Russia defence & technology updates

[Soldier355]

Rostec is considering the option of creating robotic platforms based on the Russian MLRS "Smerch" and "Tornado-S", work in this direction is already underway. This was stated by the industrial director of the complex of conventional weapons, ammunition and special chemicals of the state corporation Bekhan Ozdoev. Unfortunately, it is not known what exactly will change, whether the MLRS will arrive at positions themselves and work autonomously, or whether the level of automation of the MLRS will simply increase. Now the 300 mm Smerch MLRS is the most powerful and long-range Russian MLRS, capable of striking at a range of up to 120 km, and with new missiles being developed up to 200 km.

 

[Soldier355]

“The Kalashnikov Concern fulfilled ahead of schedule its 2023 obligations under the state contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense for the supply of Vikhr-1 guided missiles. The missiles were created ahead of schedule and in full, which indicates an increase in missile production. Before being transferred to the customer, the missiles underwent control flight tests.
The use of the Vikhr-M ATGM in the link to the video in the comments to the video. The Vikhr anti-tank missile system was developed in the Soviet Union as an analogue of the American AGM-114 Hellfire ATGM. The serial modified version of the 9K121 Vikhr-M began to be delivered to the troops in 2015, the Vikhr-1 missile is equipped with a tandem charge that penetrates armor up to 1200 mm, at a range of up to 10400 meters. The main purpose of the Vikhr-M missile is to destroy armored vehicles, including those with active armor, as well as air targets at speeds of up to 800 km/h. Missile launch altitude up to 4000 meters. The rocket's flight speed is more than 600 meters per second. Initially, the Vikhr-1 ATGM was intended exclusively for Su-25 aircraft and Ka-52 helicopters, but now work is underway to adapt the Vikhr-M complex to the Mi-28NE and Mi-35P helicopters, as well as the Orion-E UAV. .

 

[Soldier355]

The Russian Air Force received another batch of Su-34 front-line bombers. The aircraft were handed over at the airfield of the Novosibirsk Aviation Plant named after V.P. Chkalova. The equipment has already been accepted by the engineering and technical personnel and has gone to its places of deployment. Starting in 2021, the Russian Air Force will receive a modernized Su-34M aircraft. By 2027, the Russian Air Force should receive 76 new bombers. The Su-34 front-line bomber was put into service in 2014 and has low radar signature. The aircraft has a range of up to 4,000 kilometers and a flight speed of up to 1,900 km/h. With 12 hardpoints, the aircraft can carry a combat load weighing eight tons. The Su-34 is equipped with an electronic warfare system, which reduces the likelihood of the aircraft being hit by radar-guided systems by approximately 30 times. The cockpit is protected by a titanium armored capsule.

 

[Soldier355]

The Russian 560th Armored Repair Plant (BTRZ) sent to the troops BMP-2 combat vehicles that have undergone a major overhaul and received mountings for additional protection. It is noted that all the main components and assemblies of the equipment were also replaced and repaired. The work of the 560th armored tank repair plant is managed by Kurganmashzavod. At first, the 560th armored repair plant had a code name - military unit 13846, and from April 30, 1993 it was renamed the 560th armored repair plant. The military plant is located in the Amur region.

 

[Soldier355]

New Russian robot minesweeper MT-2 from DST-Ural. Footage of the control of the Russian robotic mine-clearing vehicle MT-2 has been published. The remote-controlled robot MT-2 was created on the basis of the PG-1 loader by the DST-Ural plant. The robotic mine clearing machine is equipped with armor and is controlled by an operator from a remote control panel or smartphone. The MT-2 robotic vehicle is capable of making passages in minefields 2.3 meters wide. The car is equipped with video cameras, frontal, two side and one rear video camera. Technical details and degree of reservation are not reported

 

[Soldier355]

There is no topic about the Serbian army, so I’m posting it here. Serbia received Russian-made Mi-35P helicopters from the Cypriot Air Force. Mi-35P helicopters were delivered by An-124 aircraft. It is expected that the eleven Mi-35P received will be operated by the 714th Anti-Tank Helicopter Squadron, which already has four helicopters of this type. The Cypriot authorities decided to remove the Mi-35P from service in 2021. due to problems with the supply of spare parts arising from sanctions. To replace the helicopters, Cyprus purchased six Airbus Helicopters H145M light combat helicopters. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic personally inspected the Mi-35 helicopters sent by Cyprus. According to him, the helicopters will be repainted in a special coloring that matches the landscape of Serbia. The Serbian President also noted that he loves these helicopters for their efficiency and “ominous sound.” “When you hear that intermittent sound, all you can do is run and hide.”

 

[Soldier355]

A batch of Russian buggies "Erofey" was received by the special forces of the Russian Guard. As reported, the Erofei all-terrain vehicles have already been tested and have proven themselves well; according to reviews from military personnel, the Erofey all-terrain vehicles are easy to maintain and are easy to repair. They checked how the steering behaved and the wear resistance of various components and assemblies of the buggy. The Erofey all-terrain vehicle is convenient for moving snipers, ATGM crews, quickly transporting ammunition to the front line and working with sabotage groups. All-terrain vehicles are produced in Khabarovsk in small batches at the Soniktrans plant, and the vehicle is still being fine-tuned. Buggy "Erofey" is equipped with a 150 hp engine. and is capable of speeds of up to 120 km/h, with a power reserve of up to 300 kilometers. Buggy weight: 850 kg, load capacity 350 kg. The buggy is designed for 2 people.

 

[Soldier355]

The Russian Air Force received the next batch of Su-35S multirole fighters; the transfer of equipment took place at the factory airfield of the Yu.A. Aviation Plant. Gagarin. It is not specified how many aircraft are in the batch; all equipment was transferred as part of the state defense order. Now the aircraft plant has reached a high rate of production and operates in 3 shifts. It is noted that this batch completes deliveries of Su-35S fighters under this year’s program, but by the end of 2023 the military will receive another batch of fifth-generation Su-57 fighters. The Su-35S is one of the main fighters in service with the Russian army and today clearly confirms its high performance in real combat conditions. The Su-35 is armed with a 30mm cannon and has 12 hardpoints for bombs and missiles. The aircraft's combat load is 8 tons. The fighter can reach speeds of up to 2.5 thousand km/h, and the aircraft’s flight range reaches 3,400 kilometers.

 

[Soldier355]

Russian-Indian naval exercises took place in the Bay of Bengal. The purpose of the exercise is to strengthen cooperation and ensure security in the Asia-Pacific region. The Russian Federation was represented at the exercises by the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Tributs of Project 1155 and the medium sea tanker Pechenga of the Pacific Fleet. The destroyer Ranvijay and the corvette Kiltan were deployed from the Indian Navy. The Indian destroyer Ranvijay is a large anti-submarine ship of the Soviet project 61ME, built by order of India in 1988 and subsequently modernized. The anti-submarine corvette Kiltan was built according to Project 28 and is one of the most modern ships in India. Corvette Kiltan was launched in 2013. The warships carried out artillery firing at sea and air targets. The crews practiced on-the-fly resupply skills. In addition, Indian pilots practiced landing on the deck of the Russian ship Admiral Tributs, and Russian pilots practiced landing on board an Indian Navy destroyer.

 

[Soldier355]

The first Russian missile drone Termit. Serial production of Termit helicopter-type drones has begun in Russia. The drone was developed by the Strela production enterprise, which is part of the Kronstadt company, and was first shown in 2021. The unmanned attack mini-combat helicopter MDP-01 “Termite” is an analogue of the civilian version of the SmartHELI-350 drones. The new drone is equipped with a surveillance and sighting station, a weapons control system and three S-8L missiles from the Kalashnikov concern with an 80 mm laser homing head. In Russia, this is the first unmanned helicopter with missile weapons. The S-8L missile is based on the S-8 unguided aircraft missiles used by Russian aviation. Unlike the S-8 missiles, the S-8L missile has a semi-active homing head with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead, the missile's range is up to 6 kilometers. It is assumed that the drone operator, having detected the target, sets it to be tracked by a laser beam, after which the drone acts autonomously, with the help of artificial intelligence, choosing the time of the missile launch based on the calculation of altitude and range. The Termit drone can reach speeds of up to 150 km/h, its range of use is up to 300 kilometers, the flight time is up to 6 hours, at an altitude of up to 3000 meters.

 

[Soldier355]

Mini-drones for various purposes have been created for the Russian Su-57 fighter, a source in the Ministry of Defense reported. Whether it will be a swarm of drones or something similar is not yet clear. But as reported, the UAVs will be placed on the external sling and in the intra-fuselage compartment of the aircraft. It is planned that the fighter pilot will launch several drones at once and control this group of drones.
The group will include attack and reconnaissance UAVs, as well as electronic warfare drones. Drones launched from a Su-57 aircraft will allow fighters to break through enemy air defenses by overloading their information channels, as well as strike at air defense systems. Drones for the Su-57 aircraft began to be developed in April 2021.

 

[JaguarWarrior]

The first Russian missile drone Termit. Serial production of Termit helicopter-type drones has begun in Russia. The drone was developed by the Strela production enterprise, which is part of the Kronstadt company, and was first shown in 2021. The unmanned attack mini-combat helicopter MDP-01 “Termite” is an analogue of the civilian version of the SmartHELI-350 drones. The new drone is equipped with a surveillance and sighting station, a weapons control system and three S-8L missiles from the Kalashnikov concern with an 80 mm laser homing head. In Russia, this is the first unmanned helicopter with missile weapons. The S-8L missile is based on the S-8 unguided aircraft missiles used by Russian aviation. Unlike the S-8 missiles, the S-8L missile has a semi-active homing head with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead, the missile's range is up to 6 kilometers. It is assumed that the drone operator, having detected the target, sets it to be tracked by a laser beam, after which the drone acts autonomously, with the help of artificial intelligence, choosing the time of the missile launch based on the calculation of altitude and range. The Termit drone can reach speeds of up to 150 km/h, its range of use is up to 300 kilometers, the flight time is up to 6 hours, at an altitude of up to 3000 meters.

The three fingers of death vibes.

 

[Soldier355]

The first footage of the launch of the Russian kamikaze drone “Scalpel” has been published. This drone is now of particular interest to military specialists, as it is considered a cheap analogue of the Lancet drone. Gradually, more information about the drone is becoming available; the drone is being produced by the Ryazan design bureau "Vostok". At the moment, production volumes are minimal, about 20 drones per month; by the end of the year they will be increased to 150 units. It is worth noting that the company received a grant and apparently the production of drones will expand. Now the drone’s elemental base is partially imported, but designers are working on replacing parts in the drone with Russian analogues. The developers plan to install a flight controller created on the basis of the domestic RepkaPi, increase the range of the radio channel and make it resistant to electronic warfare, as well as create an automatic target acquisition system. The developers have already achieved a weight reduction of 300 grams and added communication boards for more convenient and faster assembly of the drone. As you can see in the video, the drone is launched from a catapult. The drone can already travel through areas with strong electronic warfare systems and is capable of flying in bad weather. As we previously reported, the Scalpel kamikaze drone can accelerate to 120 km/h and its flight range is up to 40 km. The payload weight is up to 5 kilograms; the peculiarity of the drone is that the warhead of the drone can be changed before takeoff. The price of the Scalpel drone is still unknown.

 

[Soldier355]

The radar transmitter of the “friend or foe” system was created for Russian drones. The development of miniature drones has created many problems for air defense, one of which is that it is impossible for an air defense operator to distinguish his drone from enemy drones. To identify a target, the air defense operator is forced to communicate with other units and find out the operational situation. This problem can be corrected by the Russian radar identification system "friend or foe" developed for drones. The “friend or foe” radar transmitter was created by the Pulsar research and production enterprise and weighs only 150 grams. The device operates on the “friend or foe” principle and automatically marks friendly drones at an altitude of up to 5 km and a distance of up to 100 km from the radio interrogator. The radar transmitter consumes only 100 mV and is compatible with stations of the combined arms state system “Password”. Radar identification stations are used to identify targets on a “friend or foe” basis.

 

[Soldier355]

The Russian Air Force received a new batch of modernized Russian Su-30SM2 fighters and Yak-130 combat trainer aircraft. The Irkursk Aviation Plant promptly fulfills the plan for producing aircraft within the framework of the state defense order. The batch of Yak-130 aircraft is completing deliveries of this type of aircraft under the current year program. The Yak-130 combat training aircraft, developed by the Design Bureau named after. A.S. Yakovlev was chosen as the base aircraft for basic and advanced training of Russian pilots. The Su-30SM2 fighters represent a further development of the aircraft in service with the Russian Air Force and Navy. The new aircraft received an improved set of avionics. Thanks to modernization, the combat capabilities of the aircraft have increased. In particular, the detection and identification range of air targets has increased. New high-precision weapons have been introduced into the armament of fighter jets to destroy air, ground and sea targets at a range of several hundred kilometers.

 

[Soldier355]

Russian military personnel showed a cape-cloak to protect against thermal imaging. The model of the raincoat-poncho is not reported. For testing, a thermal imaging sight with a 640x480 pixel matrix was used, the video shooting distance was 33 meters. At rest, the body of an average adult produces about 60 W of thermal energy, and under load this figure can increase significantly. Body heat is transferred to clothing and surrounding objects. As a result, they all stand out in the infrared range and can be detected using a thermal imager. Thermal resistant capes are primarily used by snipers and reconnaissance units.

 

[Soldier355]

The Russian AGS-30 grenade launcher has become a “sniper grenade launcher” - it has an intelligent sighting system. Dmitry Pedaling, a specialist at KBP JSC, reported this to Alexey Egorov. The AGS-30 automatic easel grenade launcher was equipped with an intelligent sight with a ballistic computer. The device takes into account air temperature and pressure. Depending on the elevation angle of the grenade launcher, the sight calculates the firing range. The 30-mm Russian automatic grenade launcher AGS-30 was put into service in 1995 and is a successor to the AGS-17 grenade launchers that we previously talked about. The rate of fire of the AGS-30 grenade launcher is up to 425 rounds per minute, the sighting range is 1700 meters. The timing of the appearance of the new sight in the troops has not been announced; details are in the video.

 

[Soldier355]

Russia is increasing the pace of modernization of T-62M tanks. The modernization of tanks is carried out by the 103rd Armored Repair Plant in the village of Atamanovka near Chita. It became known last fall that these tanks would be removed from storage en masse and modernized. The plant operates in 2 shifts and is fully stocked with orders for the next 3 years; about 800 tanks are being modernized. The basis for modernization is the Soviet T-62M tanks with additional protection in the form of metal-polymer blocks, as well as the T-62MV with mounted Kontakt dynamic protection. The T-62M-1 and T-62MV-1 tanks are also being modernized, the main distinguishing feature of which is the more powerful 690-horsepower V-46-5M engine instead of the standard V-55U with a power of 620 hp. At the factory, the tanks undergo major overhauls, are equipped with lattice screens, T-62M, equipped with dynamic protection in the frontal part of the hull and the roof of the turret, and possibly upgraded with communication systems. The main innovation is the 1PN96MT thermal imaging sight, which is installed in place of the 1K13 night sight/missile guidance device. The 103rd Armored Repair Plant was founded in 1942, the original name was the 21st Armored Repair Plant (BTRZ), since 1961 it was renamed the 103rd Armored Repair Plant.

 

[Soldier355]

Rare footage of the launch of the R-73RDM-2 missile by the Russian Su-35S fighter has been published. The Russian short-range air-to-air missile R-73 was put into service in 1983 and was subsequently upgraded to the level of RVV-MD missiles. The R-73 missile is now used by all Russian aviation and is capable of hitting targets in the forward hemisphere at a distance of up to 40 km, when the missile is launched after a target at a distance of up to 20 km. The missile can withstand overloads of up to 40G. It is worth noting that it is time to modernize the missile, the fact is that the R-73 and RVV-MD missiles use a two-channel seeker, while the new Western missiles AIM-9X Block II and others have a matrix of infrared photodetectors. Thanks to this, missiles see a more contrasting thermal target and react less to thermal traps. In Russia, work is underway on the K-MD missile, or as it is also called “Product 300,” the missile will be equipped with a matrix thermal homing head, with the ability to recognize the target image. Despite this, Russian R-73 missiles have proven themselves well. The weight of the missile warhead is 47 kilograms, the missile is used at altitudes of up to 20 kilometers, at target speeds of up to 2500 km/h. The probability of a missile hitting is 60%.

 

[Soldier355]

Russian Su-35S fighter jets escorted the Il-96-300PU aircraft of the President of Russia during its flight to the UAE. Four Su-35S fighter jets accompanied the plane until it landed at Abu Dhabi airport. The Su-35S fighters were armed with R-77-1 air-to-air missiles and the R-73 missile; we have already talked about this missile; the link to the video is in the comments to the video. The R-77-1 missile entered service in 1994 and was upgraded to the RVV-SD version of the missile. The missile is equipped with a homing head and, 30 km from the target, turns on its own monopulse Doppler radar station, searching for the target. The missile is equipped with a warhead weighing 22.5 kg and is capable of hitting targets at speeds of up to 3,600 km/h, at altitudes of up to 25 kilometers, with a target flight range of up to 110 km.