Every UAV has a ‘bold national identity’. Please introduce with you the article comparing weapons – military technical equipment of countries by familiar Russian military expert and missile engineer Vladimir Tuchkov. Article with title and subtitle on “Svobodnaia Pressa” on May 9, 2021:
Turkey’s “Anka” drone (Image: wikimedia) The new attack drone (UAV, drone-ND) “Simsek” (“Lightning”) was introduced to the public by Turkish Aerospace company of Turkey this week. Unlike another UAV which is currently very famous in Turkey, “Bauyraktar”, UAV “Lightning” is a drone – kamikaze (UAV suicide, UAV is also known as flying bullets. wait-ND) – it plunges into the target and detonates the warhead. 
UAV- kamikaze Simsek Turkey At first glance, this is not something too new – “Simsek” is not the first type of bullets waiting to fly. The Israelis and the Americans have accumulated a lot of valuable experience in this field. Yes, and Russia already has some such design. But nevertheless, the uniqueness of the Turkish “Lightning” is that it was brought to the launch point by another drone with a larger engine power – that is, the “Anka” UAV, which also came to the fore. Turkish company aforementioned design. UAV “Anka” – a version similar to “Predator” USA and also has a useful payload of 200 kg. It has two hangers under the wings, and therefore, is capable of carrying two Simsek-kamikaze UAVs within a range of about 500 km. And as a result, it greatly increased the range of the offensive weapon (ie UAV “Simsek”). And also so that there is no need to use a manned air force to perform the same mission. To create “Simsek”, the Turks took 12 years. This project has been in operation since 2009. But in the early days, the Turks had no intention of building “Simsek” into UAV-kamikaze, but rather to build a type of high-speed aerial target to test the air defense systems, as well as for testing of “air-to-air” class cruise missiles launched from fighter aircraft. And also do not understand why the Tho kept silent during the project to build this suicide drone. Until the end of last April, General Director of Turkish Aerospace (Turkish Airlines – Aerospace) Temel Kotil recently revealed some details about the project in an interview with CNN Turk. Mr. Kotil said that the combat head weight of “Simsek” is 5 kg. The flight distance after launching from “Anka” is 100-200 km. This UAV is equipped with a jet turbine engine, so it is quite high speed. In addition, the Turkish Aerospace’s General Manager also added that it is highly maneuverable. However, I really don’t understand what this UAV model needs to be maneuverable for. Mr. Kotil did not disclose how to control the drone. He spoke briefly about: a) it is fully autonomous and b) capable of being directed to the target in direct line of sight, either from a drone or from an operator. underground. “Simsek” is capable of destroying fixed targets on the ground. From the aforementioned “a” point, we can see that the navigation for this type of projectile is carried out by GPS signals. Therefore, the most effective method to “treat” the UAV “Simsek” is to suppress satellite positioning signals with electronic warfare systems. From point “b”, it can be concluded that navigation can be done by radio command, or by laser beam. To do this, the appropriate equipment must be installed on the UAVs. And there is another very important issue. The maximum distance from the target to the launch point of the UAV-carrier is 700 km (500 km for “Anka” + 200 km for “Simsek”). In order to connect these two drones when selecting a target and choosing to attack the target, it is necessary to have a control officer at the UAV launch site – the vehicle carrying “Anka”. And so, need a high-speed satellite communication channel. Many experts believe that after a while “Simsek” Turkey will “learn” how to attack mobile targets on the ground. However, to do that, it will either have to be equipped with a self-conducting terminal – either infrared or active radar, or be able to exchange information through a reliable data transmission channel. to control the flight path. It is reported that Turkish Aerospace will produce up to one hundred “Simsek” drones per year. At this point, it must be said that Russia was ahead of Turkey in making flying ammo. But, unfortunately, up to now this is only one step ahead in terms of fabrication timelines. The two drones – kamikaze of the Zala Aero company of the “Kalashnikov” group have successfully passed the “brides face view at the Syrian shooting range”. These were UAVs “Kub” and UAVs “Lancet”. These two types of UAVs were built with a gap of nearly 2 years. However, in terms of strength, they are more modest than the “Turks”. The combat head weight of “Kub” – 3 kg. Of “Lancet-1” – 1 kg. And “Lancet-3” – up to 3 kilograms. And they are launched by traditional methods – with catapults. The shorter operating distance (Simsek) is considerable – only 30 km to 40 km. Speed - from 80 to 130 km / h. Flight time is 30 minutes. But in return, the Russian works to realize on the UAVs on other features, also extremely important, a much more skillful way. All three of the aforementioned Russian drones are quite similar, only “Lancet-1” is slightly different – it has a smaller size and weight, only 5 kg. On all three UAVs there is a television camera – it is used by an officer on the ground to guide the UAV to a target. As a result, the maximum error when attacking their target did not exceed 2 meters. The mean error is even less. The image from the camera is transmitted via the anti-noise channel to the ground control point, and from this control point, the UAV is directed to the target. In addition, the Russian drone – kamikaze is able to operate independently, without the involvement of an operator – it flies to the target according to coordinates that have been pre-installed in memory. And this type of waiting-flying ammunition made by the Russian company Zala Aero also has a very “top notch” feature – that is the ability to stealth. It is completely understandable that they are made of composite materials, – an almost imperative requirement today. But at the same time, “Kub” ‘s body was shaped like a bird. And it moves in the air like a bird, except without flapping its wings. But there is a special mode that simulates the flight path of the birds. The “Lancet” has a more complex aerodynamic configuration – a vertically double fuselage with two pairs of X-shaped wings. At the same time, according to the design engineers, the drone is nearly “flying in silence. ”(Make no noise). They have different flight patterns. Can fly to the target at an altitude of 3-4 meters, and follow the terrain folds. They can also attack targets from a height of 4.5 km. This method is used when attacking a tank in the least protected top view. Unlike Turkish kamikaze, Russian drones are capable of attacking mobile targets. In addition, the designers “Kub” and “Lancet” asserted that such a stand-by bullet attack would be much cheaper than using a self-propelled howitzer. Therefore, there is a bright prospect for large-scale production of kamikaze drones to use them for mass attacks on enemy battlefields. 
The “ZALA Lancet” suicide drone of the “Kalashnikov” Group (Photo: Marina Lystseva / TASS) With such a spirit, it is advisable to pay attention to a comment of the US newspaper Washington Post – a newspaper with very “enthusiastic” responses to the drones – kamikaze of the Russian “Kalashnikov” Group. on display at the IDEX-2019 international weapons exhibition. This American newspaper suddenly announced that this was truly a revolution in the world of weapons, and the Russian drones presented at the show were, in fact, “a rifle. attack the modern Kalashnikov (AK) “. The strange thing is that both the US and Israel have suicide drones, at least not worse than Russian suicide drones. However, the Americans were convinced by the low cost and simplicity of use of the Russian “Kalashnikov” product. Knowing how, we won’t argue with them on this topic. Le Hung- Nguyen Hoang (Translate)
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