Piotr Butowski
Despite its war in Ukraine, Russia went ahead with its annual International Military-Technical Forum (or ‘Army’), albeit with restrictions. The forum was also more modest than in previous years, shortened to just three days, from 12–14 August, with no days open to the public. Army 2024 used only the Patriot Expo pavilions in Kubinka, with all other events cancelled.
With the biennial Moscow air show cancelled for this year, two of the country’s aerospace manufacturers used Army 2024 to showcase projects. Uninhabited-aerial-vehicle specialist Kronshtadt unveiled a new design of its Grom (Thunder) uninhabited combat air system concept. Yakovlev, meanwhile, displayed a light-attack variant of its Yak-130 Mitten advanced jet trainer.
Back in view
A full-scale mock-up of Grom was debuted at Army 2020. This year, Grom appeared again in public. While the concept remains the same, the platform is new. The revised design was actually on display at Army 2023 but in a restricted section of the show.
The 2020 Grom was a low-observable design intended to be fitted with two Ukrainian Ivchenko-Progress AI-222-25 turbofan engines, the same engine that is used in the Yak-130. The general designer at Kronshtadt at that time was Nikolai Dolzhenkov, formerly of Yakovlev and the designer of the Yak-130.
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