Ministry of defense of belarus will reinforce its army with SuperCam drones of russian manufacture, the contract appeared in the public procurements list and was noticed by the Belaruski Hajun project (by Motolko Help).
According to the document, the belarusian defense ministry will procure three russian unmanned aerial systems: one SuperCam S150 and two more SuperCam S350. The total worth is almost USD 1.07 million, the contract takes effect on July 31 with the deadline scheduled for January 31, 2024.
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As noted by Hajun, this is not the first time belarus orders these UAS, those have been regularly procured since 2020. That year, authorities bought two S350 systems, plus three more S350 in 2021, and two S350 on top in 2022. With this latest order included, the belarusian military will receive 9 SuperCam S350 and two S150 systems.
These UAVs are in service with the following military units of the belarusian army: the 927th Center for Preparation and Operations of UAVs, the 120th Mechanized Brigade, and the 11th Mechanized Brigade.
The media resource also highlights the fact belarus continues buying unmanned systems from russia regardless of the large-scale PR campaign of its own drone manufacture. There were even movies shot about their industrial facilities, and at the beginning of 2023, they boasted of having 18 companies licensed for UAV production.
After all, just last year belarus was supposed to make drones for the russian army. Also, there was all this bravado about "no fear in the face of sanctions" voiced by belarusian authorities continuously.
Specifications of the SuperCam S150 (according to the manufacturer):
- wingspan – 1.5 m;
- maximum flight duration – up to 2 hours;
- radio communication range – up to 30 km;
- video communication range – 25 km;
- operational range – over 110 km;
- speed – 65-120 km/h;
- maximum take-off weight – 5.5 kg;
- deployment time – 15 minutes;
- payload: a visible light camera, a gyro-stabilized thermal imager, a multispectral camera;
- additional equipment includes a module for automatic target tracking.
Specifications of the SuperCam S350 (according to the manufacturer):
- wingspan – 3.2 m;
- maximum flight duration – up to 4.5 hours;
- radio communication range – 70-100 km;
- video communication range – 50-100 km;
- operational range – at least 240 km;
- speed – 65-120 km/h;
- maximum take-off weight – 11.5 kg;
- deployment time – 15 minutes;
- payload: a visible light camera, a gyro-stabilized thermal imager, a multispectral camera, a dosimeter for monitoring background radiation, a laser gas analyzer, a laser scanner; it supports up to two cameras and up to three sensors at once.
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