News & Events in Belarus
What are the prospects for Belarusian drones and why does Lukashenko pay great attention to them
"Belarusian border guards have detected a quadrocopter. It had no identification marks and was equipped with a built-in recon camera.” Such news appear in our newsfeeds from time to time. The majority of Belarusians calmly move on to the next headline but those who are guarding the peace of the country see this as a signal to action. Fortunately, Belarusian military know how to fight the unwelcome "birds". In an new episode of the project After The Fact: Lukashenko’s Decisions we will tell you about the positions that Belarus holds in the world in terms of drone production. We will also answer the questions as to where and how Belarus applies them and what the drone of the future is?
“You tell me one thing: this is not the single copy of the sample?,” President Aleksandr Lukashenko asked chairman of the State Authority for Military Industry Dmitry Pantus. Then, at the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground in October 2022, the head of state was shown the unmanned aerial systems that are in service with the Belarusian military. “We will sell to whoever will be wiling to buy. Of course, we wouldn't want our equipment to be used in Ukraine: after all, they are our kinfolk.”
How did the Belarusian drone program start?
Modern armed conflicts have shown that you do not have to involve thousands-strong armies in hostilities. The outcome may depend on a small and hard-to-detect … drone. No wonder the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was called the war of drones. The drone conducts reconnaissance, corrects artillery fire and even attacks the enemy. Back in the day the unmanned aircraft program in Belarus was supported by the head of state. In 2008, the research and production center "Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Technologies" was opened at the Physical and Technical Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. It has now grown into a enterprise. Later, within the framework of the state programs, a facility to manufacture unmanned aircraft systems was launched. In 2015 it reached its design capacity. Today, 18 organizations of different forms of ownership have a license to produce and modernize drones.
According to military analyst Aleksandr Alesin, Belarus has a lot of samples. We had a kind of competition. It involved a special center of the National Academy of Sciences and the Military Academy, Minsk Civil Aviation Plant, 558 Aircraft Repair Plant and a number of others. This competition made it possible to choose samples suitable for batch production. Setting up batch production is a story of its own. Even if we design the most advanced drone, starting its mass production is a big challenge. We need components that were largely Western or Chinese: engines, batteries, autopilot systems, and many more. Therefore, we need to have our own components in order to launch batch production. “I do not rule out that our samples of unmanned aerial vehicles will go into production at Russian enterprises. Especially anti-tank drones,” Aleksandr Alesin noted.
Much of what concerns the production and use of drones by security, defense and law enforcement agencies remains behind the scenes. It is understandable, given the current foreign political situation. Suffice it to recall the recent science and technology exhibition Intellectual Belarus. Among its first visitors was Aleksandr Lukashenko, who examined the stand with drones. However, much of the conversation between the developers and the Commander-in-Chief remained confidential. Everyone had a chance to see the domestic devices with their own eyes, get familiar with their technical specifications and even touch them. This decision by the president was about the opportunity for all Belarusians to see what our scientists are capable of.
What types of UAVs does Belarus develop?
But back to the unmanned “birds”. The Hunter strike drone carries a Kalashnikov tank machine gun with ammunition of 550 rounds. Plus 8 missiles and 16 anti-tank bombs. It is unmatched in the world. It was demonstrated to the head of state at the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground last autumn. Then, the developers together with the military showed the head of state literary "the high flight of achievements." But the president warned against any showing off. The main requirement for any weapon is reliability.
Belarus is developing unmanned aerial vehicles of different types: airplane, helicopter and multicopter. Each model has its own tasks. Which drone is better? Both the developer and the user will find it difficult to answer. But the smaller, lighter and more maneuverable the drone is, the better. It is unlikely that it will completely replace manned airships in the future but its advantages are obvious. Remote execution of tasks, no threat to life, information in real time.
“There is no universal drone that will meet the needs of everyone. Different troops need different drones. A multi-rotor drone will work well for a squad/platoon. It does not need transportation. It is easy to carry, hard to detect and requires little time to deploy. This is an important advantage on the front line,” said Mikhail Bryansky, Head of the Department for Unmanned Aerial Systems of the Armed Forces of Belarus.
Yet this drone has its weak points: low protection, a range of 3-5km, and flight time of 20-40 minutes. Though it satisfies the needs of a squad/platoon. “A battalion or a brigade need winged UAVs. Their range is 25-50-100km or more,” Mikhail Bryansky said. “You choose drones between opportunities and needs,” he noted.
Where are drone operators trained in Belarus?
How do you become a "drone pilot"? The manual is enough for beginners. For the Armed Forces, a drone is not just a gadget but an aircraft that requires appropriate training to operate it. The country’s only training center for UAV operators is in Bereza. Specialists are also trained at the Military Faculty of the Belarusian State Academy of Aviation. The training period is 4 years. Cadets graduate the alma mater as lieutenants with a diploma and a guaranteed place of service. As they say airplanes come before girls? With unmanned aircraft, this quote from the famous song seems to be losing relevance...
“This year the Military Faculty of the Belarusian State Academy of Aviation is starting to enroll women for the major ‘UAV technological and technical operation’. The military department has professors, competent management staff. The program is interesting. Theoretical skills are drilled with the use of the operating complexes at the 927 center,” Mikhail Bryansky said.
Which Belarusian weapons are world-famous
Belarusian UAVs are effective in protecting peaceful skies. Their function is defensive. Will we be able to counter ‘hostile iron birds’ if anything happens? Belarus is on par with the world's leading countries in this area. Electronic warfare systems are effective not only against drones. The Polonez multiple-launch rocket system is a good example here. In 2016, when it entered service, skeptics could not imagine that the Polonez would become known to the whole world. After the upgrade, it has become the longest-range MLRS in Europe. And a direct competitor to the U.S. HIMARS in the range of engagement.
“We are, of course, the world’s leaders here. It is just as important as to have UAVs that can attack certain targets. A dozen of these green vehicles could shield our entire southern border with Ukraine against drones and other air vessels,” the head of state said during his visit to the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground in October 2022.
Military analyst Aleksandr Alesin believes that Belarusian electronic warfare systems are among the best in the world. They made headlines back in 2012 when the Iranians used our equipment to ground the American Sentinel UAV. We did not make it public anywhere. But our potential adversary did. “Since then these systems have greatly advanced. I spoke with the general designer of the KB Radar design bureau. There was once an exhibition at Minsk Wheeled Tractor Plant. He said that our electronic warfare systems are able to land strategic UAVs flying at an altitude of 20km and so on,” Aleksandr Alesin said. They give false landing commands, mess with satellite navigation coordinates, interrupt the real ones and feed false ones. If an aircraft is equipped with a drone with a radio location system, an electronic warfare system can feed it false radar data. In other words, Belarus has a highly intelligent potential for the production of modern weapons.
Who uses drones apart from the military
And not only weapons. UAVs are an indispensable help in civilian matters. They are widely used by border guards, policemen, farmers, geodesists, environmentalists, traffic police and the Emergencies Ministry. Few people know but there is even an unmanned airship. This silent aircraft can hang at an altitude of 600 meters and monitor the situation day and night. It is ideal for use in forestry and wildlife reserves. What about a ‘robot vacuum cleaner for fields’? This is no joke. Instead of an apartment - a plot of land. The agro-drone applies herbicides and pesticides within specified boundaries. The flight route is calculated automatically. While such drones are still a novelty in agriculture, rescue drones have been in service for over 10 years. They are used to monitor emergencies, search for people, assess damage. Let’s agree, it is faster, easier and cheaper to take one drone to the air than to call in a helicopter or a rescue squad.
“The Emergencies Ministry began using UAVs in 2012. The first one was a winged-type system of two UAVs launched by hand, with parachute landing. We started using a multirotor type in 2015. Their strengths are small size, vertical takeoff and landing, hovering, getting coordinates, and tracking,” said Sergei Drozd, Head of the Department for Unmanned Aerial Systems of the Air Mobile Squadron of the Emergencies Ministry of Belarus.
According to him, today the most advanced samples are in service with search and rescue vehicles. “Drones are used by mobile control units, regional units, the republican special response team, the University of Civil Protection. All in all, we have 36 UAVs,” Sergei Drozd said.
An unmanned vehicle is no longer a fiction. Never mind a passenger car, Belarusians have designed a rock hauler that can be operated thousands of kilometers away. This means higher productivity, less downtime, savings on repairs, not to mention reduced injury rates. The robot works, the operator drinks coffee. Where there is an unmanned loader, there is a driverless tractor. It is the perfect companion to the agro-drone. This is the precision farming technology. Perfect trajectory, smooth application of fertilizers and protection agents. The result is higher yields and lower costs.
UAVs are used in many sectors of the economy. The scope of domestic scientific thought is impressive and encourages new achievements. It does not matter what tasks they will solve: civil or military. The goal is the same - not to destroy, but to build and create.
“There is no war today. We do not need one. We are getting ready in case we come under attack. They can criticize us for that. But I think that we must do everything, we must rely on ourselves. I have not denied this. I have been preparing for war. For 25 years at least. It was not me who invented this saying: if you want peace, get ready for war. Being the commander-in-chief, I am getting ready. Because I am the first one to be held responsible. We must calm down. Everyone has to do their job if we want to avoid war,” the head of state said in October 2022.
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