MINSK, 13 September (BelTA) – The unmanned helicopter Indela I.N.SKY of Belarusian make will take part in the Belarusian-Russian strategic army exercise Zapad 2017, the press service of the State Military Industrial Committee of Belarus told BelTA.

The Belarusian company KB Indela unveiled its unmanned helicopter designed for combat and reconnaissance missions during the defense technology expo MILEX 2017. The unmanned helicopter also took part in the parade on 3 July, Belarus' Independence Day.

The helicopter is designed to deliver air strikes against personnel, light-armored vehicles and automobiles. It can destroy well-defended buildings, suppress weapon emplacements in hard-to-reach areas. The payload can include compact grenade launchers Bur or reactive thermobaric rounds of the Shmel-M variety.

If unarmed, the helicopter can provide fire adjustment services to artillery and missile systems, can reconnoiter terrain or protect the state border. The drone can feed coordinates of its targets as well as visible-spectrum and infrared-spectrum video.

Modernized unmanned aerial vehicles Berkut-2 will also take part in the Belarusian-Russian strategic army exercise Zapad 2017. Its predecessors were based on Russian components while the second model uses Belarusian ones. Performance and reliability of the drones have been improved thanks to this fact.

Several radio warfare stations will be deployed during the Zapad 2017 exercise. The Belarusian radio warfare station Groza-S relies on spoofing technologies for disrupting communication channels between the drone and the operator. The Groza-S radio warfare station can detect any drones that transmit data. It can suppress control links and data communication links. Apart from that, the Belarusian product can send fake GPS data to the drone in order to take over flight control functions. A portable version of the radio warfare station is dubbed as Groza-R. It is designed to fight multicopters and small UAVs by disrupting their control links and jamming their satellite-powered navigation systems.

The radio relay station R-414 Sosna-2 will be used as part of the Zapad 2017 exercise as well. It is in its development stage. Its operation will be overseen by specialists of OAO Agat – Control Systems.

The Belarusian-Russian strategic army exercise Zapad 2017 is scheduled to take place in Belarus and three army exercise areas in Russia (Luzhsky, Strugi Krasnyye, and Pravdinsky) on 14-20 September. Some 12,700 military personnel will take part in the exercise. About 10,200 personnel will be deployed in Belarus, with Belarus contributing slightly more than 7,000 people and Russia supplying about 3,000 troops. The Belarusian part of the exercise will also involve 370 armored vehicles, including about 140 combat tanks. Up to 150 artillery units and multiple-launch rocket systems, over 40 aircraft and helicopters will be deployed as well.