Aviones sin piloto (RPAS, UAS, UCAS, drones)

[Orel]

Ya están probando en tierra el Protector RG1 inglés con el armamento pérfido: Brimstones y Paveway IV. Recuerdo que es una versión del MQ-9B SkyGuardian, con el que tiene un 97% de comunalidad.
https://www.flightglobal.com/military-u ... 54.article

[Orel]

La Armada Francesa adelanta la compra de UAS para ayudar a su industria aeronáutica, como parte de aquella inyección de dinero a su industria aeronáutica:
https://www.infodefensa.com/mundo/2020/ ... covid.html

Aquí nos recuerdan que además del FVL (FARA y FLRAA), el US Army también está buscando el FTUAS, un nuevo drón táctico para sustituir al Shadow que despege y aterrice verticalmente, y han comenzado a evaluarlos en vuelo:
https://www.defensa.com/otan-y-europa/e ... ertical-no
https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news ... ssessments

[poliorcetes]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambl ... ze-drones/

Turkish Military To Receive 500 Swarming Kamikaze Drones
David Hambling
David HamblingContributor
Aerospace & Defense
I'm a South London-based technology journalist, consultant and author
Turkish news agency Andolu reported Monday that the military there is to receive 500 swarming kamikaze drones. The tactical Kargu-2 drones – the name comes from an old Turkish word for a watchtower — have a high degree of onboard intelligence, and the forthcoming addition of swarming capability takes them to a new level.

Multicopter drone
Kargu-2 Autonomous Rotary Wing Attack Drone STM
The Kargu-2, produced by Turkish company STM, is a 15-pound multicopter with a top speed of about 90 mph and an endurance of half an hour. In standard mode it is controlled directly by an operator from up to six miles away; when a target is spotted the drone locks on to it and dives in, destroying it with an explosive charge. The concept is similar to the Switchblade loitering munition used by U.S. Special Forces, although the Kargu-2 has a much bigger warhead.

Kargu-2’s three-pound warhead comes in three varieties, an explosive/fragmentation version for personnel and light vehicles, a thermobaric version to destroy buildings and bunkers and a shaped charge for heavy armor. Unlike Switchblade, which is strictly one use only, Kargu-2 can return safely to the operator for re-use if no target is found.

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The drone features LIDAR, daylight camera and infra-red imaging. While it can be controlled directly it is highly autonomous, able to fly a route and use deep learning algorithms to locate, track and identify targets without human assistance. STM CEO Murat Ikinci told the newspaper Hurriyet that Kargu has facial recognition, suggesting it can seek out specific individuals. It is described as being engineered for ‘anti-terror and asymmetric warfare scenarios.’ (It sounds a lot like the fictional Slaughterbots).

STM also make the ALPAGU, a smaller tube-launched kamikaze fixed-wing drone with many elements in common.

Importantly for Turkey, all the technology for Kargu has been developed locally. This means it has no U.S.-made components that would restrict export under ITAR arms-control rules so it can be exported freely. Turkey is fast becoming leading a player in the military drone market, and Kargu could provide a significant boost.

The Turkish military previously received small batches of Kargu-2, reportedly deployed against insurgents on the Syrian border. The figure of 500 quoted by Andolu is greater than the total of 356 ordered described in previous reports.

Kargu-2 is undergoing spiral developments, with upgrades being added continuously. Perhaps the most important one described by Andolu is swarming software. This allows a group of drones to co-ordinate their actions, so that they search efficiently and carry out attacks simultaneously against different targets. STM posted a video of Kargu swarming operations.


The drone will work in groups of twenty. Swarming removes the need for a large number of human operators, with just one person controlling the whole swarm – or unleashing it to operate autonomously.

According to Ikinci, the greatest advantages of swarms is that they are too numerous to be tackled by advanced air defense systems, and they can destroy a large number of targets very rapidly.

The Andolu report says that swarming capability will be brought in after the conclusion of the KERKES project (video here). This uses the drone’s cameras and other sensors to navigate by landmarks on the ground, without the need for GPS. This is important because it will make the Kargu immune to GPS jammers which is now in widespread use to stop drones finding their targets.

The other significant news in the Andolu report is that STM is in discussion with three un-named foreign customers about export sales of Kargu. They mention flight tests in ‘desert, tundra and tropical conditions’ suggesting the buyers may be some distance from Turkey. STM say the drone is much cheaper than an equivalent guided missile, and of course any which do not hit targets can be used again.

Tactical swarms look increasingly attractive. There are is no satisfactory defense against small drones, and the Pentagon still working to organize its counter-drone efforts. The rapid development of the Kargu-2, and the moves to export it, suggest that Turkey aims to take a lead in this field and write the next chapter in the history of drone warfare.

[poliorcetes]

Artículo bestial sobre el counter-UAV basado en LAG 40mm de Hensoldt

https://www.edrmagazine.eu/hensoldt-unv ... d-not-only

Diría que es el concepto más equilibrado y posibilista que hay ahora mismo contra una amenaza real

[Orel]

Poli, ¿no dudabas de sistemas anti-UAS basados en armas cuyos proyectiles no fuesen guiados y alcanzasen mucha distancia porque podrían dañar sitios amigos? Por ejemplo, no veías bien sistemas basados en ametralladoras ni en AAA. Concuerdo en que para entorno civil o urbano no son, pero como en este caso, los veo útiles para un conflicto militar.

[poliorcetes]

La diferencia es decisiva: una MG, del calibre que sea, tiene tiro parabólico y puede penetrar estructuras o generar rebotes. Una granada de 40mm AB genera una nube de fragmentos o de perdigones que pierde muy rápidamente velocidad y que por tanto tiene un radio de acción mucho más limitado que una bala.

Eso no quita para que necesite distancias de seguridad, claro. Pero al menos sabes dónde se va a limitar el efecto de lo que lances, lo que no es el caso si empleas cartuchos de armas cortas disparando en parábola, sobre todo por debajo de los 30º

[poliorcetes]

https://soldiersystems.net/2020/06/22/d ... ate-2q2020

Un sistema pasivo y de volumen y peso reducidos. Muy interesante e inteligente para algunos escenarios.

[Orel]

El USMC compra sus dos primeros MQ-9 Reaper propios, con una estación de control:
http://alert5.com/2020/06/24/usmc-orders-two-mq-9s/

[Orel]

SCR consigue la primera autorización en España para volar drones de más de 2 Kg más allá del alcance visual:
https://www.defensa.com/espana/scr-cons ... uavs-mas-2

[champi]

Vídeo del AFRL sobre el Skyborg. A destacar las misiones OCA/DCA: https://youtu.be/XtUxfFaYAPs

[poliorcetes]

Pueden ir en la buena dirección, pero si no los complementan otros UAV de categoría inferior y coste muy inferior, no serán suficientes para quien va a fiar buena parte de sus recursos a los sistemas realmente baratos y operables en auténtica masa

[Orel]

El MQ-9 Reaper demuestra tres nuevas capacidades de despegue y aterrizaje automáticos: desviarse a aeródromos alternativos (en caso de mal tiempo, emergencia o aeródromo dañado), hacerlo con vientos cruzados más fuertes y aterrizar con un peso máximo mayor.
https://www.flightglobal.com/military-u ... 10.article

El Firebird de Northrop, que tiene pinta de ser fácilmente transformable en opcionalmente tripulado o drón total:
http://alert5.com/2020/06/26/northrop-g ... forks-afb/

[champi]

Contrato de EEUU para tres MQ-4C Tritón para Australia (25/06/2020): https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contra ... e/2232845/

...
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, California, is awarded a $333,401,760 modification (P00007) to previously-awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm-target contract N00019-19-C-0008. This modification exercises options for the production and delivery of three low-rate initial production MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft, two main operating bases and one forward operating base in an integrated functional capability-four and multiple-intelligence configuration, with associated export compliance support for the government of Australia. Work will be performed in San Diego, California (23.3%); Red Oak, Texas (13%); Palmdale, California (11.5%); Linthicum, Maryland (9.4%); Salt Lake City, Utah (9.3%); Bridgeport, West Virginia (5.2%); McClellan, California (4.7%); Indianapolis, Indiana (4.5%); Moss Point, Mississippi (3.3%); Waco, Texas (2.1%); San Clemente, California (1.5%); Newton, North Dakota (1%); various locations within the continental U.S. (9.8%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (1.4%). Work is expected to be completed by April 2025. Foreign cooperative project funds for $27,601,190 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
...

[Orel]

Taiwán comprará 4 Reaper:
http://alert5.com/2020/06/28/taiwan-to- ... f-4-mq-9s/

US Navy looks for new small ship-borne UAV for possible $1bn programme
https://www.flightglobal.com/military-u ... 29.article

[Orel]

USAF, Testing Autonomy in a Complex Environment (TACE), parte del experimento Skyborg del AFRL: ¿Podemos confiar en la IA?
http://alert5.com/2020/06/30/tace-can-we-trust-a-i/

El USArmy sigue probando los ALE (Air Launched Effects): primer lanzamiento del mini-drón ALE Area-I Altius-600 desde MQ-1C Gray Eagle Extended Range:
https://www.flightglobal.com/military-u ... 49.article

Saludos