The Optical-Mechanical Design Bureau (OKB) Astron, part of the Shvabe holding within Rostec, introduced a long-range thermal imaging intelligence complex featuring an intelligent analytic block called Blockpost-4T. According to official statements, the drone quadrocopter, described as a “flying thermal camera”, has been integrated into the IHA400T system.
The Russian Armed Forces employ a range of optoelectronic tools to collect terrain information in all weather, including thermal imaging devices. This integration aims to enhance the precision and speed of situational awareness across diverse environments.
Vladimir Popov, General Manager of the organization, noted an ongoing challenge for thermal imaging: balancing a wide field of view with high-resolution detail. The team explored a non-traditional approach that leverages aerial sensing to address this trade-off.
“We believed that linking a flying thermal camera to a ground surveillance network would provide an elegant solution to this dilemma”, Popov explained.
The new reconnaissance complex offers a unified control interface and image acquisition that feeds a single display. Blockpost-4T can detect people at distances up to 800 meters and vehicles at distances up to 2,000 meters. The system incorporates built‑in analytics that highlight detected objects on screen and present them to the operator. When directed, the operator can deploy the drone to a specified point. Target recognition is performed by an unmanned thermal imaging system at ranges reaching six kilometers.
Field tests of the complex reportedly concluded successfully. Earlier communications noted Russia’s deployment of the Orlan-10 drone in the Tajik mountains for reconnaissance of camouflaged command points, monitoring of movement and deployment, and real-time photo and video data transmission to the control center. A thermal imaging camera accredited the detection of covert enemy movements during exercises and operations. These demonstrations illustrate the progression of networked sensing and aerial augmentation in contemporary defense tasks.