Russian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Just saving some notes that are hard to find. These are Russian UAVs and surveillance drones. Originally meant for the civilian market, they have since been repurposed for the military.

ZALA catalog including 421-22, -16EM, --16E, -16E5, -10 and -8M.


Russian surveillance quadcopters, aka Chinese Mavic and Nazgul analogs.

ZALA 421-24


Dobryna drone



Of the FPV drones we have the Upyr and the VT-40 drone that was developed by the Sudoplatov unit. These we have a ton of videos in action.

Not clear what the Russians are using as a domestic made quadcopter bomber. It obviously exists as we often see it through it's lens. But we don't have a name or a pic of it externally, although I think it's similar or the same as the ZALA 421-22 industrial quadcopter. Namely acts like the Russian Baba Yaga.

The Chinese company Tsingaero Armaments is going to launch the production of helicopter-type drones in Russia on the territory of Tatarstan. According to the head of the company’s board, the company “chose” Russia to implement this project and “perhaps it will be the only partner country.” The company's drones are used in the military sphere for reconnaissance, transportation, communications relay and battlefield surveillance. In addition, drone helicopters are used in the civilian field, for example, to extinguish fires. Tsingaero Armaments has developed drones and synchrocopters, their rotors are located at an angle to each other, their planes of rotation intersect. When using this scheme, the drone has higher stability and its load capacity is 30% higher. Accurate characteristics of drones on the screen. Depending on the model, drones have a carrying capacity of 60 to 250 kg, can stay in the air for 3 to 5 hours and have a flight range of 200 to 500 km, reaching speeds of up to 270 km/h.

The Russian army has begun to use the Bee queen drone, but there is no technical information about it yet. The drone is made according to the VTOL scheme, that is, a hybrid of an airplane and a quadcopter, it is equipped with an internal combustion engine and can transport and launch FPV drones. Judging by its size, the Bee UAV can carry one FPV drone placed on top. The use of the Bee UAV as a carrier of FPV drones allows you to significantly increase the range of use of FPV drones, since the UAV relays signals from FPV drones and increases their range. Judging by the development of drones, unmanned aircraft will soon become a separate branch of the military.

its says more Su-35. just looking at manufacturing plant. They should be making 100 to 150 a year.

Heavy-duty FAB-3000 bombs began to be made in Russia, review. The Russian Minister of Defense visited enterprises of the military-industrial complex in the Nizhny Novgorod region, where he got acquainted with the production process of the Russian heavy-duty bomb FAB-3000. In the video you can also see the production of Russian aerial bombs FAB-1500 and FAB-500T, we previously showed this plant, the video can be found in the “Russian Military Factories” playlist. The plant's management reported that it had restored the mass production of FAB-3000 aerial bombs, increased the production of FAB-500 aerial bombs many times over, and also doubled the production of FAB-1500-M54 bombs. Such results were achieved thanks to the reactivation of capacities, technical re-equipment and modernization of production lines; the plant also hired about 1000 more people.

As reported, FAB-3000 bombs will also be equipped with flight planning and correction modules (UMPC). Most likely, the correction module will be equipped with an accelerator to avoid the aircraft entering the air defense zone. It is worth noting that the bomb can be carried by a Tu-22M3 bomber and theoretically by a Su-34 aircraft. The FAB-3000 air bomb was put into service in 1954 and is intended to destroy industrial and other large objects. You can see the bomb's structure on the screen. Typically, a bomb is dropped from a height of up to 16 thousand meters at a flight speed of up to 1200 km/h. The radius of complete destruction of the FAB-3000 bomb is about 46 meters, the fragmentation field when crushing the body and destroying the target is 260 meters. The enemy within a radius of up to 158 meters receives severe concussions. The total mass of the bomb is 3067 kg, it is loaded with 1387 kg of TNT and has 3 fuses.

MANPADS Verba of Russia review and design of the complex. A Russian serviceman showed how the fourth generation Verba MANPADS works, which will be shown below. The 9K333 Verba man-portable anti-aircraft missile system was developed by JSC Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau and entered service in 2015. The Verba MANPADS is a further development of the Igla-S MANPADS and is up to 1.5-2 times more effective than it. The 9K333 Verba complex includes a 9M336 high-explosive fragmentation anti-aircraft missile, a 9P521 launcher and a 1L229V ground radio interrogator. Additionally, a removable night vision sight 1PN97M "Mowgli-2M" and a small-sized radar 1L122 "Garmon" with a laptop can be used; the radar provides target detection at a range of up to 80 kilometers.

The Verba MANPADS almost does not respond to heat traps and other interference. This is achieved thanks to a particularly sensitive three-spectral missile homing head, operating in the ultraviolet and two infrared ranges. The Verba MANPADS can destroy not only helicopters and airplanes, but also UAVs and cruise missiles. The Verba MANPADS is superior not only to the Igla-S MANPADS, but also to the American FIM-92 Stinger. For comparison: the Igla-S MANPADS hits air targets at altitudes of up to 3.5 kilometers, the Stinger MANPADS up to 3.8, and the Verba MANPADS up to 4.5 kilometers. In addition, the lower limit of the target acquisition height for the Stinger MANPADS is 180 meters, and the Verba MANPADS begins to operate from ten meters. The Verba MANPADS is capable of hitting targets at a range of up to 6400 meters and target flight speeds of up to 500 m/s, the MANPADS reaction time is 8 seconds, and the weight is 17.25 kg. The cost of the Verba MANPADS is supposedly about 150 thousand dollars, and it is supplied only to Armenia.

pmc said:

its says more Su-35. just looking at manufacturing plant. They should be making 100 to 150 a year.

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No way. The top production that plant has made is like two dozen aircraft a year. And the plant will be moving from Su-35 to Su-57 production starting this year. Either this year or next year all Russian Air Force orders of Su-35 should be delivered and it will be servicing Su-57 orders. Any Su-35 produced will be for export.

150 aircraft is the expected total Su-35 output once production stops.

gelgoog said:

No way. The top production that plant has made is like two dozen aircraft a year. And the plant will be moving from Su-35 to Su-57 production starting this year. Either this year or next year all Russian Air Force orders of Su-35 should be delivered and it will be servicing Su-57 orders. Any Su-35 produced will be for export.

150 aircraft is the expected total Su-35 output once production stops.

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that is peace time output. they have increase output several time. the picture that showed in video correspond to much higher output. and i have seen many manufacturing pics. Su-57 has different supply chain due to composites.
in 2023 production of Su-35 increased by 40%. and since they are delaying SSJ ramp up. highly likely they deploying those resources to increase Su-35.

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A new batch of Su-35S fighters was produced at the plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur​

Last year, the production of these aircraft increased by 40%, today the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aircraft plant is fully loaded until 2028 inclusive, and therefore the company is making every effort to retain its staff and attract new personnel, including through wages.
By the end of 2024, the number of KnAAZ aircraft manufacturers should increase by another 800 people.

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Even if they moved from one shift of 8h a day, 5 days a week to two shifts at 12h a day, 6 days a week, by doubling the workforce you would see like, what, 3x production at best. There is no way you will get 150 aircraft a year out of that single plant.
The plant is indeed loaded until 2028 with Russian state orders. But those 2028 orders are for the Su-57.

They built 36 SSJ and 20 to 25 Su-35 a year a like a decade ago and now with more automation, increase hiring and more hours over 100 number is easily achievable.
they are even saying 29 or so parked end of 2023 based on satellite.