Analysis of tactical and technical characteristics and development trends of class ii strike unmanned aircraft of the russian federation

Abstract

To strike the territory of Ukraine, the Russian Federation actively uses Class II strike unmanned aerial vehicles, which according to the Russian classification belong to “medium” UAVs. The main strike UAVs used by the enemy are the “Geran-2” and “Harpy-A1”. Recently, there have been cases of the enemy using the “Geran-3” strike UAVs, which are equipped with a jet engine.

Gerber-type UAV decoys are used as part of the groups of the “Geran-2” and “Harpy-A1” strike UAVs in an amount of approximately 50 % of the number of strike UAVs.

The use of UAVs as decoys is one of the most effective ways to exhaust the air defense system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine according to the criterion of “effectiveness - cost”.

Given the large-scale plans of the Russian Federation for the production of strike UAVs, in particular in 2025 and in the future, namely approximately 79,000 units, of which it is planned to produce 40,000 Geran-2 UAVs, 5,700 Harpy-A1 UAVs, in particular 34,000 Gerber UAVs and others (which are used as false targets to overload the air defense system), it is relevant to study, analyze, and regularly monitor the tactical and technical characteristics and trends in the further development of these UAVs in order to determine effective areas of countermeasures.

Manufacturers are constantly working on the modernization of the Geran-2 and Harpy-A1 strike UAVs in order to improve the onboard radio-electronic equipment in terms of increasing interference immunity, accuracy of entering a designated area, increasing speed, flight range, using a wide range of warheads weighing 50 kg and 90 kg, submunitions, using artificial intelligence elements in the UAV control system, swarm use, reducing cost and import substitution without deteriorating tactical and technical characteristics, etc.

To determine which of the UAVs involved in a group raid are strike targets and which are false targets, air defense calculations should receive information from radio-electronic, opto-electronic and acoustic reconnaissance units that identify the type of UAV by unmasking features. For this, it is advisable to create a “library of portraits” of strike and false target UAVs.