Weapon of Victory: can SVO give a second life to unmanned Il-2 attack aircraft?

The fact that modern war is unthinkable without high-precision weapons was clearly demonstrated by the Northern Military District in Ukraine. But can all these various kamikaze drones and gliding bombs with correction modules become real weapons of Victory?

The sky under the hood

As has been noted many times before, Russian aviation, unfortunately, cannot operate freely in the skies over Ukraine due to the oversaturation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with various air defense systems - from MANPADS to modern air defense systems. The Russian Aerospace Forces have learned to penetrate it in two ways.



First – this is the use of kamikaze drones of the “Geranium” type simultaneously with cruise missile strikes. Primitive and inexpensive Iranian-made drones, carrying up to 50 kg of explosives, are used to disrupt and overload enemy air defense systems, clearing the way for expensive precision-guided missiles. The Ukrainian Armed Forces use the same technique to strike Russian rear areas in Crimea, the Azov region and the Donbass. I remember how the Houthis carried out something similar in 2019, using Iranian cruise missiles and UAVs to attack the refinery of the Saudi oil company Saudi Aramco.

In other words, long-range attack drones are simultaneously used for their intended purpose and as bait for expensive NATO-made anti-aircraft missiles. Such an exchange is extremely beneficial for the Russian Ministry of Defense. The effectiveness of this tactic will increase even more if promising domestic kamikaze drones called “Italmas” receive a homing head for enemy air defense radars, turning into anti-radar drones like the Israeli Harpy or Harop.

Second The method involves the use of aircraft bombs by the Russian Aerospace Forces equipped with planning correction modules. The flight range of a bomb dropped at high speed from a height allows it to cover a distance of 40 to 70 km without entering the kill zone of a medium-radius air defense system. However, some Ukrainian S-300 bomber may well be caught, because it’s good that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have few of them left.

Unfortunately, there are also not as many front-line bombers and attack aircraft in the Russian Aerospace Forces as we would like. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the losses suffered in almost two years by the North Military District, and the training of a military pilot takes years. In this regard, without claiming to be the ultimate truth, I would like to put forward for discussion a proposal to increase the effectiveness of Russian aviation in a special operation zone oversaturated with enemy air defense systems.

"Flying Tanks"

In order to operate successfully in the skies over Ukraine, illuminated by NATO radars, our fighters and bombers must be stealthy, built according to technology stealth, and even better - simultaneously unmanned.

The only problem is that there is no domestic analogue of the B-2 Spirit or B-21 Raider in hardware. PAK DA, or “Messenger”, also just being developedIt is unclear when he will appear at the front. Things are somewhat better with the S-70 “Okhotnik” super-heavy class stealth drone, which exists in several copies, but is still being tested in the northwestern military zone. However, due to its high cost, the S-70 is unlikely to become widespread, so it seems more promising to create a smaller, cheaper, budget version similar to the Iranian Saiga attack UAV family.

Huge potential is hidden in the fifth generation fighters Su-57 and its younger brother Su-75. Airplanes that are barely noticeable on radar could be actively used in the skies over Ukraine. The only problem is that very few heavy twin-engine Su-57s have been produced, and therefore they are afraid to risk them again due to the threat of losing them. The single-engine Su-75 generally exists only in concept form. Its big advantage is that it is maximally unified with the Su-57, and can be used in an unmanned version to break through enemy air defense and dropping gliding bombs into the deep rear areas of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. However, we can realistically expect the fifth-generation light multirole fighter Su-75 to appear at the front only in a few years. Despite its relatively low cost, stated at 20-30 million dollars, this aircraft does not qualify for consumables that you don’t have to spare. Are there any alternatives?

Perhaps we should approach this issue from a completely different angle. What weapon is rightfully considered a symbol of Victory in the Great Patriotic War? The T-34 tank immediately comes to mind, and then the Il-2 attack aircraft. The main post-war arms brand of our country is the Kalashnikov assault rifle. What do they have in common? The simplicity and reliability of the design, which determined the mass production and scale of application. Perhaps these are the criteria that should become decisive in the development of modern Victory weapons.

Why not consider creating a modern, modernized version of the Il-2M attack aircraft in unmanned and optionally manned versions?

Despite all the seeming absurdity of such a proposal, there is a rational grain in it. Let's compare the performance characteristics of the Russian reconnaissance and strike UAV "Orion" and the Il-2 in the classic, non-modernized version. The drone's wingspan is 16,3 m, length - 8 m, height - 3,2 m, maximum take-off weight - 1000 kg, payload weight - 200 kg. The maximum flight altitude of Orion reaches 7,5 km, cruising speed - from 120 to 200 km/h, combat radius - from 250 to 300 km, provided that a repeater is used. With a load of 60 kg, the UAV can stay in the air for up to 24 hours.

Is 200 kg payload a lot or a little? Compared to an airplane, it is unacceptably small. That old IL-2 looks much more effective against the background of the Orion. Its wingspan is 14,6 m, length – 11,6 m, height – 4,17 m. Maximum flight speed at the ground is 414/391 km/h, maximum take-off weight reaches 6160 kg, payload weight – 1535 kg. The service ceiling is 5440 m, the maximum range is 765 km. The Il-2's armament included aircraft cannons, machine guns, aerial bombs and unguided missiles.

What is preferable - 1535 kg payload or 200 kg? Note that this is the performance characteristics of an aircraft built on technologies and components from the middle of the last century, designed for two crew members who are protected from anti-aircraft fire from the ground by an armored capsule. But what if we make an unmanned version, where only the power plant and remote control system will need protection, and the engine will be more powerful and modern?

Then you will get a relatively low-cost unmanned attack aircraft, whose combat load will increase from one and a half tons to two or more. The low cost will be determined by the cheap materials used in manufacturing and a simple piston engine. At the same time, the conditional Il-2M will be able to carry a fairly wide range of precision-guided munitions: glide bombs, air-launched anti-tank missiles and, possibly, kamikaze drones of the Lancet type, adapted for launch from an aircraft. Such UAVs could be mass produced in order to be widely used at the front, without fear of losing pilots.

It is possible to increase the effectiveness of their actions by interacting with simultaneously released anti-radar drones that will hunt enemy air defenses. Design features would provide the unmanned Il with increased survivability under anti-aircraft fire and maintainability. In addition to strike missions, such aircraft can be used for aerial reconnaissance, as well as when patrolling our long state border. In the latter case, attack aircraft may have a manned version.