The Russian Defence Ministry has published a video of its new 6-tonne drone taking to the skies for its maiden flight.

Boasting that the Altius-U drone can stay up in the air ‘for up to 24 hours’, Russia says the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will undertake a wide variety of reconnaissance missions.

For the maiden flight, the drone flew for a total of 30 minutes at an altitude of 800 metres and landed safely afterwards.

The Defense Ministry posted the video of the reconnaissance drone’s debut flight in its YouTube page. The video shows the drone speeding up along the runway of a military aerodrome and making its flight.

The video also shows the drone performing maneuvers in the air with the non-retracted landing gear and making a landing.

‘The system is capable of accomplishing a whole range of reconnaissance assignments, employing optical, radio-technical and radar equipment and staying in the air for over 24 hours. The drone weighs about 6 tonnes,’ the ministry said in a statement.

Earlier this month, news emerged that the Russian government is working on a new stealth bomber as well.

The plane is called the PAK DA and will be tested in the coming years before being rolled out as soon as 2025, the Russian news agency TASS announced. </s> Another week, another Russian drone makes its first successful take-off. The defense ministry published footage of the maiden flight of a high-endurance reconnaissance UAV called Altius-U.

The footage shows a twin-engine large drone with a V-shaped tail performing its maiden flight. According to the ministry statement, the aircraft spent just over 30 minutes in the air and performed both the take off and landing in automatic mode.

Dubbed ‘Altius-U’ by the ministry, the 6-ton drone is meant as a high-endurance reconnaissance platform. It can stay in flight for more than 24 hours and has a satellite uplink for control, allowing it to be piloted from a great distance.

The drone is alternatively called Altair and has been in the works for quite some time. The project was launched in 2011 and had a bumpy road to finally taking off. Last year the contract was stripped from its original builder in Kazan over delays and was awarded instead to a Yekaterinburg-based subsidiary of the defense giant Rostec to complete.

Earlier this month another Russian heavy drone called Okhotnik (‘Hunter’ in Russian) made its maiden flight. That aircraft is meant to be a ground attack platform and has a flying wing body type.

Altius-U is said to be the final design that came out of the project so far. Earlier reports said it may be lightly armed when finally entering service. It was not immediately clear if a strike modification is still on the table.

If you like this story, share it with a friend! </s> MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. Russia’s latest reconnaissance drone Altius-U weighing 6 tonnes has performed its debut flight, the Defense Ministry of Russia said on Tuesday.

"The flight lasted 32 minutes at an altitude of up to 800 meters in a fully automatic mode at one of testing aerodromes. All the drone’s systems operated normally," the ministry said in a statement.

Russia’s Defense Ministry posted the video of the reconnaissance drone’s debut flight in its YouTube page. The video shows the drone speeding up along the runway of a military aerodrome and making its flight. The video footage further demonstrates the drone performing maneuvers in the air with the non-retracted landing gear and making a landing. The drone’s board number is 881.

The Altius-U is the drone’s final conceptual design after the tests of several prototypes, the Defense Ministry said.

"The system is capable of accomplishing a whole range of reconnaissance assignments, employing optical, radio-technical and radar equipment and staying in the air for over 24 hours. The drone weighs about 6 tonnes," the ministry specified.

The Altius-U features a satellite control channel, "which makes the radius of its employment actually unlimited," the statement says. </s> The Russian Defense Ministry posted a video of the maiden flight of a 6-tonne Altius-U drone, capable of being in the air for more than 24 hours

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th August, 2019) The Russian Defense Ministry posted a video of the maiden flight of a 6-tonne Altius-U drone, capable of being in the air for more than 24 hours.

A video lasting 1 minute 3 seconds was posted on the ministry's YouTube channel. The video shows the drone's flight and maneuvers in the sky, as well as landing. </s> A 1 minute and 3 second video was posted on the ministry's YouTube channel. The video shows the drone's flight and manoeuvres in the sky, as well as landing.

Altius-U is the final form of this unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), created as a result of the development and testing of a number of prototypes. The flight took place for 32 minutes at an altitude of up to 800 metres in fully automatic mode at one of the test aerodromes. All systems of the complex worked properly, the Ministry of Defence noted.

According to the report, the complex is capable of performing an entire spectrum of reconnaissance missions using optical, radio engineering and radar and can stay in the air for more than a day.

A feature of the complex is the use of a satellite control channel, making the radius of its application practically unlimited. </s> This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

An advanced Russian fighter plane has crashed in Syria, killing both members of its crew.



The Russian military said the two-seater Sukhoi-30SM jet crashed on Thursday morning shortly after takeoff from its Khmeimim airbase in Latakia province.

The defence ministry in Moscow was quoted as saying the two crew members had tried in vain to save the plane until the last moment.

“According to preliminary information, the reason for the aviation disaster could have been birds getting into the engine,” the RIA news agency cited Moscow as saying. “The plane was not struck by any projectile.”

Syria: RAF admits drone strike killed civilian in attack targeting Isis Read more

The Sukhoi-30SM is one of Russia’s most advanced fighters and performed its maiden flight in 2012. It has been used in Syria to launch air-to-ground missiles at rebel targets and to escort attack jets and strategic bombers.

The crash brings Russia’s official military losses in Syria to 86.

The most recent acknowledged military loss came when a transport plane crashed on landing at the Khmeimim airbase in March, killing all 39 people on board.

Russian nationals are also regularly reported to be serving as paid mercenaries in Syria and taking on dangerous missions that often lead to casualties.

Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report </s> This story is from September 8, 2016

GSLV-F05 lifts off from Sriharikota on Sept 8, 2016 (TOI pic by B A Raju)

INSAT-3DR

Mastering cryogenic technology

SRIHARIKOTA: More than two decades after the Indian cryogenic engine programme was formalised, an indigenous cryogenic engine developed by Indian Space Research Organisation successfully propelled for the first time an operational flight of GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) lifting into space the country’s third exclusive meteorological satellite on Thursday evening.INSAT-3DR, an advanced weather satellite , was placed in orbit around 17 minutes after GSLV-F05 took off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 4.50pm. The launch was originally scheduled to be held at 4.10pm. However, it was delayed by 40 minutes as scientists were “rechecking observations made during propellant filling." INSAT-3DR is the second heaviest satellite placed in orbit by an indigenous cryogenic engine propelled GSLV. The 2,211kg satellite, which will provide meteorological and search and rescue data services to the country, was injected into the geostationary transfer orbit. The satellite, with the help of its propellant, will be raised to the final geostationary orbit after two days. Isro chairman A S Kiran Kumar said, “The launch vehicle has performed extremely well.”It was GSLV’s 10th flight. It was GSLV’s fourth flight with the desi cryogenic engine CE-7.5, with the first three being developmental flights. “This is the third successful launch with the indigenous cryogenic engine in GSLV. It has demonstrated its consistent performance and proved to be an operational launch vehicle of India,” said director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre P Kunhikrishnan.Isro called the present one an operational flight as the space agency was confident about the technology and its success. GSLV is a three-staged vehicle and cryogenic engine is used in the third and final stage.“The GSLV rocket has carried the highest mass satellite into orbit. However, the biggest achievement this year will be the launch of GSLV Mark-III with indigenous high thrust cryogenic engine [CE-20] carrying the highest mass satellite,” said Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre director K Sivan, director. GSLV Mark-III will be launched in December.INSAT-3DR, configured with an imager and two transponders, will continue the services rendered by previous satellites and further augment the capability to provide both meteorological and search and rescue services. A data relay transponder will provide meteorological, hydrological and oceanographic data from remote uninhabited locations through automatic weather stations, rain gauges and agro met stations. The other is a satellite aided search and rescue transponder that will pick up and relay alert signals originating from the distress beacons of maritime, aviation and land based users.The imager in the satellite will generate images of the Earth disk from an altitude of 36,000km once in every 26 minutes and provide information on various parameters including radiation, sea surface temperature, snow cover, cloud motion and fog.India has six meteorological satellites out of which three -- Kalpana-1, INSAT-3D and INSAT-3DR -- are exclusively for providing weather services.Isro had conducted three developmental flights with the indigenous cryogenic engine, which it was forced to develop after it used up all the Russian-supplied engines. However, the maiden flight with the desi engine carrying a 2,220kg GSAT-4, an experimental advanced communication satellite, plunged into the Bay of Bengal minutes after it took off from Sriharikota on April 15, 2010. A study conducted later revealed that the turbo pump supplying fuel to the engine had stopped working. Since then, critical modifications were made to both the engine and the rocket before its first successful flight in 2014 and later in 2015.Isro had faced several challenges during the development of the engine. Cryogenic engines were basically essential to put satellites in geostationary orbit, but the technology was quite sophisticated. The reasons were obvious - burning a super-cooled fuel at extremely high temperatures. Isro was faced with the task of developing a material that can withstand the high temperature and pressure during combustion.Even while its first 7.5-tonne engine, capable to carrying two-tonne payload, developed in 2000, blew up during a test, Isro began a project to develop another engine that could carry double the weight.With a CE-20 engine, Isro is not just aiming at launching satellites weighing up to four tonne, but also a possible future manned mission.In Video: ISRO launches weather satellite </s> MOSCOW (Reuters) - An advanced Russian multi-role fighter plane crashed in Syria on Thursday morning shortly after take-off, killing both members of its crew, the Russian military was cited as saying by Russian news agencies.

The two-seater Sukhoi-30SM jet crashed after taking off from Russia’s Hmeymim air base in Latakia Province. Agencies cited the Ministry of Defence in Moscow as saying its two crew members had tried in vain to save the plane until the last moment.

“According to preliminary information, the reason for the aviation disaster could have been birds getting into the engine,” the RIA news agency cited the ministry as saying. The plane was not struck by any projectile.”

The plane was among Russia’s most advanced and performed its maiden flight in 2012. In Syria, it was used to launch air-to-ground missiles at rebel targets and to escort attack jets and strategic bombers. </s> An advanced Russian fighter plane has crashed in Syria shortly after takeoff, killing both members of its crew, the Russian military has said.



The two-seater Sukhoi-30SM jet crashed on Thursday morning after taking off from Russia’s Hmeymim airbase in Latakia province. According to agencies, the Ministry of Defence in Moscow said its two crew members had tried in vain to save the plane until the last moment.

“According to preliminary information, the reason for the aviation disaster could have been birds getting into the engine,” the RIA news agency cited Moscow as saying. “The plane was not struck by any projectile.”

The plane was one of Russia’s most advanced fighter aircrafts and performed its maiden flight in 2012. In Syria it was used to launch air-to-ground missiles at rebel targets and to escort attack jets and strategic bombers.

The crash brings Russia’s official military losses in Syria to 86.

The most recent acknowledged military loss came when a transport plane crashed on landing at the Hmeymim airbase in March, killing all 39 people on board.

But Russian nationals are regularly reported to be serving as paid mercenaries in Syria and taking on dangerous missions that often lead to casualties.

Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
The Russian Ministry of Defence announces that the six-tonne satellite-controlled reconnaissance drone Altius-U has performed its maiden flight.