The most curious and intriguing novelty of Russian weapons in 2016 was impossible to see.

Moreover, while in the public domain there is not even her reliable images, this aircraft is so secret. We are talking about the first Russian heavy (about 10 tons) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) “Breakthrough”, or, as this project is sometimes called, the Yak-133BR, created on the basis of the Yak-130 trainer.

Its aerodynamic design is so unusual that during the discussion of the Breakthrough developers from Yakovlev Design Bureau and TsAGI experts, the latter expressed the opinion that a device of this form cannot fly at all. Nevertheless, in August 2016 he flew and his trials began.

The unusual shape serves to ensure maximum radio invisibility of the Russian heavy UAV. The key technology in this case was the so-called integration - ensuring the coordinated operation of all elements and systems of the drone.

Using this technology, you can even make a stool fly if you properly control its position in the air. "Breakthrough" will be able to accelerate to 1100 km / h, although its cruising speed is subsonic - about 750 km / h. Flight altitude - up to 20 km, while in the air - up to 20 hours.

According to the project of the UAV of the Proryv family, the Yak-133BR includes three modifications: a strike aircraft, a reconnaissance patrol, and a radar patrol.

The peculiarity of these aircraft is that they perform almost all the combat and reconnaissance missions assigned to them. All three modifications have common features in the design.

It is planned to create several versions: the Scout “Roryv-R”, the modification “Proryv-RLD” for the radar patrol and the strike “Proryv-U” with bombs and guided air-to-ground missiles.

Currently, heavy attack drones are the forefront of aviation military thought, which directly leads to the creation of 6th generation combat aircraft. And today, without such weapons, it is already impossible to imagine a modern army.

The Yak-133BR of the Breakthrough family is being developed, as has already been said, on the basis of the Yak-130, therefore the UAV has much in common with a combat aircraft.

All three modifications are modern and powerful unmanned aerial vehicles, which are called: “Breakthrough-U” (strike), “Breakthrough-R” (reconnaissance), “Breakthrough-RLD” (radar patrol).

According to the project, the new UAVs will have the following technical characteristics: the practical ceiling of the “Proryv-U” UAV will be 16,000 m, “Proryv-R” - 20,000 m, “Proryv-RLD” - 14,000 m.

The starting weight of “Breakthrough-U” will be 10,000 kg, “Breakthrough-R” - 9,800 kg, “Breakthrough-RLD” - 10,000 kg. The mass of the target equipment “Proryva-U” will reach from 1000 to 3000 kg, “Proryva-R” - from 1000 to 1200 kg, “Proryva-RLD” - 1000 kg.

In terms of speed, drones are not inferior to good combat aircraft, but even surpass them: Proryv-U will accelerate to 1100 km / h, Proryv-R - 750 km / h, Proryv-RLD - 750 km / h.

Flight duration for all three aircraft different, for example, “Breakthrough-U”, will be able to fly for 20 hours, “Breakthrough-RLD” - 16, and “Breakthrough-R” - only for 6 hours. All three vessels are designed to cover long distances ....

Irkut Corporation began testing an unmanned aerial vehicle in the framework of the Breakthrough Design Bureau (also known as the Yak-133 project), which is capable of reconnaissance and destruction of enemy targets, while remaining invisible to its radars, they say.

“In the future, the latest UAV will be equipped not only with air-to-ground guided missiles and bombs, but also with optoelectronic systems, electronic intelligence systems, and even radar,”

According to him, "the aerodynamic design of the latest drone (a combination of the geometric and structural design of the aircraft) is very complex, containing many unique technical solutions that have not previously been used in any of the serial aircraft."

“At the design stage, there were discussions between representatives of the Zhukovsky Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), Irkut and Yakovlev Design Bureau, during which opinions were expressed that an apparatus of this form would not be able to fly at all. Doubts were dispelled only after the first test flight took place in August. Everything went perfectly, the designers were congratulated, ”the source said.

He noted that the composition of the armament of the UAV is not completely determined, but it is already known that "he will destroy stationary targets with bombs with laser and optical homing heads, as well as those adjusted by the GLONASS signal."

“The drone’s unique aerodynamic design makes it possible to make UAVs invisible to enemy radars even when it is using or conducting reconnaissance, as well as being quite maneuverable and fast. In order for the latest drone with the selected aerodynamic design to be able to fly, it was necessary to do very difficult work on the integration of UAVs, which, in particular, involved specialists from Roscosmos, ” - said the source.

He explained that the term “integration” means “the consolidation of the work of all systems and subsystems installed on board into a single complex”.

“All aircraft systems must act in a complex, as a single organism. If a pilot, for example, begins to perform a maneuver, then all the on-board systems - navigation, engine controls, etc. - taking into account the design of the aircraft and its characteristics, they optimize their work so that without failures to perform a given maneuver. In modern aircraft, several thousand different systems and subsystems that monitor and control hundreds of flight parameters, and the pilot cannot independently monitor the work of each. Therefore, modern aircraft are equipped with information management systems (IMS), which make the aircraft work in a complex, ”said a representative of the aviation industry.

Head of AeroNet National Technology Initiative Sergey Zhukov: “Unmanned technologies in Russia are now developing very actively both in the state industry and in the private segment. If we talk about gliders, we are now approximately at the level of world standards in terms of small UAVs and have an uncritical - less than three years - lag in terms of ultralight composite structures for large drones. If we talk about navigation and control systems, then our developments are not inferior to foreign counterparts, but the minus is that they are made so far on a foreign element base. By power plants we are somewhat behind, but I can say that we are currently developing in the field of localizing the production of piston and turbojet engines, so that the domestic industry closes this niche at an accelerated pace. By processing monitoring data, we create our own problem-oriented products and already bring them to the world market. And in terms of integration into the common airspace, we may even be 1-2 years ahead of the world level. ”

The recent armed conflicts have clearly demonstrated the potential of heavy unmanned aerial vehicles. Due to the relatively large take-off mass, such equipment can carry not only reconnaissance equipment, but also a certain range of weapons. Thus, a heavy UAV is capable of not only detecting targets, but also attacking them, which reduces the time spent on a combat mission, and also allows you to not miss a target. However, in our country the heavy sector of unmanned aerial vehicles throughout recent years not using special attention constructors. Also in soviet time several designs were created with a take-off weight of more than one ton (Tu-141, Tu-143, Tu-243, etc.), but all of them were intended for reconnaissance and other similar tasks. The creation of UAVs with strike capabilities in our country began relatively late, only in the late nineties. Because of this, there are still no ready-made systems of this class in the arsenal of our army. Over the past years, several, of course, interesting projects have been created, but not one of them has yet reached serial production.

Scat

In 2007, at the MAKS air show, MiG Corporation presented its new project. Interesting feature This project was the fact that before the presentation there was almost no information about it, but, nevertheless, a full-scale model of the future UAV was immediately shown at the Zhukovsky cabin. Because of this “surprise”, the Skat project immediately attracted attention and became the subject of much discussion. In general, such a reaction was not surprising: Skat was one of the first known domestic projects of strike UAVs, and a relatively large take-off mass markedly distinguished it from the total mass of new domestic developments. In addition, Skat became the first representative of its class to reach the stage of assembling a full-size layout.

The appearance of the Skat drone resembled the fish of the same name: the aircraft was proposed to build a flying wing according to the scheme. In addition, the well-known techniques for reducing radar visibility were clearly visible in the design appearance. So, the wingtips are parallel to its front edge and the contours of the rear part of the device are exactly the same. Over the middle part of the wing, the Skat had a fuselage of a characteristic shape, smoothly interfaced with bearing surfaces. Vertical plumage was not provided. As can be seen from the photographs of the Skat layout, control was to be carried out using four elevons located on consoles and on the center section. At the same time, yaw control immediately raised certain issues: due to the lack of a rudder and a single-engine UAV circuit, it required to somehow solve this problem. There is a version of a single deviation of internal elevons for yaw control.

The model presented at the MAKS-2007 exhibition had the following dimensions: a wingspan of 11.5 meters, a length of 10.25, and a parking height of 2.7 m. Regarding the mass of the Skat, it is only known that its maximum take-off weight should be approximately equal to ten tons. With these parameters, the Skat had good calculated flight data. At a maximum speed of up to 800 km / h, it could rise to a height of 12 thousand meters and overcome in flight up to 4000 kilometers. It was planned to provide such flight data with the help of a dual-circuit turbojet engine RD-5000B with a thrust of 5040 kgf. This turbojet engine was created on the basis of the RD-93 engine, however, it is initially equipped with a special flat nozzle that reduces the visibility of the aircraft in the infrared range. The engine air intake was located in the nose of the fuselage and was an unregulated intake device.

Inside the fuselage of a characteristic shape, the “Skat” had two cargo compartments measuring 4.4x0.75x0.65 meters. With such dimensions in the cargo bays, it was possible to suspend guided missiles of various types, as well as adjustable bombs. A number of sources mentioned that the Skat’s airborne equipment was planned to be adapted only for attacking ground targets, which would reduce the possible range of guided weapons, reducing it to air-to-surface types. The total mass of the combat load of the Skat should have been approximately equal to two tons. During the presentation at the MAKS-2007 salon, X-31 missiles and KAB-500 adjustable bombs were next to Skat.

The composition of the airborne equipment implied by the project was not disclosed. Based on information about other projects of this class, it can be concluded that there is a complex of navigation and sighting equipment, as well as some opportunities for autonomous actions. However, official data on Skat's electronic equipment for five years has not been received.

After the first demonstration, the Skat project was mentioned several times in official sources, but was subsequently closed. Currently, as mentioned in some sources, the achievements of the MiG corporation under the Skat project are used by Sukhoi in developing a promising attack drone.

"Breakthrough"

The Yakovlev program “Breakthrough” is still one of the most mysterious in modern Russian aircraft manufacturing. All information about it is limited to a few paragraphs of text and a table with approximate characteristics. Even the approximate timelines for starting work in this direction are not entirely clear.

Presumably in the late nineties in OKB im. Yakovlev began to consider the possibility of creating a multi-purpose unmanned aerial vehicle with widespread use of developments on the Yak-130 project. There is evidence of a positive conclusion regarding the possibility of using a significant portion of the on-board electronic equipment of the original training aircraft on an unmanned aerial vehicle. It was assumed that this approach could facilitate the development and production of a new UAV, as well as provide a high degree of unification of drones of the same family. The latter opportunity was especially important, since the Breakthrough program implied the creation of several unmanned aerial vehicles for various purposes - attack, reconnaissance and UAV radar detection.

In the middle of the 2000s, the first details appeared regarding the appearance of the “Breakthrough” family of drones. So, the strike version was to some extent similar to the “Skat” of the MiG company: a flying wing with one engine and internal cargo bays for weapons. At the same time, in one of the available Proryva-U drawings (the drone is designated as such), a triangular wing is visible, as well as two air intakes on the upper surface of the wing. In other images, Proryv-U, also referred to as the Yak-133BR, has body contours and an air intake layout similar to Skat. With a take-off weight of about ten tons, the strike version of the Breakthrough UAV was supposed to have an estimated practical ceiling of about 15-16 kilometers and a maximum speed of 1050-1100 km / h. According to various estimates, the payload of such a drone was to be two to three tons. Obviously, the range of weapons would be the same as that of the "Skat": guided missiles and bombs to attack ground targets, suitable for mass and size parameters.

The image of the three-dimensional model “Proryva-U”, similar to the UAV “Skat”, also shows two other aircraft - reconnaissance “Proryv-R” and “Proryv-RLD”, designed for radar detection. Their gliders are almost indistinguishable from each other. At the same time, reconnaissance Breakouts are significantly different from the strike version. Versions “P” and “RLD” in the images, instead of a swept wing of medium elongation, have a wing of low sweep, large elongation and slight narrowing. Thus, losing to the attack drone at maximum speed, reconnaissance vehicles can have higher take-off and landing characteristics, as well as long flight at high altitudes. In addition to the characteristic wing, Proryv-R and Proryv-RLD are equipped with the tail of the original design. Two relatively thin beams depart from the fuselage of the drones, on which two surfaces are fixed. Obviously, the rudders placed on them can be used to control pitch and yaw. Finally, the power plant of both reconnaissance UAVs of the Breakthrough program is located in the engine nacelle at the rear of the fuselage. Most significant difference appearance "Breakthrough-R" and "Breakthrough-RLD" is a large radar antenna on-board radar on the latter.

According to reports, the Proryv reconnaissance drones should have a take-off weight of about ten tons, but the Proryv-R was a bit lighter. At the same time, the mass of the target equipment was reduced to 1000-1200 kilograms. Compared to the strike version, flight performance has changed. For example, the maximum speed of scouts fell to 750 kilometers per hour. Moreover, the “Breakthrough-R”, according to calculations, could rise to a height of about 20 kilometers and be in the air for at least 18-20 hours. "Breakthrough-RLD", in turn, due to slightly worsened aerodynamics - it was influenced by a large radome antenna radar above the fuselage - should have a ceiling of about 14 kilometers and fly for 16 hours.

Unfortunately, this is where all open information on the Breakthrough program ends. For several years after the publication of the first data, OKB im. Yakovlev did not publish new details. Perhaps the heavy UAV project “Breakthrough” was closed due to the higher priority of other unmanned programs.

Dozor-600

Projects "Skat" and "Breakthrough" belong to the category of drones, the take-off weight of which significantly exceeds one ton. All projects of domestic designers in this direction so far end at the design stage. At the same time, another shock drone project, which nevertheless reached the stage of prototype testing, had much less weight.

UAV "Dozor-600" (development of the designers of the company "Transas"), also known as the "Dozor-3", is much lighter than the "Skat" or "Breakthrough". Its maximum take-off weight does not exceed 710-720 kilograms. At the same time, due to the classic aerodynamic layout with a full fuselage and a direct wing, it has about the same dimensions as the Skat: a wingspan of twelve meters and a total length of seven. In the bow of the Dozor-600 there is a place for the target equipment, and in the middle a stabilized platform for observation equipment is installed. In the tail of the drone is a propeller group. Its basis is the Rotax 914 piston engine, similar to the IAI Heron and the American MQ-1B Predator, which are installed on the Israeli UAV.

115 horsepower of the engine allows the Dozor-600 UAV to accelerate to a speed of about 210-215 km / h or to make long flights with a cruising speed of 120-150 km / h. When using additional fuel tanks, this UAV is able to remain in the air for up to 24 hours. Thus, the practical range is approaching 3,700 kilometers.

Based on the characteristics of the Dozor-600 UAV, conclusions can be drawn about its purpose. The relatively small take-off weight does not allow him to carry any serious weapons, which limits the range of tasks to be solved exclusively by intelligence. Nevertheless, a number of sources mention the possibility of installing various weapons on the Dozor-600, the total mass of which does not exceed 120-150 kilograms. Because of this, the range of weapons that can be used is limited to only certain types of guided missiles, in particular anti-tank ones. It is noteworthy that when using anti-tank guided missiles, the Dozor-600 becomes much like the American MQ-1B Predator, as in technical specifications, and the composition of weapons.

However, it’s too early to talk about the combat prospects of the Dozor-600 UAV. The fact is that the latest successes of this project date back to 2010. In July 2009, flight tests of a large-scale prototype began. A little later, the model of the UAV was demonstrated at the MAKS-2009 cabin. Soon after participating in the exhibition, new messages about the progress of the Dozor-600 project began to appear less and less. In 2010, a full-size prototype drone took off. But already in October of that year, the development company announced the cessation of work on the project. This decision was due to a lack of financial support from potential customers. The Transas company was not able to independently pay for the Dozor-600 debugging and therefore closed the project. Moreover, as stated, most of project work, including the creation of on-board electronic equipment, had already been completed by then. It is possible that in future the developments on the Dozor-600 will be used in new projects.

"Hunter"

As you can see, the development of heavy unmanned aerial vehicles of strike destination in our country is not going through the best of times. All projects that seemed promising, either completely closed, or their condition raises serious questions. For this reason, high hopes are associated with the new project of the company "Sukhoi". Some sources claim that these design work received the code name "Hunter". At the moment, there is very little information on this project. Perhaps the lack of information is associated with the finding of the project in the early stages.

The history of the project of the Sukhoi design bureau began in 2009, when the leadership of the United Aircraft Corporation announced plans to involve MiG and Sukhoi in the development of a joint project for a heavy drone. Corresponding agreements between aircraft manufacturing organizations were signed in 2011 and 2012. In April last year, the Ministry of Defense approved the technical requirements for a promising strike UAV, and in the summer there was information about the choice of Sukhoi as the main contractor for the project. At that time, approximate information appeared on the timing of the work on the Hunter program. It was alleged that the first flight of the device will take place in 2016, and it will go into service in 2020 or later.

Since research work on the topic “The Hunter” began just a few months ago, technical details, as well as a list of military requirements, have not yet been made public. There is information about the requirement for the UAV's modular architecture, which will allow it to change the set of on-board equipment in the shortest possible time, depending on the current task. In addition, controversial, if not fantastic, versions have appeared in some unofficial sources. For example, suggestions were made about the development of an attack drone with the ability to perform tasks specific to fighter jets, moreover, allegedly, “Hunter” will correspond to the sixth generation of this class of equipment. For obvious reasons, it is too early to talk about the veracity of such allegations, because the general criteria of the sixth generation fighter have not yet been formed.

In general, heavy shock drones in our country cannot be called a particularly successful class of equipment. The total number of such projects is insignificant, and not one of them has yet reached serial production and adoption. Thus, any such project will cause increased interest and, obviously, great hopes will be assigned to it. Foreign armies have long and successfully used UAVs capable of carrying weapons, but in our country there is no such equipment yet. As a result, any project of this purpose can be “appointed” as the savior of the Russian unmanned industry.

However, to date, active work is underway on only one project, which will be embodied in metal and composites in only three years, and will go into service even later. Due to the lack of other active work in this direction, the “Hunter” theme is the only candidate for the title of the first domestic heavy strike UAV. I would like this project to end successfully and a new technology finally appears in our army, the effectiveness of which has been proved by foreign analogues.

Based on materials from sites:
http://paralay.com/
http://missiles.ru/
http://bp-la.ru/
http://airwar.ru/
http://uav-dozor.ru/
http://militaryrussia.ru/blog/topic-681.html
http://lenta.ru/
http://gazeta.ru/
http://aviaport.ru/

Irkut Corporation began testing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as part of the Breakthrough development work (previously known as the Yak-133 project).

The device is capable of reconnaissance and, if necessary, destroying enemy targets, while remaining invisible to its radars. The novelty is built according to the original aerodynamic design and looks very different from traditional aircraft.

In the future, the newest drone will be equipped not only with air-to-ground guided missiles and bombs, but also with optoelectronic systems, electronic intelligence systems, and even radar.

As Izvestia’s interlocutor in the aircraft industry noted, the aerodynamic design of the latest drones (a combination of the geometric and structural design of the aircraft) is very complex, containing many unique technical solutions that were not previously used in any of the serial aircraft.

“At the design stage, there were discussions between representatives of the Zhukovsky Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), Irkut, and Yakovlev Design Bureau, during which it was suggested that a device of this form would not be able to fly at all,” one of the project participants told Izvestia.

“Doubts were dispelled only after the first test flight took place in August. Everything went perfectly, the designers were congratulated. ”

The composition of the armament of the UAV has not yet been completely determined, but it is already known that UAVs will destroy stationary targets with bombs with laser and optical homing heads, as well as those adjusted by the GLONASS signal.

“The drone’s unique aerodynamic design makes it possible to make UAVs invisible to enemy radars even when it is using weapons or reconnaissance, but also quite maneuverable and fast,” said the aircraft manufacturer. “In order for the latest drone with the selected aerodynamic design to be able to fly, I had to do very difficult work on the integration of UAVs, which, in particular, involved specialists from Roscosmos.”

The term "integration" means the reduction of the work of all systems and subsystems installed on board an aircraft into a single complex. According to the interlocutor of Izvestia, using modern technology, you can make even a stool fly and perform maneuvers, but the problem remains how to manage such a product.

“All aircraft systems must act in a complex, as a single organism. If a pilot, for example, begins to perform a maneuver, then all on-board systems - navigation, engine controls, etc. - taking into account the design of the aircraft and its characteristics - will optimize their work so that they can perform the specified maneuver without interruptions, ”the representative of the aircraft building explained. industry.

In modern aircraft, there are several thousand different systems and subsystems that monitor and control hundreds of flight parameters, and the pilot cannot independently monitor the work of each. Therefore, modern aircraft are equipped with information management systems (IMS) that make the aircraft work in a complex. "

The most important part of integration is to prescribe algorithms and mathematical formulas that specify the logic and operation parameters of all aircraft systems, which, having turned into a special program, are stored in the IMS of the aircraft.

“Unmanned technologies in Russia are now developing very actively both in the state industry and in the private segment,” says Sergey Zhukov, head of the AeroNet department of the National Technology Initiative.

If we talk about gliders, then we are now approximately at the level of world standards in terms of small UAVs and have an uncritical - less than three years - lag in terms of ultralight composite structures for large drones. If we talk about navigation and control systems, then our developments are not inferior to foreign counterparts, but the minus is that they are made so far on a foreign element base.

In terms of power plants, we are somewhat behind, but I can say that we are currently developing in the field of localizing the production of piston and turbojet engines, so that domestic industry is closing this niche at an accelerated pace.

By processing monitoring data, we create our own problem-oriented products and already bring them to the world market. And in terms of integration into the common airspace, we may even be 1-2 years ahead of the world level. ”

The Yak-133BR is an unmanned reconnaissance reconnaissance aircraft, created based on the achievements of the Yak-130 combat trainer. OKB them. Yakovleva considered a number of interspecific promising unmanned multifunctional aircraft systems. The development of UAVs “Raven” and “Klest” was carried out in the usual way, but it was planned to use an unconventional scheme in the construction of more expensive and complex UAVs of the “Breakthrough” family. An important point is that the drone project was based on a scientific and technical reserve, which was obtained during the development of the Yak-130 UBS.

Most of the elements of the control system and avionics of the aircraft was transferred to the drone. This made it possible to carry out the development of an aviation unmanned complex with lower costs than during the traditional design, production time and technical risks are also reduced.

UAVs of the Proryv family Yak-133BR have 3 modifications: reconnaissance radar patrol and strike aircraft, in which a large number of interchangeable systems and assemblies.

UAVs are able to perform almost all tasks related to aerial reconnaissance and conduct special operations. According to the concept of creating the Yak-133BR model, the new unmanned vehicle will have much in common with the Yak-130 UTS, which is now at the final stage of flight tests.

These 3 unmanned aerial vehicles are structurally and ideologically linked. In order to successfully implement the development programs of aircraft complexes with UAVs, it is necessary to invent a mechanism for organizing the production process at all its levels up to the target orientation of the devices.

As practice shows, the championship in creating UAVs in Russia is given to the aircraft construction design bureau, because these design bureaus have vast experience in creating aircraft using complex technical units and systems.

Yakovlev Yak-133BR characteristics: