Orlan-30
The Orlan-30 is a Russian fixed-wing reconnaissance UAV that adds laser target designation to the Orlan family, linking aerial surveillance directly to guided artillery and air-launched weapons.
A Russian fixed-wing reconnaissance UAV that combines extended-range surveillance and artillery adjustment with laser designation for precision-guided weapons.
Overview
The Orlan-30 is a reusable Russian reconnaissance and target-designation uncrewed aerial vehicle manufactured by the Special Technology Center (STC) in St Petersburg. Developed from the smaller Orlan-10, it retains the family's catapult launch and parachute recovery arrangement while carrying a heavier sensor payload. Its defining capability is a gyro-stabilised electro-optical and infrared package incorporating a laser designator, enabling the aircraft to locate a target, observe it and illuminate it for compatible precision-guided weapons.
The system is principally associated with Russian artillery reconnaissance and fire adjustment. It can provide coordinates derived through GLONASS and GPS, observe the fall of conventional artillery fire, or support laser-homing munitions such as the 152 mm Krasnopol guided shell. Its operational role has expanded during the Russo-Ukrainian War to include support for missile and drone strikes, deep reconnaissance and, in at least one documented modification, carriage of small FPV drones.
Published performance figures conflict. Sources give endurance as either five or eight hours, operating radius as 300 or 500 km, and maximum speed as 150 or 170 km/h. These differences may reflect configuration, reporting methodology or inaccurate public data; no authoritative configuration-by-configuration specification is available. Russia is the only confirmed operator, while an export version has been publicly marketed without a confirmed foreign customer.
🔒 The full Orlan-30 file is for BattlePolicy Pro members. Below the line: development history, design and capabilities, variants, the combat record, advantages and limitations, comparable systems, outlook, the full specifications table, our sourcing, and the analyst assessment — procurement, suppliers and the BattlePolicy verdict. Unlock the full file with BattlePolicy Pro →
Below this point
- Development
- Design & capabilities
- Variants
- Combat record / operational use
- Advantages
- Drawbacks / limitations
- Counterparts
- Outlook
- Key specifications
- Sources
- Analyst Section
- Procurement & contracts
- Suppliers & related companies
- Comparable systems — analyst view
- Analyst note