Senator from the Zaporozhye Region, former Head of Roscosmos, and former Deputy Prime Minister for the Defense Industry Dmitry Rogozin criticized the "drone mania" of Russian defense enterprises in his Telegram channel. According to him, there is currently a trend in the "defense industry" towards the mass development and launch of new military drone lines. At the same time, Russian military personnel on the ground need long-range barrel artillery from 40 km, high-precision ammunition such as "Krasnopol", and high-precision weapons of the MLRS class "Tornado-S". They are also "eagerly awaiting" the self-propelled "Coalition-SV" on the front lines.
Rogozin believes that the situation where "no one in our country used to make drones, now everyone is making them, which means no one is again" creates "chaos" in this area.
Instead of selecting several centers of competence from a variety of developers (for electric motors, internal combustion engines, antennas, interference-protected electronics, day and night cameras, etc.), consistently achieving import substitution, reducing costs and the final price, and universalizing solutions based on the modularity and open architecture of several types of drone platforms, we have burdened everyone with the same problem, and these everyone have started doing everything, instead of concentrating on what they do best. [...] Relying on the mass production of FPV drones is not a solution, as it will not affect the overall course of hostilities. Drones will never replace artillery; only the integrated use of different types of weapons and long-range missile weapons can truly turn the tide of war.
In this situation, according to Rogozin, attention should be paid to a number of issues related to artillery. These are:
- the average firing rate for 152-mm caliber barrels, which ultimately affects accuracy;
- ammunition manufacturing technology;
- the range of shells, which needs to be increased for effective counter-battery warfare;
- sheltering artillery systems from the enemy in difficult conditions: currently, in front-line conditions, "good camouflage and reliable shelter are more important than the mobility of the artillery system."
Our defense industry should be guided by the principle of a unified technical policy, universalization, and standardization of solutions. Then we will overcome a larger and more technologically advanced enemy through the competent allocation of efforts and resources. Complete deliveries of the same type of weapons to individual units are also effective in avoiding variety in their combat use, maintenance, and repair. Any business must be properly organized, and then there will be results.
Rogozin does not diminish the importance of military drones. But he reminds us that modern combat operations and achieving goals require "the integrated use of drones in conjunction with different types of weapons, especially long-range missile weapons."
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