Air International — September 2017

SCENE

SCENE

Russian UAVs, including the Orion. One
type of weapon already under test is a small
guided bomb fitted with wings; an anti-tank
missile is also in development. The Orion has
six weapon pylons, two under the fuselage
centreline and two under each wing.
Orion’s designer, Nikolai Dolzhenkov
said when work started there was no single
device or system ready to use on either the
ground station or the air vehicle. He added:
“Nevertheless, despite high risk, we managed
to develop several key technologies which we
could not buy abroad.”
Such technologies were non-existent
in Russia five years ago. Among them,

Dolzhenkov mentioned design and

production methods of lightly loaded

composite structural components used

on the air vehicle. He said: “We have

mastered the technology required for series

production of the airframe made entirely

of carbon fibre composites by a method

known as vacuum infusion. The skin and

the airframe’s entire load-bearing structure

is made of composites.”

Another new solution mentioned by

Dolzhenkov is an electro-impulse de-icing

system for thin carbon fibre structures, which

does not involve heating. He added: “We

have made such a system, which means

we can use our drone in a much broader

geographical range, and in cold regions.

Results of the flight tests show we have

developed a vehicle capable of competing

not only with current, but also future air

vehicles in this class.”

Testing

Orion air vehicles are currently being flight

tested at Kronshtadt’s own flight test facility

established at a former military airfield

in Protasovo near Ryazan, 180km (

miles) south of Moscow. Since the Orion

completed its maiden flight from Protasovo

on October 15 last year, the facility has

reportedly become very active. Prior to that,

the air vehicle completed its first series of

tests at Zhukovsky, lifting off the runway

for a moment in July 2016. Orion flew to

an altitude of 18,700ft (5,700m) during a

test flight in May 2017 and started weapon

launches in June.

Company representatives remained tight-

lipped about the number of air vehicles built,

but underlined the number was “not just one or

two”. The number seems likely to be between

four and six, and the likelihood of the Orion

system soon being deployed to Syria for testing

in combat conditions should not be ruled out.

Presenting the Orion at MAKS 2017,

Kronshtadt Group’s CEO Armen Isaakyan

said the project is ready for series production.

He also announced an agreement signed

with Rosoboronexport for marketing Orion

overseas, saying: “We hope to win a significant

portion of the world’s heavy UAV market.”

Likely regions for export include Russia’s

traditional customers in Southeast Asia, Latin

America, the Middle East and North Africa.

Beyond Orion

Armen Isaakyan said that work on the Orion

commenced in 2011 and currently represents

the company’s strategic direction. He added:

“We are focused on unmanned systems and

will invest in their continued development”.

Last year, Kronshtadt became part of an

industry-financial group called AFK Sistema.

The new owners invested considerable

resources and the pace of work on further

projects has accelerated significantly.

According to Nikolai Dolzhenkov, the

experience gathered during development

work on the Orion and the technologies

mastered will enable the company to

undertake development of much larger

UAVs for a broader range of missions. “Our

objective is to become a market leader in

large UAVs,” he said.

Within the next three years, Orion 2, a UAV

with a 5,000kg take-off weight will follow, and

within ten years the company expects to have

developed an even larger vertical take-off UAV

called the Fregat. The solution to this concept

is implementing two high-load rotating prop-

fans, and if achieved, will give the air vehicle

a unique capability, but also presents the

project’s greatest technical challenge.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence has already

ordered the 5,000kg class Altair UAV

from OKB Simonov of Kazan. The Altair

programme has been in flight test since July

2016 and is reportedly facing difficulties.

Orion 2 is destined to be Kronshtadt’s

challenger to the Altair.

ORION-E

CHARACTERISTICS

Wingspan: 16m (52ft 6in)

Length: 8m (26ft 3in)

Take-off weight: 1,000kg (2,205lb)

Mission equipment weight, standard:

60kg (132lb)

Mission equipment weight, maximum:

200kg (441lb)

Speed: 65-108kts (120-200km/h)

Ceiling: 24,600ft (7,500m)

Endurance, with standard equipment:

24 hours

Communication range, direct: 250km

(135nm)

Communication range, with relay UAV:

300km (162nm)

Kronshtadt Technologies expects to have built a 5-tonne UAV called Orion 2 within the next three

years, followed by the larger vertical take-off Fregat UAV (right) within ten years. Piotr Butowski

Both Kronshtadt Technologies’ Orion unmanned air vehicles are conducting flight testing

from the company’s own facility at a former military airfield in Protasovo near Ryazan.

Kronshtadt Technologies

FUTURE UAV CHARACTERISTICS

Orion 2 Fregat

Wingspan 36m (118ft) 19m (62ft 4in)

Take-off weight 5,000kg

(11,023lb)

7,000kg

(15,432lb)

Mission

equipment weight

1,000kg

(2,205lb)

1,000kg

(2,205lb)

Speed 189kts

(350km/h)

324kts

(600km/h)

Ceiling 39,370ft

(12,000m)

26,247ft

(8,000m)

Endurance over 24 hours 10 hours

Range over 5,000km

(2,700nm)

5,000km

(2,700nm)

Fregat data is quoted for a vertical-take-off capable configuration