New Combat UAV to Be Equipped with AIr-to-Air Missiles

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A new Russian combat UAV was recently developed. Russia’s Modern Aviation Technologies (SAT) Design Bureau has developed a UAV concept based on its SR-10 jet trainer aircraft.

Dubbed the AR-10 Argument, a SAT representative told janes.com that the concept aircraft is intended to operate in combat air patrol and strike roles, and within an enemy’s air defenses if necessary.

A number of design features separate the UAV from the manned SR-10, most notably the absence of the two-seater cockpit and a configuration that features a single dorsally-mounted air inlet instead of two belly-mounted inlets; the AR-10 also has a V-shaped tail while the SR-10 has a single-fin.

The current design for the AR-10 envisages two hard points for external stores – one under each wing – and given the SAT representative’s statement regarding the aircraft’s capabilities and mission sets, it is likely that a weapons mix would feature both air-to-air missiles and air-to-surface munitions, including anti-ship types.

The manned SR-10 light dual-pilot jet trainer aircraft which the UAV version is based on had caused a sensation when it first took to the Russian skies in December 2015. For the first time in Russian aviation, a private design bureau had created a plane – from scratch, without public financial support – which can edge out aircraft produced by the aviation industry’s big guns in the markets, according to rbth.com.