Officials of the Russian defense company Kronshtadt Group have announced the possible sale of theOrion Uav to a country in the Middle East. But which Middle Eastern country would be buying the platform and what are the capabilities of the system?
The Orion-E (export version) is Russia's medium-long drone with a range of 250 km, a total flight duration of approximately 24 hours and a maximum altitude of 8.000 meters. Although originally designed for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions only, Russia has announced a combat version that can carry up to 200 kilograms of cargo.
The Orion "recalls, in its technical characteristics, the American Predator / Gray Eagle UAV", according to Samuel Bendett, an expert in Russian military robotics.
Il Chinese model that more resembles the capabilities of Orion is the Wing Loong.
According to Russian sources, Bendett said that “the two countries most likely to acquire the Orion-E UAV are Syria and Egypt. Syria and Russia already enjoy a very close relationship, while Egypt is diversifying its military imports so as not to rely exclusively on Chinese and US technologies ”. But there are other potential buyers, Bendett notes. “The UAE has already imported Russian military technology. Russia also recently announced closer cooperation with Lebanon and Iraq, which have already imported Chinese UAVs, but would be interested in increasing imports of Russian military equipment ”.
Russia is eager to conquer new UAV markets in the short and medium-haul sector, but realizes that the road is rising to compete with US, Israeli and Chinese UAVs, added Bendett.
China in particular is already well into the Middle East UAV market. As the US Department of Defense noted in its annual report to Congress on Chinese military and security developments, “the Middle East and North Africa region is China's second largest regional arms market, likely due to demand for armed UAVs. - a niche in which China is one of the few suppliers. "
“China has sold armed UAVs to several states in the Middle East and North Africa, including Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. China faces little competition for the sale of such systems, as most of the countries that manufacture them only sell the technology.
