Russian Combat Vehicles to be equipped with Surveillance Drones
The drone will be equipped with a radar and thermal scope and will have a maximum flight range of 100 meters
IsraelDefense
| 22/11/2016
A Russian T-14 Armata tank (Photo: AP)
Russia’s advanced combat vehicles based on the Armata platform will be equipped with surveillance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), which will be scanning the battlefield for dozens of miles around and will give situational awareness to the crew.
Army Recognition reports that the Pterodactyl UAV, developed by the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI), will be connected to the vehicle through a cable and will be able to operate as long as the vehicle is running. The drone will be equipped with a radar and thermal scope and will have a maximum flight range of 100 meters.
"We are currently carrying out research and development work, and we will hand over the device for tests to the Defense Ministry in a year," Vitaly Poliansky, a research associate at MAI's department of aviation robotic systems, told the Izvestia newspaper. The drone is expected to move with the same speed as the vehicle, and it will be capable of taking off from the hull of the machine. A tether management system will provide full data protection.
In April, Oleg Sienko, the director of UralVagonZavod, the company manufacturing the Armata platform, had told to RIA Novosti news agency about the possibility of equipping the Armata-based vehicles with surveillance drones.
It is not yet known which UAV will be used to fit into the vehicle, but it will certainly be one made in Russia, Sienko said, adding that it is for the Russian Defense Ministry to decide which device to choose as it runs the trials.
The drone will be equipped with a radar and thermal scope and will have a maximum flight range of 100 meters
A Russian T-14 Armata tank (Photo: AP)
Russia’s advanced combat vehicles based on the Armata platform will be equipped with surveillance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), which will be scanning the battlefield for dozens of miles around and will give situational awareness to the crew.
Army Recognition reports that the Pterodactyl UAV, developed by the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI), will be connected to the vehicle through a cable and will be able to operate as long as the vehicle is running. The drone will be equipped with a radar and thermal scope and will have a maximum flight range of 100 meters.
"We are currently carrying out research and development work, and we will hand over the device for tests to the Defense Ministry in a year," Vitaly Poliansky, a research associate at MAI's department of aviation robotic systems, told the Izvestia newspaper. The drone is expected to move with the same speed as the vehicle, and it will be capable of taking off from the hull of the machine. A tether management system will provide full data protection.
In April, Oleg Sienko, the director of UralVagonZavod, the company manufacturing the Armata platform, had told to RIA Novosti news agency about the possibility of equipping the Armata-based vehicles with surveillance drones.
It is not yet known which UAV will be used to fit into the vehicle, but it will certainly be one made in Russia, Sienko said, adding that it is for the Russian Defense Ministry to decide which device to choose as it runs the trials.
