MINSK, 11 July (BelTA) – The Belarusian company OAO AGAT Control Systems, the managing company of Geoinformation Control Systems Holding, plans to sign the first contract for the delivery of an unmanned aerial vehicle with the effective range of up to 100km (BAK-100) in Q1 2015, BelTA learned from Yuri Mosiyenko, Director of OAO AGAT Control Systems, at the defense technology expo MILEX 2014.
“I think the first contract for the drone will be signed in Q1 2015. We plan to contract to deliver Berkut-1, Berkut-2, and Grif models. All the three kinds,” said the executive. He estimated the Belarusian Defense Ministry's need for UAVs at 100 Berkuts and roughly 20 Grifs, which are larger. The approximate price for a Grif-1 UAV is rather high — $2 million. “We plan to reduce the price by half. I believe that $2 million is an expensive price to pay in Belarus,” believes the Director of OAO AGAT Control Systems.
There are plans to reduce the price by optimizing the entire set. For instance, the company may switch from chassis made by Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant to chassis made by MAZ. The number of vehicles that transport non-core components of the unmanned aerial vehicle — the container for the aircraft, the control station, the cables and so on — may be reduced. Trailers may be used instead of full-value vehicles for that. As for the price for the UAV itself, it is already lower than the price for Russian products, which are made of Israeli components.
The system was developed in line with a state R&D program. “Any program of the kind provides for dual funding: money from the state budget and proprietary funding – 50% and 50%,” said Yuri Mosiyenko. The state budget had allocated about Br80 billion. Hence the companies involved in this R&D project had spent roughly the same. For instance, OAO AGAT Control Systems had spent over Br20 billion.
Speaking about the project, Yuri Mosiyenko underlined: “The UAV is not a goal by itself. The payload and what it can do as part of the general system is”. He explained that UAVs can be used for air defense purposes, as part of special operations forces, and artillery units. The relevant tests have been conducted at Belarusian firing ranges for years. Apart from that, drones can be used for civilian purposes, for instance, for ecological surveillance.
The UAVs that will be used by the State Border Committee of Belarus will allow tracking the situation at the border in daytime and at night using heat imagers. The Belarusian border guard will get a tactical small-range unmanned aerial vehicle Berkut-2. It can feed real-time reconnaissance data to control stations. The UAV is launched using a catapult and lands using a parachute.
A Berkut-2 UAV can stay in the air for at least 120 minutes within a 35km radius at altitudes ranging from 100m to 3,000m. The system comprises the UAV itself, a land-based control station that relies on a secure notebook, and payloads that include a photo module, an infrared reconnaissance module, and a television reconnaissance module. The vehicle weighs under 50kg while the crew consists of two people.
Yuri Mosiyenko also said that a BAK-300 model will follow the current BAK-100 model. A BAK-300 UAV will be able to operate within a 300km range. The Belarusian developers do not consider a strategic level UAV yet.
“I think the first contract for the drone will be signed in Q1 2015. We plan to contract to deliver Berkut-1, Berkut-2, and Grif models. All the three kinds,” said the executive. He estimated the Belarusian Defense Ministry's need for UAVs at 100 Berkuts and roughly 20 Grifs, which are larger. The approximate price for a Grif-1 UAV is rather high — $2 million. “We plan to reduce the price by half. I believe that $2 million is an expensive price to pay in Belarus,” believes the Director of OAO AGAT Control Systems.
There are plans to reduce the price by optimizing the entire set. For instance, the company may switch from chassis made by Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant to chassis made by MAZ. The number of vehicles that transport non-core components of the unmanned aerial vehicle — the container for the aircraft, the control station, the cables and so on — may be reduced. Trailers may be used instead of full-value vehicles for that. As for the price for the UAV itself, it is already lower than the price for Russian products, which are made of Israeli components.
The system was developed in line with a state R&D program. “Any program of the kind provides for dual funding: money from the state budget and proprietary funding – 50% and 50%,” said Yuri Mosiyenko. The state budget had allocated about Br80 billion. Hence the companies involved in this R&D project had spent roughly the same. For instance, OAO AGAT Control Systems had spent over Br20 billion.
Speaking about the project, Yuri Mosiyenko underlined: “The UAV is not a goal by itself. The payload and what it can do as part of the general system is”. He explained that UAVs can be used for air defense purposes, as part of special operations forces, and artillery units. The relevant tests have been conducted at Belarusian firing ranges for years. Apart from that, drones can be used for civilian purposes, for instance, for ecological surveillance.
The UAVs that will be used by the State Border Committee of Belarus will allow tracking the situation at the border in daytime and at night using heat imagers. The Belarusian border guard will get a tactical small-range unmanned aerial vehicle Berkut-2. It can feed real-time reconnaissance data to control stations. The UAV is launched using a catapult and lands using a parachute.
A Berkut-2 UAV can stay in the air for at least 120 minutes within a 35km radius at altitudes ranging from 100m to 3,000m. The system comprises the UAV itself, a land-based control station that relies on a secure notebook, and payloads that include a photo module, an infrared reconnaissance module, and a television reconnaissance module. The vehicle weighs under 50kg while the crew consists of two people.
Yuri Mosiyenko also said that a BAK-300 model will follow the current BAK-100 model. A BAK-300 UAV will be able to operate within a 300km range. The Belarusian developers do not consider a strategic level UAV yet.
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