Russia has developed a kamikaze drone for airplanes that flies to kill on its own
The barrage munition, patented in Russia, will be able to be controlled from the air, from the ground or completely autonomously. It will be launched from the suspension points of airplanes.
The Russian company United Aircraft Corporation has patented an unmanned aerial vehicle that can be launched from aircraft and is equipped with an intelligent target search and capture system. This was reported by the Russian news agency TASS.
“An air-launched unmanned aerial vehicle is a barrage munition and is intended for one-time use… from standard aircraft catapult devices of the AKU-58 type from external suspension points and from universal in-fuselage catapult devices of the UVKU-50 type from internal suspension points of the aircraft. A combat unit is located inside the fuselage of the UAV,” the Russian developers explain.
According to the Russians, the air-launched drone will be able to search for targets and make decisions about their destruction on its own. An onboard system based on a pre-trained neural network allows the aircraft to autonomously search for and engage targets, thus avoiding air defense and remaining safe.
The drone will have several types of warheads: high-explosive, fragmentation and high-explosive, or cumulative. Different types of warheads provide an expanded range of possible targets. The UAV will be able to destroy armored and unarmored vehicles and other targets with maximum efficiency. The drone’s turbojet engine allows it to reach a speed of Mach 0.11-0.6. According to Russian developers, the UAV is highly efficient, cheap, and suitable for mass production. The barrage munition will be able to be controlled from an aircraft, which is an airborne command post, from a ground and mobile station, and it can also operate completely autonomously.
“The unmanned aerial vehicle is launched to the line of contact. Then the UAV flies autonomously along the route specified in the flight mission using navigation system sensors. When it reaches the target area, it starts searching along the route specified in the flight mission or builds an independent optimal search route in the target area. Camera data and information about detected and/or recognized targets are transmitted in real time to an airborne command post or to a mobile ground control point,” the patent issued in Russia says.
The Russians claim that once the target is detected, the UAV will act independently or receive targeting instructions from the operator. After switching to attack mode, the drone forms a trajectory to the target. If the target is not found within the allotted time, the munition will try to hit the target at the coordinates set in advance. The publication does not disclose the name of the munition or details of its production or introduction into the Russian Armed Forces.
