Watch: Russia’s new New Flame-Throwing Anti-Tank Multi-copter UAV
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Russia’s Ministry of Defense has recently released a video of the prototype of a new anti-tank multi-copter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fitted with cameras and a shoulder-launched rocket system.
the UAV seems to be capable of engaging multiple simulated armored targets with its missiles. However, the multi-copter appears to be a single shot solution, with the aircraft having to land and reload after each shot. The new UAV has been developed by the United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation (UIMC), a subsidiary of Russian Technologies State Corporation (Rostec). According to Russian defense industry officials, the multi-copter is also armed with a built in flamethrower.
Maxim Skokov, head of the department of future development of the UIMC told reporters that “this drone is a multi-copter. It is military drone. It can shoot both vertically and horizontally. In this video we can see the target engagement, now this drone is being tested for the accuracy.”
The drone is purportedly part of a multi-copter complex, consisting of several drones including a robotic helicopter, reconnaissance multi-copter, sentinel multi-copter, and the anti-tank assault multi-copter.
The robotic helicopter, according to information supplied by Rostec, has a range of several hundred kilometers and can perform video surveillance, whereas the reconnaissance multi-copter is fitted with a thermal imaging device to identify possible targets, and the sentinel multi-copter can verify targets and direct artillery strikes.
The drone complex “is called to replace [soldiers] effectively where it is possible, be it scouting, patrolling, monitoring, cartography, transportation and combat missions,” Sergey Skokov, Rostec’s deputy director general, told Russian media.
The multi-copter complex is controlled by a mobile control center, which can operate autonomously up to a week and “takes less than 15 minutes” to set up, according to RT.
