Russia's drone arsenal contains a range of sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), in which the Orion drone has recently captured everyone's attention.
This UAV has been in production since 2019 and boasts a top speed of 200 km/h and a maximum altitude of 8 km. The Orion's flight time duration can extend up to 24 hours.
Another drone, the Sirius, is scheduled to begin production in 2023 and has a top speed of 180 km/h, a maximum altitude of 7 km, and a flight time duration of up to 20 hours.
In addition, Russia's Altius drone is an advanced UAV that can reach a maximum altitude of 12 km, has a top speed of 250 km/h, and can remain aloft for up to 48 hours. The drone has been in mass production since 2021.
Russia's Focus on Drone Technologies
What could be behind the Kremlin's special focus on drone technologies and electronic warfare?
In a conversation with Sputnik, Viktor Litvinenko, a military expert, colonel, artilleryman, candidate of military sciences, and a veteran of the Soviet-Afghanistan conflict, opined that UAVs have been widely deployed by Russia in the zone of the special military operation.
This means that drones have become part of the means of firepower, the expert noted.
Russian Drones in Special Op Combat Zone: How Are They Used?
for tactical and reconnaissance purposes;
the most powerful among them are used for strike operations;
multipurpose drones.
When speaking about multipurpose drones, one should take notice of the so-called "swarming system", Litvinenko told Sputnik. This type of system consists of multiple drones integrated as a single network, which allows UAVs to "cooperate with each other" using advanced autonomy and AI protocols. In such a scenario, those drones can be used both for reconnaissance and attack purposes.
The advantage of a swarming system is that while single flying drones can be easily taken down by the enemy, a pack of drones is more likely to survive an attack.
Electronic Warfare Systems
The special military operation has not only moved the focus to enhancing and perfecting drone production, but it also pointed to the need for improving the electronic warfare (EW) systems.
In this regard, Russia's state-run defense conglomerate, Rostec, is conducting tests to embark on the mass production of a new generation of EWs and combat UAVs.
According to Alexei Leonkov, a military analyst and editor of Arsenal of the Fatherland, a Russian military publication, Russia was the only country in the world to have specialized electronic warfare systems that target certain radio equipment, high-precision weapons and fuses; and electronic surveillance stations that are both aviation and ground-based."
In addition to that, Russia possesses EW systems that can target satellite systems for data transmutation, communications and intelligence.
In Ukraine, where Russia has faced an enormous number of UAVs that need a whole arsenal of missiles to strike them down, EWs can be a helping hand because they are capable of massively impacting a myriad of unmanned aerial vehicles, Leonkov explains.
"Such complexes will be able to counter-attack swarms of drones, which have not yet been used on a large scale in the zone of the special military operation," he noted.