 Soviet/Russian Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Red Star Volume 20
By Yefim Gordon
Midland Publishing, ©2005
ISBN 1-85780-193-8
Softbound, 128 Pages
Available from Specialty Press for $34.95
The Red Star series has put out some interesting titles on some familiar
aircraft, but this book takes a very different tack. While these are
aerial vehicles, these are undoubtedly some of the least known vehicles
to modelers. UAVs are becoming very familiar these days, with their operations
over the Middle East, but the technology goes far back, both for the
US and for Russia. This book details the post-war development of Soviet
UAVs, following them through the Cold War, and ending with the current
series of UAV programs under way in Russia today.
The book, to help make sense of these vehicles, is broken down by designer.
There were only a few main designers of these UAVs, and they include
Lavochkin, Tupolev, Yakovlev, and Kamov. Each of these designers gets
their own chapter, with their entire UAV program analyzed in detail.
Following these chapters comes a single chapter on the current programs,
followed by a series of color photo pages.
Starting with Lavochkin, these were some of the earliest UAVs in Soviet
service. These include the La-17 drone, which is shown mounted underneath
the wing of a Tu-4 launcher aircraft. This would make for a very interesting
companion plane sitting next to a DC-130 carrying Ryan Firebees. These
soon were changed to be ground launched drones, and in this form the
La-17 was quite successful, and even managed to get export orders to
China.
Next up comes Tupolev, whose UAVs originally started out as cruise
missile projects. It was not long, though, before the designers adapted
those designs to long-range aerial reconnaissance, and the result was
a highly mobile high-speed reconnaissance platform. These vehicles were
huge: the recoverable forward fuselage section alone weighed in at over
6000 pounds. The Tu-123 drone was over 90 feet long, with a wingspan
of nearly 30 feet and a height of over 15 feet. Cruising at a speed of
1600mph, at an altitude of over 60,000 feet, the Tu-123 had an effective
range of nearly 2000 miles. Quite an impressive piece of hardware for
the early 1960s! Tupolev also designed a series of tactical reconnaissance
drones, all of which are detailed in this section as well.
The Yakovlev UAVs date from the 1980s and were designed to fulfill
the tactical reconnaissance role. These small drones operated in concert
with ground forces and attack helicopters, providing an integral part
to a combined arms assault force. Featuring a rotating turret on the
front and a ducted propeller in the back, the Yakovlev designs resemble
the UAVs being developed in the US around the same time.
Kamov';s entry into the UAV market was, understandably, helicopter-based.
Their first attempt was actually a pilotless helicopter sprayer, designed
for agricultural work. The most interesting one, though would have to
be the Ka-137 multi-role pilotless helicopter, which is basically a large
sphere with two counter-rotating rotors on the top, and four landing gear
rods extending from the sides, giving this a look similar to Sputnik.
Designed in the mid-1990s, the outcome of the Ka-137 program is uncertain.
The current program chapter offers a glimpse into modern UAV technology,
regardless of the country of origin. High flying, silent, and stealthy
seem to be the order of the day, and the current programs in Russia reflect
this. The color photo section is also interesting, as it shows all of
these UAVs in full plumage, presenting some interesting schemes.
Overall this is an excellent book, and is undoubtedly the most thorough
English reference on Soviet/Russian UAVs. While there are no models of
these vehicles (to the best of my knowledge, anyway), some of them are
of simple shape and could lend themselves well to scratchbuilding. If nothing
else, this is a great piece of Cold War history, and makes for a fascinating
counterpoint to the US U-2, SR-71, and D-21 programs. My thanks to Specialty
Press for the review sample. |
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