The first five prototypes of advanced short-range unmanned aerial vehicle Korsar have been manufactured in Russia, Alexander Yakunin, director general of the United Instrument Corporation (UIC, a Rostec subsidiary), told TASS in an interview on Tuesday. “We keep on working on setting up a manufacturing facility on the premises of the Luch design bureau in Rybinsk to produce Korsar short-range UAVs,” he said.
He also said UIC, which had developed and made the prototypes, was contemplating an annual production of four systems of medium-range UAVs with a combat radius of 500 km. According to UIC, the Korsar is to become the first mass-produced short-range UAV for the Russian Army. Its primary purpose is to keep the battlefield under observation. The aircraft is expected to pass its tests in 2016 and enter full-scale production as soon as 2017. A prototype was unveiled at the Army 2015 forum in June this year.
As was reported in the press, Russia is devising a UAV development program to coordinate UAV-pertinent efforts under the 2016-2025 armament acquisition program. If it is approved, the government will have received several hundred Russian-developed UAVs by 2025. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, almost 320 billion rubles ($4.5 billion) have been earmarked for the program on fielding UAVs with the armed forces before 2020. As was reported in the press, Russia’s advanced small-size reconnaissance UAV Korsar from the Luch design bureau in Rybinsk has been in flight trials aimed, inter alia, at testing its payload, including its radar.
The Korsar carries a radar from Russian radar manufacturer Phazotron-NIIR. It is very likely that the Korsar will be powered by the APD-500 piston engine from NPO Saturn. Its production entry is slated for 2018. An APD-500 prototype was unveiled at the Russian Defense Ministry Innovation Day 2015 show in Kubinka (Moscow Region). It is Russia’s first two-stroke gasoline piston engine. It weighs about 30 kg and takes the UAV to an altitude of more than 6,000 m. According to open sources, the Korsar has the twin-boom configuration with the pusher propeller and inverted-V tail, which is traditional to aircraft of the type.
News & Image Sources: Internet.