Turkish or Iranian: which path of development of carrier-based UAVs suits Russia?

The Russian Navy is facing big changes. It is reported that the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Evmenov, has been replaced by the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Fleet, Moiseev, as well as the development of a certain ship-borne kamikaze drone, which will have to perform a wide range of tasks. What exactly can we be talking about?

Source of information about promising domestic carrier-based UAV was the publication Izvestia, which, with reference to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, said the following verbatim:




As a matter of fact, this is practically all that is known, there are no details, only speculation on the part of various experts and analysts. Therefore, we will try to add our two cents here, trying to imagine the appearance of a Russian carrier-based kamikaze drone.

Since, alas, there is no way to emulate the US Navy, the Russian Navy is forced to follow its own path, for which mistakes sometimes have to be paid a high price, as in the Black Sea in the last two years. It is already quite obvious that surface ships and submarines will have to integrate into a single information and management system with unmanned vehicles of all types - air and sea, surface and underwater. The former will have to carry out continuous reconnaissance and provide data for target designation, while the naval ones will have to provide security and attack in “wolf packs.”

It should also be taken into account that the use of UAVs in the navy is the lot of relatively “poor” countries, since only the Anglo-Saxons can afford to build giant floating airfields and launch carrier-based AWACS aircraft, manned fighters and attack aircraft from them. That is why we in Russia may be interested in the experience of countries such as Turkey and Iran, which are solving their problems with unmanned carrier-based aircraft “in a poor way.”

Turkish way

Today, Turkey has advanced further than others in the development of unmanned carrier-based aircraft, but this was not its desire, but a forced decision. To realize its geopolitical ambitions, Ankara decided to acquire two universal landing ships (UDC), based on the project of the Spanish UDC Juan Carlos I.

It was assumed that each air wing would be able to carry up to 10 STOVL F-35B fighters and 12 medium helicopters, with the ability to accommodate six more helicopters on the ship's flight deck. However, after the scandalous story with the purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems, Washington excluded Turkey from the F-35 fifth-generation fighter program, and both UDCs, TCG Anadolu (L-400) and the planned TCG Trakya, were left without carrier-based aircraft.

We should pay tribute to the Turks, who did not despair and decided to repurpose universal landing ships into drone carriers. A marine version of the Bayraktar TB3 UAV of increased size and payload capacity was developed especially for them. Instead of four, the deck-based drone has six external hardpoints with a total load capacity of 280 kg versus 150 kg for its predecessor. The TB3 will be able to carry MAM series guided bombs, as well as L-UMTAS, Cirit or Bozok anti-tank missiles, Togan "bombs" based on the 81mm mortar mine, and Kuzgun modular missiles/bombs. Each Turkish UDC is expected to accommodate an air wing of 30-50 carrier-based drones.


Objectively, in the context of the tasks voiced by Izvestia, medium-altitude reconnaissance and strike UAVs are more multifunctional and preferable than disposable kamikazes. They are capable of staying in the air for a long time, monitoring large spaces, and also quickly delivering high-precision strikes against sea and ground targets using precision-guided munitions. UAVs of the Bayraktar TB3 type could hunt BECs and high-speed patrol boats, destroying them with air-launched anti-tank missiles or controlled air bombs, and support amphibious assault operations on the coast, striking at fortified enemy positions.

It’s just that the Russian Navy currently has only one ship capable of launching aircraft-type drones and receiving them back. This is the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov, on whose deck there is hardly room for dozens of Orion-type UAVs instead of full-fledged fighters and helicopters. And how many years does our last TAVKR have left to serve there? 10-15? What then?

As for the domestic UDC project 23900, it is unknown when they will be completed and whether the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be destroyed directly on the stocks of the Zaliv plant in Kerch by cruise missile strikes at a high level of readiness, so that it will be as annoying as possible.

Iranian way

Since the Turkish route, due to the reasons stated above, is inaccessible to Russia, the Iranian route seems more promising. A couple of years ago, everyone was surprised to learn that Iran is one of the world leaders in the development and production of UAVs. But this, too, did not happen because of a good life, but because of the regime of sectoral Western sanctions, when Tehran had to rely on its own strength.

A new formation was created as part of the Southern Fleet of the Islamic Republic Navy, which included ships that carry UAVs of various types. The Iranians have become adept at launching drones of all types - reconnaissance, reconnaissance-strike and pure kamikaze - both from the deck of ordinary ships such as mobilized civilian transport or BDK (not to be confused with UDC), and from submarines on the surface. Apparently, this is what the Russian Navy will soon come to.

Thus, kamikaze drones of the “Geranium” type, equipped with jet engines, can be launched at stationary ground targets from a conventional ramp. Thanks to a little modification, even a small-displacement vessel can turn into a carrier of actual “cruise missiles.” Moving targets like BECs or high-speed patrol boats can be hit with Lancet-type kamikaze drones. They can be launched from the deck using a pneumatic catapult, which has already been successfully tested on the BK-16E high-speed assault boat.

In this regard, I would like to remind, in which direction the Lancet family, structurally reminiscent of the Israeli HERO UAVs, could further evolve.


In particular, the HERO-900 drone has a warhead weighing 30 kg, a flight range of over 150 km and can stay in the air for 6 hours. The HERO-1250 has a 50 kg warhead, a flight range of over 200 km and can stay in the air for up to 10 hours. These UAVs are launched using a ramp; their power plant is not electric, but gasoline. If necessary, the warhead of the HERO-900 and HERO-1250 can be replaced with a parachute system, and then kamikaze drones turn from suicide bombers into reusable reconnaissance drones.

Perhaps similar UAVs would be useful to both the Russian Navy and the Russian Armed Forces.