Off-airfield transport system - new equipment for the Russian Army

Off-airfield unmanned transport system. Photo: United Aircraft Corporation

Giants in the sky

They started thinking seriously about unmanned systems only after the start of the special operation. At the system level, of course. They have long learned to build in garages and basements drones for the front, but this is far from industrial scale. As before standardization with unification, which military equipment cannot do without.

The state only realized that unmanned systems would have to be a priority in the very near future only in the middle of last year. In June 2023, the Unmanned Development Strategy was adopted aviation until 2035 with the summing up of interim results in 2030. On paper, everything revolves around the civilian industry, but everyone is well aware that without a dual purpose, not a single domestic drone should be developed. It should be. At least until the moment of Russia's victory in the special operation.

Off-airfield unmanned transport system. Photo: United Aircraft Corporation

If a strategy is adopted, then a lot of money will be allocated for its provisions. And it is right. Until stable demand has been formed in the country, and business is not ready to invest for a long time, the state will have to finance development. In the near future, we should see a scattering of new products in the field of domestic drone construction. Nobody has canceled natural selection in the market, and the fittest must survive in the struggle. There is no other way - without competition, neither the army nor the civilian sector will get good drones.

Particular attention should be paid to the heavy drone sector, as the most promising and little-studied in our country. There are many developments in Russia, but most of them are far from serial implementation. Mainly due to dependence on imported components, as well as undeveloped infrastructure. It is possible to create hundreds of unmanned transport helicopters, but without trained personnel and understanding of the specific application, the equipment will remain dead weight.

Off-airfield unmanned transport system. Photo: United Aircraft Corporation

Important work is being done at the Sukhoi Design Bureau on the topic of unmanned trucks. On February 21, engineers lifted into the air a device with the complex name “Unmanned transport system off-airfield based” or BTS-VAB. This is just a prototype for now, but its design inspires some hope.

According to the authors, the drone is equipped with a hybrid power plant consisting of an internal combustion engine, a generator and electric motors with rotors. For takeoff, electric propulsion from on-board batteries is used primarily. The remaining operating modes are provided by a gasoline engine.

Judging by the photographs published by the United Aircraft Corporation, drone there is still a long way to go to be a full-fledged technology demonstrator. But something can already be told even on the basis of a photo report. The car turned out to be quite big - more than six meters long, about 2,5 meters wide. By design, the BTS-VAB is an octocopter, with four beams with pairs of electric motors located on the wing plane.

Obviously, hovering and vertical flight are not key to the drone's performance. This is a transport device for transporting cargo over long distances, and in flight it will rely primarily on the wing. Evgeny Rubtsov, the project manager, announced a 500-kilometer flight radius and a payload of 300 kilograms.

On the prototype, the wing planes have not yet been formed - in fact, we see a device assembled from aluminum molds. There are serious doubts about the presence of an engine on a drone. The photographs do not show the location of the engine, nor the fuel tanks. There aren't even compartments in which they can fit.

Most likely, the Sukhoi Design Bureau presented a very crude prototype, demonstrating only the possibility of takeoff and simple maneuvering in hover mode. The photographs and videos do not show not only the internal combustion engine with fuel tanks, but also the appropriate batteries for the traction electric motors.

Therefore, there are few outputs - power is supplied either through a holding cord or through completely symbolic batteries placed in the central beam of the prototype.

But all this does not negate the importance of the first flight of such a machine. Even if not in a completely complete form.

Heavy ones - into the air!

The scope of work for the use of heavy drones has yet to be invented.

Noteworthy story with modern passenger airliners, which have been capable of flying by remote control for ten to fifteen years. And more recently, also under the guidance of artificial intelligence. Flying is likely to become even safer. But who would buy a ticket for a plane with no pilots and only flight attendants?

The situation with heavy drones is similar - there is still no clearly constructed logic for the operation of such machines. We will not go into the details of civilian operation, but will deal with work for the needs of the military.

If BTS-VAB is finally brought to fruition, two problems will arise. The first is what to transport on such a device. The second is how to protect the drone from easy and spontaneous destruction from the ground.

A video fragment that allows you to estimate the size of the BTS-VAB

The vehicle is clearly not cheap, and the enemy will not spare missiles to neutralize the threat. Moreover, when a low-speed vehicle operates with an internal combustion engine with an appropriate thermal signature. Therefore, the device will inevitably have to fly at low level, which will sharply limit its operating range. Or you will have to raise a repeater drone, which complicates the entire organization.

There are also difficulties with the payload.

Calculations show that the vehicle is capable of carrying a couple of wounded soldiers on board for evacuation. But there is simply nowhere to place them. On the plane of the wing it is impossible - there are rotors all around. And carrying wounded soldiers on a low-level flight on an external sling is not a good idea. For this, the drone operator must have incredible piloting skills. There are doubts that the evacuee, being conscious, will agree to fly of his own free will.

According to the developers, the main flight mode will be automatic along a pre-built route. This will allow you not to be afraid of enemy electronic warfare until a certain moment, but will significantly increase the chances of death from fire from the ground. As well as from a banal collision with a power line. In the event of an “emergency”, the operator will be able to take control of the machine. Similar situations at the front will occur all the time, so BTS-VAB still cannot do without a pilot on the ground.

Off-airfield unmanned transport system. Photo: United Aircraft Corporation

At the end of the material, we will try to ask a few questions to the developers of the flying platform.

The first is why the official website declares exclusively civilian use of the drone? In particular, it says:

“The project is aimed at public and private structures in the transport services market. The drone will be able to perform logistics, research and other tasks of any complexity in various regions of Russia, including the most inaccessible places.”

What are they afraid of? Where are the opportunities for front-line operation?

Now, whatever one may say, the civilian sector is not critically dependent on heavy drones. It turns out to be a very interesting situation. If the developer does not sharpen his equipment for dual purposes from the very beginning, then he is free to choose design solutions accordingly. For example, buying engines from the Chinese or even making do with parallel imports. In this case, the army will not be able to order drones that are important for the front.

And then the second question - where do the engineers intend to get the internal combustion engine for their device?

In Russia, they have long forgotten how to make such small-sized motors, and developing a unit only for the needs of BTS-VAB is unreasonably expensive.

We can only hope that somewhere in the depths of engine-building design bureaus they are right now working on a miniature gasoline engine for a heavy drone and a whole range of other equipment, which we will learn about very soon.

Comments

[Vladimir_2U]

The first is what to transport on such a device. The second is how to protect the drone from easy and spontaneous destruction from the ground.

Yes, anything, within the limits of carrying capacity and size. Yes, in the same way, for example, as transport helicopters protect, do not enter the firing zone, and taking into account the silhouette, this will be even easier.

According to the developers, the main flight mode will be automatic along a pre-built route.

The main one does not mean the only one.

In Russia, they have long forgotten how to make such small-sized motors, and developing a unit only for the needs of BTS-VAB is unreasonably expensive.

How much is “so small-sized”? Apart from the fact that it is quite possible to install a turbine, or rather a turbogenerator. In addition, the take-off, most energy-intensive, mode will be provided by both batteries and a generator, as I understand it. This means that the power requirements for the engine will not be particularly high, clearly more modest than purely aviation ones.

On the plane of the wing it is impossible - there are rotors all around. And carrying wounded soldiers on a low-level flight on an external sling is not a good idea.

There will be a cargo compartment in the wing, which means there will be no cargo compartment, which means there will be a container between the landing gear. What does external suspension have to do with it? If the author considered the cable in the photo to be an external suspension, it was a cable for testing on a tether; even manned helicopters tested this way, at first for sure.


It’s strange to see so many complaints from the author about a really crude prototype.

[IVZ]

It’s strange to see so many complaints from the author about a really crude prototype.

I absolutely agree with you. A very necessary direction, a completely working concept of the device itself, crude of course, but one of the most promising of all those “multiplying” recently.

[venaya]

Quote: IVZ

It’s strange to see so many complaints from the author about a really crude prototype.
... A very necessary direction, quite working concept of the device itself, raw of course, but one of the most promising of all the ones that have been “multiplying” lately.

What you wrote is not very clear. In what sense is the concept: 8 engines arranged in a “square-nested” arrangement and in terms of aerodynamics and the strength of the structure itself is clearly not an optimal design from all sides, the cellular arrangement is more advantageous from all sides and it is more reminiscent of an extremely cheap just a stand for some possible field tests in this case. This is just the original model of the aircraft, not for practical use as far as I understand.
In the text of the article:

two problems will arise. The first is what to transport on such a device. The second is how to protect the drone from easy and spontaneous destruction from the ground.

- Here it is possible and necessary to transport absolutely everything, because it turns out to be the sum of the costs and is cheap and cheerful. And second: “how to protect a drone from easy and spontaneous destruction from the ground.” - Now, if you stick the wings on, it should be easier to protect yourself from accidents, because the speed is higher and controllability increases many times over. Much more can be foreseen even at the initial stage of such developments. And I was also very surprised by the extremely small size of the propellers; apparently they did not find the low-speed electric ones needed in this case. engines for this aircraft.

[Netl]

it looks more like an extremely cheap stand

That's right. What is in the photo is a stand for testing takeoff and landing on small electric vehicles. engines.

And in the full version it resembles an airplane, with a wing, a body and a piston engine, on which the main flight takes place.

[venaya]

Quote: Netl

in the full version it resembles an airplane, with a wing, a body and a piston engine, on which the main flight takes place.

So, is this plane also created for such testing? The same games as on a biplane like a maize truck with also 8 el. engines that reduce the take-off/landing distance of the aircraft, but instead of obtaining some kind of dynamic air cushion, there is already a static air cushion that reduces the length of the required runway to zero. You can show a photo of the full version of the already assembled project in the form of a full-fledged aircraft, or at least an additional one. describe it.

[Netl]

You can show a photo of the full version of the already assembled project in the form of a full-fledged aircraft

I can not. I don’t know, there is a complete object, I haven’t seen a photo.
Based on the available information, I wrote the post above.

The main “feature” is a hybrid installation with 2 types of engines. And with the “corner” the situation is different: there is a special airflow mode to improve the aerodynamic properties of the wing, but here it’s a simple take-off in a helicopter, flight in an airplane. The advantages are low site requirements, simplicity and low cost compared to tiltrotors, the rest are disadvantages.

[venaya]

Quote: Netl

The advantage is low requirements for the site, simplicity and low cost compared to tiltrotors, the rest is in the red.

In connection with what, how and in what way is it ensured"inexpensive"? On the contrary, I notice an unreasonable increase in both the complexity and cost of such a complex apparatus, because the unreasonable increase in the number of required structural elements increases significantly here, as far as I noticed. And a well-designed tiltrotor, by definition, reduces to a minimum all kinds of additional and unnecessary extra weights of the structure, and here I am I notice that there are too many of them.

[Netl]

How is "inexpensiveness" ensured?

Compared to a tiltrotor, most likely due to the use of ready-made solutions and the lack of mechanics for turning and transmitting torque.

And there is a problem with well-designed tiltrotors all over the world. Everything somehow doesn’t work out very reliably for everyone.

[venaya]

Quote: Netl

Compared to a tiltrotor, most likely through the use of ready-made solutions and lack of mechanics for turning and torque transmission.

Ready-made solutions, what is this? A solution to a proven vertical take-off of a helicopter plus a solution to a horizontal flight of an airplane or what? In this case, separate propellers with their own motors are used during takeoff/landing, plus separate propellers also with their own motors during horizontal flight. And where is the benefit here? Here I notice both an increase in price and an increase in flight weight that has exactly doubled. Not a weak result due to laziness of the mind, in contrast to the implementation of a full-fledged tiltrotor project where all this is half the price and has half the weight, that is, in the end, the flight range.

Quote: Netl

А with well-designed tiltrotors it’s difficult all over the world. Everything somehow doesn’t work out very reliably for everyone.

Here I notice that the term “world” is appropriate, or rather little world with a small letter, but in World with a capital letter, somehow everything goes fine for others with their projects. You probably meant only the “V-22 Osprey” - then yes, this antediluvian model has quite fundamental shortcomings that are absent in other later and more sophisticated tiltrotor models. Why not remember the planes of the Wright brothers or slightly later models? Likewise, the V-22 Osprey was created under Tsar Gorokh, but for some reason everyone does not notice this simplest fact to understand. I suspect that, unfortunately, many people have undergone an operation of neuro-psychological or mental programming similar to religious zombieting. Now how can we cure and de-zombify society?

[JD1979]

Quote: Vladimir_2U

It’s strange to see so many complaints from the author about a really crude prototype.

This is still cultural))) This flying freak evokes nothing but obscenities in me. Another example of a useless waste of money on re-inventing the wheel))) AND THIS is what they call a concept?))) Some kind of inventive diarrhea has started, when everyone wants to sit down on the financial flow, which now, having crapped themselves, they mindlessly pile into drones without understanding which ones are needed and which ones are not. And businessmen with idiotic crafts like this one in the pictures will probably flush a lot of money down the toilet for the 1000th time, so that in the end it will howl as usual: either they will throw up their hands “Well, they couldn’t do it,” or the potential customer will say “we don’t need that”) ))

[venaya]

They started thinking seriously about unmanned systems only after the start of the special operation.

The first impression that arises is that it happened not only late, but even very late.

[alexoff]

So this is not true, we thought about it a long time ago. Since the beginning of the 21st century, we have created almost more drone projects than in the United States. This is how Zala celebrated its twentieth anniversary last year. It’s just that the Ministry of Defense did nothing beyond words and minimum orders, and then pretended to be a broom that it didn’t even know about drones

[Dedok]

In Russia, they have long forgotten how to make such small-sized motors, and developing a unit only for the needs of BTS-VAB is unreasonably expensive.

expensive?
remember about “galoshes”!
expensive - this is when wages account for 50%, energy -20%, and with the rest of the money you need to design and build

[Non-fighter]

But who would buy a ticket for a plane with no pilots and only flight attendants?

They will not tell you that there is no pilot on the plane you are flying. You fly and fly, no matter how, the main thing is cheaper.

[Alexey RA]

Calculations show that the vehicle is capable of carrying a couple of wounded soldiers on board for evacuation. But there is simply nowhere to place them. On the plane of the wing it is impossible - there are rotors all around. And carrying wounded soldiers on a low-level flight on an external sling is not a good idea

They will remember the experience of the past - underwing transport cassettes.

[NakedMan]

In general, there is enough space in the center right above to secure a load or a stretcher with a wounded person.
As for the engine, you need to know what kind of power we are talking about, maybe there is enough space.

According to the developers, the main flight mode will be automatic along a pre-built route. This will allow you not to be afraid of enemy electronic warfare until a certain moment, but will significantly increase the chances of death from fire from the ground. As well as from a banal collision with a power line.

It’s strange about power lines; it’s more likely that an operator will swoop in than an autopilot, which has the entire route along with the lines written down. But neither the autopilot nor the operator will do anything against an anti-aircraft missile.

[venaya]

Quote: Naked Man

But neither the autopilot nor the operator will do anything against an anti-aircraft missile.

How can an anti-aircraft missile reach an aircraft at low level flight? Then it will be easy for her to find all kinds of cars moving at a similar speed, because she will not be able to independently determine the differences between all these vehicles...

[Dedok]

Quote: Dedok

In Russia, they have long forgotten how to make such small-sized motors, and developing a unit only for the needs of BTS-VAB is unreasonably expensive.

expensive?
remember about “galoshes”!
expensive - this is when wages account for 50%, energy -20%, and with the rest of the money you need to design and build

Here's more information on how we spend our budget:
https://news.mail.ru/incident/60020862/?frommail=1
notice what directions they “developed”:

As part of the investigation, employees of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee detained the head of the department networks and communication systems of space complexes, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Kirill Tsvetkov, Head of the Department space radio navigation, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor Andrei Nazarov, the latter’s deputy Vladimir Avdeev and teacher Artemy Pavlov.

[alexoff]

They hunt for dead souls in every first Russian university. If you look at the articles of Russian scientists, every first one works in two places, and every second one works in three. I know a now deceased academician who was registered in five places and received a salary, appearing only in one place. By the way, he didn’t have a car, but his friends gave his wife a Bentley. I have some bad friends...

[Nikolaevich I]

What is shown to the public is a concept! Chicken embryo - tobacco! Now we need to get ready to live in order to have time to see what happens! "Is the off-airfield transport system a new thing for the Russian army? Only “snotty youth” can say this! "New" was in the USSR!

[Maks1995]

It was already similar.
Multi-rotor transport helicopters - whatnots.
No application found. Because The more complex the design, the more unreliable the design, IMHO.

What will they do to them? If you don’t send someone to a non-war, they’ll shoot you down.
To carry cargo - this is how there are developments of cargo helicopters for the post office and air taxis (Kalashnikov and Rostec)
Fewer screws, more ease of use.

And here is a gust of wind, the engine is frozen, and hello, honey...

[asaulenckop]

“The understanding that unmanned systems will have to be put at the forefront in the very near future only came to the state in the middle of last year.”
Alas, this does not speak in favor of the state that we have.

[gridasov]

No, that's normal! When it was repeatedly said about a new propulsion device capable of changing the balance towards increasing the payload, the response was, if not insults, then simply silence. Even during the Zworykin project, I proposed a project about this. And now this is how it all turned out.