Three new S-70 Okhotnik heavy unmanned fighters will join the Russian Aerospace Forces in the next two years. Sources in the military-industrial complex and the Ministry of Defense told Izvestia about this on Wednesday, October 7.
The drones will be built under a new government contract, which the military department signed with the Sukhoi company in the last days of last year after the successful completion of research work on the Hunter theme. They will join the test program for the only prototype currently available. However, the new UAVs differ from their predecessor: they have been improved to reduce radar signature.
“The prototype S-70 has already worked intensively on tests in tandem with the Su-57. The dimensions, as well as the engine power, allow you to install a full-fledged radar and an optical-location station on it. But it is unlikely that a heavy drone will become a “clean” fighter “, – noted military expert Vladislav Shurygin.
According to him, all modern aircraft of this class have long turned into multipurpose vehicles that can destroy air, sea and land targets from a long distance.
It is planned that in the future the drone will be able to function not only under human control, but also completely autonomously, using elements of artificial intelligence. The device will have a satellite communication channel with the ground, which will make its range limited only by the fuel supply.
Initially, it was planned to complete the development work by the end of 2025, but in early August, the head of the United Aircraft Building Corporation UAC, Yuri Slyusar, said that the military department had asked to speed up the process as much as possible in order to start delivering the latest technology to the troops in 2024.
Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article on October 8.