Strategic High-Altitude Reconnaissance Aircraft: From RQ-4 Global Hawk and WZ-7 Soaring Dragon to Saetbyol-4 and RQ-180 White Bat
At all times, intelligence has been one of the main factors determining victory in wars and armed conflicts. At present, strategic intelligence in the interests of the armed forces (AF) of the world's leading military-technical powers is carried out by reconnaissance satellites, manned high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, and reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
A separate niche can be allocated to stratospheric UAVs – pseudo-satellites that can potentially hover for months at an altitude of over 25 kilometers, solving reconnaissance tasks, relaying communications equipment, and even issuing navigation signals.
In Russia, there are certain problems with all of the above-mentioned strategic intelligence tools, we previously discussed this in the article The Ukrainian Armed Forces' daring forays are a consequence of the Russian Armed Forces' lack of modern reconnaissance satellites and high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, we also missed the topic of pseudo-satellites, although Russian stratospheric UAVs La-251/252 "Aist" could be first among equals.
UAV La-251 "Aist" and model of UAV La-252
It can be assumed (and one would like to hope) that the efforts of the Russian Armed Forces are now focused on the development of reconnaissance, navigation and communication satellites that could be produced in an assembly line manner and deployed en masse in orbit – at least, they appear periodically news on this topic, inspiring cautious optimism.
However, even the presence of highly effective reconnaissance satellites does not eliminate the need for strategic high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. Today we will once again recall the existing capabilities of our adversaries in terms of high-altitude reconnaissance, and also talk about their promising developments, as well as the developments of our partners and allies.
USA
Since 1957, the US has operated the Lockheed U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, capable of conducting surveillance from a height of about twenty kilometers, which became infamous after one of these aircraft was shot down by a Soviet anti-aircraft gun. rocket complex (air defense missile system) in the Sverdlovsk region, and its pilot F. Powers was taken prisoner.
However, the vulnerability of Lockheed U-2 aircraft to SAM fire did not make them useless at all - flights were simply carried out along borders, without violating airspace, and the enormous flight altitude allowed the U-2 to look hundreds of kilometers deep into the territory of a potential enemy. The latest modification of the U-2S Dragon Lady reconnaissance aircraft is still in service, and since their appearance, their flight performance characteristics (FPC) in terms of flight range and tactical and technical characteristics (TTC) in terms of reconnaissance equipment capabilities have increased significantly.
U-2S Dragon Lady
True, there are rumors that the U-2S Dragon Lady may be decommissioned next year, but the US Congress may well block this decision – this happens often there.
In 2004, the US Armed Forces acquired another high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft – the RQ-4 Global Hawk strategic reconnaissance UAV. Despite the fact that the RQ-4 Global Hawk’s performance in terms of flight altitude, which is about 16 kilometers, is somewhat worse than that of the U-2S reconnaissance aircraft (21 kilometers), it has a significantly greater range and flight duration – its patrol time can reach up to 36 hours.
We are faced with the consequences of this machine’s existence in practice – strategic reconnaissance UAVs RQ-4 Global Hawk regularly “hang around” over the Black Sea and the territories of NATO countries near the borders of Ukraine, and given the possible range of their reconnaissance equipment, God knows how many attacks on our military and civilian facilities are planned taking into account the information they provide.
By the way, based on the range of patrol routes of the RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV, it is possible to roughly determine the capabilities of the reconnaissance equipment of this machine.
RQ-4 Global Hawk Strategic Reconnaissance UAV
Also currently in the US, in an atmosphere of heightened secrecy, there is and is being operated the RQ-180 reconnaissance UAV from Northrop Grumman. It is believed that it was the appearance of the RQ-180 UAV that caused the US Air Force to abandon the further development of the RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV line.
There is very little information about the RQ-18 UAV, the prototype RQ-180 made its first flight on August 3, 2010 from the American military airfield in Nevada - Area 51. It must be a fairly large machine - satellite images of Area 51 show large hangars that can accommodate aircraft with a wingspan of about 40 meters. According to open data, the first serial RQ-180 entered service in January 2017.
The development of the RQ-180 UAV was financed from a classified US Air Force budget, the contract for development was concluded in 2008, judging by the financial statements of Northrop Grumman, the contract value was about 2 billion US dollars.
The key feature of the RQ-180 UAV is its reduced visibility from all directions, in all wavelength ranges, primarily radar visibility in a wide range of wavelengths. At the same time, the RQ-180 UAV glider has the highest aerodynamic perfection, previously available only to sports gliders.
Proposed appearance of the RQ-180 UAV
It is believed that this is a new generation of high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft capable of operating in an area saturated with air defense systems (Defense) of the enemy. Presumably, the RQ-180 UAV was designed to perform missions previously performed by the high-speed reconnaissance aircraft SR-71, only it must penetrate enemy airspace not due to its superior speed, but due to its extreme stealth.
The RQ-18 UAV is believed to carry active and passive reconnaissance capabilities, including an active phased array (AESA) radar. In addition, the RQ-18 UAV is equipped with electronic warfare capabilities (EW), most likely designed to disrupt attacks by enemy air-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft guided missiles (SAMs).
It can also act as a communications relay for B-2, B-21 bombers and F-22, F-35 fighters, and possibly other combat units. The RQ-18 UAV is capable of patrolling for 24 hours at an altitude of up to 18 meters, covering a distance of 000 thousand kilometers.
In November 2020, the first photo of what is believed to be an RQ-180 emerged, with the UAV seen flying at high altitude over Edwards Air Force Base, and in September 2021, a second photo emerged showing the UAV over the Philippines.
RQ-18 UAV over Edwards Air Force Base
China
In China, an analogue of the American RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV has been developed and is being mass-produced – the Chengdu WZ-7 Xianglong / Soaring Dragon strategic reconnaissance UAV with a so-called annular wing – a lower wing of normal sweep and an upper wing of reverse sweep with downward-curved flaps, with the help of which the upper wing is connected to the middle of the consoles of the lower wing.
The length of the WZ-7 Chengdu Xianglong UAV is 14,3 meters, the wingspan is 25 meters, the height is 5,4 meters with a takeoff weight of 7,5 tons and a payload of up to 650 kilograms. The turbojet engine provides the WZ-7 UAV with a speed of up to 950 kilometers per hour and a flight range of up to 7000 kilometers at an altitude of over 18 kilometers. The reconnaissance range using an AFAR radar is 550 kilometers.
As we can see, on paper, the Soaring Dragon is not inferior to the Global Hawk. By the way, the Chinese have also developed a naval analogue of the WZ-7 UAV, just as there is a naval analogue of the RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV – the MQ-4C Triton UAV.
UAV WZ-7 Chengdu Xianglong
North Korea
It is funny and somewhat humiliating for Russia that North Korea has developed its own analogue of the RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV – the Saetbyol-4 (“Saebyeol-4” or “Rising Star-4”) strategic reconnaissance UAV, and the analogue is visually very close to the original.
Of course, the performance characteristics and flight characteristics of the Saetbyol-4 UAV are unknown, some sources even claim that this machine is based on the Chengdu J-7 fighter (a copy of the Soviet MiG-21), although this seems unlikely, as are the capabilities of the reconnaissance equipment installed on it, but this UAV flies, that is, at least in the form of some kind of prototype it exists.
UAV Saetbyol-4
Conclusions
At present, Russia has no direct analogues of the above-mentioned reconnaissance aircraft and UAVs.
As strange as it may sound, it seems that at the moment the easiest and fastest way to use strategic high-altitude reconnaissance UAVs in a special military operation (SMO) is to rent them from North Korea, since we are now allies.
Or invite the North Koreans to conduct field tests of the Saetbyol-4 UAV, for example, somewhere over the Black Sea, as a means of searching for unmanned boats (UBC), or in the area of the line of combat contact in the Kursk or Belgorod regions in order to minimize the possibility of a repeat invasion.
Nevertheless, Russia has every opportunity to create its own strategic high-altitude reconnaissance UAV, comparable in characteristics or even superior to the high-altitude reconnaissance UAVs of its adversaries, partners and allies. However, this is a topic for a separate conversation, to which we will definitely return later.
Information