as efficiency.
“After all, it unfolds within 20 minutes and is almost immediately ready for active use,” said the analyst.
From his point of view, such a device can be extremely useful for the railway troops.
“He can very quickly monitor the traveling situation, monitor the condition of the railway track,” Baghdasaryan explained.
Military expert Alexei Leonkov, in turn, noted in an interview with RT that thanks to Tachyon, the railway military can also monitor what is happening in the train area with military equipment or ammunition.
“In the case of such special forces, reconnaissance is simply necessary. In addition, the Russian Railways have an important function - the restoration of communication lines as a result, for example, of a natural disaster or other emergency. In this case, you need to determine the extent of the incident, and binoculars will not help much here, but the Tachyon drone will help out. Such an UAV will help the operator and command to assess the situation in order to correctly and correctly use the regular forces and means, ”says Leonkov.
He also emphasized that the Tachyon could be transformed from a reconnaissance vehicle into a combat one by means of “changing target load units”.
- Unmanned aerial vehicle "Tachyon"
- © Vitaliy Timkiv
“You can install equipment on it, because the payload weight is 5 kg. That is, from this UAV it is possible to make a combat vehicle, but its main function is intelligence, after all, ”the expert explained.
Quality of observation
In addition to the Tachyon, the Russian army is also armed with UAVs such as Eleron-3, Orlan-10, Leer, Pomegranate and Pear.
All these unmanned aerial vehicles are used by the military, including during exercises.
So, in August 2019, more than 70 of these unmanned aerial systems of the Western Military District took part in tactical and special maneuvers that took place simultaneously at training grounds in Moscow, Leningrad, Kaliningrad, Voronezh and Smolensk regions.
"The alarm calculations of the complexes with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)" Orlan-10 "," Leer "," Grenade "," Aileron-3 "," Tachyon "and" Pear "made many kilometers marches to the designated areas, where, using UAVs carried out reconnaissance of the area at an altitude of 500 m to 2500 m and transmitted data to the command posts of motorized rifle, artillery, aviation and missile units about accumulations of armored vehicles, engineering fortifications, the location of troops and objects of the conditional enemy, ”the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
In addition, unmanned aircraft of Russia also carries out monitoring of the area, pursuing different goals, for example, flying around military towns to clarify the situation in them. In June 2018, the Tachyon, Eleron-3 and Orlan-10 complexes of the Eastern Military District monitored more than 90 such facilities in order to track the state of their infrastructure, the movement of military equipment, and the fire hazard.
With the help of unmanned aircraft, zones of possible crisis situations are also monitored. In March last year, the Russian military department reported that UAVs of military units and formations of the Southern Military District monitor the flood and fire conditions in their areas of responsibility. It is indicated that the data obtained allows the command "to quickly respond to the changing situation and minimize the effects of the elements." In just six months, these calculations of UAV units worked in the air for more than 250 hours.
Recall last year, modifications of unmanned aerial vehicles Eleron, Tachyon and Orlan entered service with the Amur Union of the Eastern Military District.
And in November it became known that the UAV “Eleron-3” and “Tachyon” in 2020 will receive the unmanned aircraft battalion of the Russian military base in Tajikistan. This was reported to reporters by the base commander Colonel Sergei Goryachev.
- Military personnel launch an unmanned aerial vehicle during tactical exercises
- RIA News
- © George Zimarev
“Using UAV data, the quality of monitoring of border areas is improving,” Goryachev said.
According to him, the new technology will increase the mobility of the unit, and will also allow "to receive information and complete tasks quickly, efficiently and on time."
Worthy competitor
Russia is also developing other military UAVs. In December last year, the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Ural Civil Aviation Plant (UZGA) signed a contract to create the Altius-RU reconnaissance and attack drone. This was during a visit to the enterprise said the deputy head of the military department Alexey Krivoruchko.
According to him, this device will be equipped with a complex of satellite communications and elements of artificial intelligence, "capable of interacting with manned aircraft . "
In addition, the UZGA will supply ten reconnaissance complexes with the updated Outpost-R unmanned aerial vehicles to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. And this year, the Ministry of Defense plans to conclude a contract for the supply of another 18 such complexes.
“The complex has gained new opportunities thanks to advanced domestic developments that allow reconnaissance around the clock using not only optical, but also radio-technical and radar means,” the ministry said.
According to Alexei Leonkov, the new Russian UAVs in their characteristics are able to compete with their western counterparts.
“Russia has a scientific and technical backlog, which now continues to develop and implement. Therefore, Russia is now a worthy competitor in the global UAV construction market. The development of new devices is in full swing. A number of UAVs have already shown their effectiveness. In addition, the Russian Federation has adjusted the corresponding programs, and in the near future the world will see new drones, which will also be extremely in demand, ”Leonkov summed up.