Work to develop a reconnaissance/strike helicopter drone designated as Termit will be completed by the end of 2021, head of the special design bureau of the Strela Research and Production Enterprise (part of the Kronstadt Group) Boris Trunov told RT.

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Termit helicopter (Picture source: Илья Максимов / РГ)

“As for live-firing with air rockets and missiles, our helicopter drone is the first and the only item in its class in Russia. Currently, it is a prototype designed to check the correctness of the technical solutions on the installation and placement of air-launched weapons on the drone, but in 2021 we plan to complete the R&D work,” Trunov said.

According to him, the delivery of the first samples to the troops is scheduled for 2022.

“We and the Kalashnikov Group are working in cooperation, we are conducting practice firing. If we talk about the key elements of the UAV, almost all of them have been manufactured by the Strela Enterprise, including the weapons control system and the observation and sighting station,” Trunov added.

He noted that the main advantage of the Termit was its off-aerodrome basing capability and its ability to take off from and land onto unprepared sites. The drone can take off and land almost everywhere and hover over objects.

The Termit is equipped with an observation and sighting station, a weapons control system, 80mm laser missiles. The drone can track and lock on targets autonomously, the operator only takes a decision on their destruction.

At the Army 2021 international military and technical forum, Russia’s Defense Ministry signed a state contract with the Strela Enterprise for the supply of Platforma and Termit helicopter drones.

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