Belarusian army gets equipped with drones

Belarusian Armed Forces will come into possession of unmanned aviation complexes of two types.

These are the 100 km range drones and tactical low-range drones Berkut-2, they told charter97.org at Belarus State Military Industry Committee.

The first drone type is intended to be used for air intelligence purposes, including television, thermal imaging, laser and radiation intelligence. State tests of the unmanned aviation complex were successfully finished on 30 June 2014 at the base of the 927 center for preparation and utilization of unmanned aviation complexes of the Air Defense and Air Forces.

The peculiarity of the Belarusian product is its self-sufficiency, agility, the ability to complete tasks in the absence of an aerodrome network and the respective infrastructure.

In its turn, the tactical low-range drone Berkut-2 has been developed specifically for Belarus Border Service and will be supplied to the army shortly. The complex was developed by the “AGAT- management systems” company and is intended for optical and electronic intelligence around the terrain at day and nighttime as well as for target designation for shooting machines. Apart from monitoring, detection and automatized object support the Berkut-2 is capable of transmitting real-time intelligence data to command points of motorized infantry units, missile troops and artillery.

Take off is carried out by the means of a catapult, while for landing a parachute is used.

In its tactical and technical features the BErkut-2 drone significantly excels over the previous models: the flying time is at least 120 minutes, tactical application radius is up to 35 km at heights from 100 to 3000 meters.

Apart from the unmanned flying machine, the complex includes a land-based protected laptop control station, task-specific appliances, including a photo-module, infra-red intelligence module and a television intelligence module. The weight of the drone is below 50 kg, the combat unit consists of two persons.