MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. Specialists of the Spektr-Engineering Design Bureau have engineered a ground-based robotized platform dubbed Yozhik (Hedgehog) to strike armor, Design Bureau Executive Director Andrey Bratenkov told TASS on Monday.
"We have created the Yozhik ground-based drone capable of carrying a 5 kg payload. It can operate within a range of 5 km. The platform retains its mobility no matter how it can be turned. We studied the experience of employing such drones abroad and came to the conclusion that it was necessary to create a platform as cheap as possible. We have plans to offer the platform for destroying armor. Now we think about the prospect of increasing the Yozhik’s payload to 10 kg," the executive said.
The ground-based drone is designed to destroy enemy manpower in fortified positions (trenches) and armor, he specified.
"The Yozhik is being created to enable soldiers in a worsening combat environment to launch a drone from a trench for delivering a mine to the enemy positions or placing a munition under the belly of adversary equipment as this is the most vulnerable spot of all the hardware rolling on the ground," Bratenkov said.
The new drone is a wheeled platform, the executive director specified.
"The tracked formula is technically more expensive to implement. Also, the track used in small-size vehicles has no effect as enormous traction will be required. Either mud or building rubble is present on the battlefield. A wheeled platform boasts a considerably higher cross country capability. This is an optimal version in terms of the process cost and survivability," the specialist stressed.
The Design Bureau has also developed a series of unmanned aerial vehicles for a broad range of applications. They are designed to destroy armor. The firing tests of the drones are scheduled for spring.