Almaz-Antey Introduces Adjutant Target Training System at EDEX 2021

The Almaz-Antey Air & Space Defence Corporation is introducing at Egypt Defence Expo (EDEX 2021) the Adjutant universal target training system developed by the Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant Kupol.

The 2nd edition of EDEX is taking place from 29 November to 2 December 2021. The award-winning show presents a unique opportunity for exhibitors to showcase the latest technology, equipment and systems across land, sea, and air.

EDEX is the only tri-service defence and security exhibition in North Africa and is fully supported by Egyptian Armed Forces.

This new-generation system is a highly efficient and cost-effective training aid for crews of all types of ADs: from long-, medium- and short-range SAM systems to MANPADS and anti- aircraft guns. It helps personnel to significantly improve their skills in repelling contemporary aerial threats.

Each Adjutant system currently includes six targets of four different types: a turbojet-powered missile, a turbojet-powered fixed-wing aircraft, a propeller-driven fixed-wing aircraft, and a rotorcraft. The unmanned targets have a low radar cross-section so are low-observable by radars.

The catapult launch is performed with the use of a rubber band and an electric motor. The targets are controlled from a mobile ground station.

The targets emulate a wide range of aerial threats, from fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft to reconnaissance/strike UAVs and cruise missiles. All six targets may be launched simultaneously and operated from the same station to create complex airspace situations. Depending on the type they can stay in the air between 30 minutes and four hours, controlled both automatically (when proceeding along a pre-programmed route) and manually. The targets imitate contemporary aerial threat tactics by performing maneuvers including dives, pitch-ups and S-turns, emulating low-hovering and popping-up helicopters and so on. The system allows for creating various difficult-to-predict target trajectories, thus emulating real-life aerial combat, with the air-defence crews not knowing in advance what targets they will encounter, how many there will be, from what direction and along what trajectory they will be travelling.

The system’s open architecture allows for using appropriate targets by other manufacturers. The manufacturer is also working to introduce new target types. The enterprise has already designed a target imitating a makeshift UAV and is planning to create a missile-type target with a significantly higher airspeed and a small-sized fixed-wing target with expanded flying characteristics. In parallel, experiments are going on with various payload types in conjunction with the existing targets. For example, targets may be used for target towing (in which case it is an inexpensive towed mock-up that gets destroyed and not the towing aircraft).

In the future, the Company plans to introduce the interoperability option enabling two or more systems to operate in concert. This would allow for using up to 12, 18 or more targets simultaneously and sufficiently expanding the capabilities of imitating complex aerial attack situations which are characteristic of contemporary UAVs and other types of aerial threats.

The Adjutant’s key feature is that it is based on an all-new philosophy: instead of costly single launches, in the course of which the targets are destroyed, it provides for reusability of targets.

The system is primarily intended for drilling the detection, tracking and notional destruction of targets, without their physical destruction. The idea is to use targets nearing the end of their service live in live firing practice. This will result in a dramatic reduction in training costs, thus allowing for multiple training cycles and ensuring quality training of air-defence personnel.

The Adjutant is easy to operate. The standard deployment time is 2 hours but it can be reduced if necessary. The crew comprises seven troops, of whom only the Commander is an Officer.

Learning to operate the system only requires 1.5 to two months of theoretical studies and two weeks of practice. The catapult launch principle means that the system does not contain explosive components and thus is safe.

The Russian military are fully satisfied with performance of the Adjutant system and repeatedly used it in creating target situations during exercises and testing of virtually all the air-defence systems in service with the Russian Armed Forces, including the latest S-300V4 and Tor-M2DT SAM systems.

The Adjutant also gained recognition of foreign military specialists. In February 2021 the Adjutant was successfully used during the tests at the Sary-Shagan training ground of the Buk- M2E SAM systems supplied by Russia to Kazakhstan. The Kazakh Air Defence Forces could become the first foreign customer of the system.

The 2nd edition of EDEX is taking place from 29 November to 2 December 2021. The award-winning show presents a unique opportunity for exhibitors to showcase the latest technology, equipment and systems across land, sea, and air.

EDEX is the only tri-service defence and security exhibition in North Africa and is fully supported by Egyptian Armed Forces. 

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