DTN News - RUSSIA DEFENSE NEWS: Russia's Defense Ministry Wants Strike Drone

DTN News - RUSSIA DEFENSE NEWS: Russia's Defense Ministry Wants Strike Drone

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 2, 2012: Russia’s Defense Ministry has issued a technical specification for development of a strike unmanned air vehicle (UAV), Izvestia daily said on Monday quoting a high-level source.

Tranzas company will build the UAV's on-board electronics as well as its navigation and control systems. The airframe, which will weigh about five tons, will be produced by the Kazan-based Sokol design bureau.

The new aircraft will have a modular structure, the source said, and will be able to carry various types of equipment and armament.

Russia’s Defense Ministry sealed contracts worth an estimated 3 billion rubles ($101.9 million) with Tranzas and Sokol in October 2011 for research work into creation of strike and reconnaissance UAVs.

In late March, Russian Air Force commander-in-chief Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin, told Moscovsky Komsomolets tabloid that strike drones will 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.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/04/dtn-news-russia-defense-news-russias.html

DTN News - DRONES FLYING HIGH: Armed UAV Operations 10 Years On

DTN News - DRONES FLYING HIGH: Armed UAV Operations 10 Years On

 (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 12, 2012: One of the most iconic images of the American-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- as well as global U.S. counterterrorism efforts -- has been the armed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), specifically the MQ-1 "Predator" and the MQ-9 "Reaper." Unarmed RQ-1 Predators (which first flew in 1994) were flying over Afghanistan well before the 9/11 attacks. Less than a month after the attacks, an armed variant already in development was deployed for the first time.

In the decade since, the Predator has clocked more than a million flight hours. And while U.S. Air Force procurement ceased in early 2011 -- with more than 250 airframes purchased -- the follow-on MQ-9 Reaper has already been procured in numbers and production continues. Predators and Reapers continue to be employed in a broad spectrum of roles, including close air support (CAS), when forward air controllers communicate with UAV operators to release ordnance with friendly troops in the vicinity (CAS is one of the more challenging missions even for manned aircraft because of the heightened risk of friendly casualties). Officially designated "armed, multi-mission, medium-altitude, long endurance, remotely piloted aircraft," the second to last distinction is the Predator and Reaper's principal value: the ability to loiter for extended periods, in some cases for more than 24 hours.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/2012/01/dtn-news-drones-flying-high-armed-uav.html