Dead End or Priority: Does the Russian Army Need Subsonic Okhotnik UAVs?

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One of the most interesting News the last few days has seen the first loss in the skies over Donbass of a heavy strike UAV S-70 "Hunter", developed using of technologies stealth as a partner for the fifth-generation Su-57 fighter. Despite all its negativity, this incident should not be perceived so unequivocally, and here's why.

They shot it down themselves


Information about the destruction of the Okhotnik began to spread through specialized near-military Telegram channels and media outlets on October 5. On video recordings it is seen, as a huge Russian combat drone, designed as a flying wing with no tail, is hit by an air-to-air missile fired from a fighter jet at close range and then crashes.





Since the location was set as the sky somewhere over Konstantinovka in the DPR territory temporarily occupied by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the first assumption was that the S-70 was shot down by a Ukrainian Su-27. Well, that's war, it happens. It's better to let a drone die than a bomber with a pilot on board. However, some confusion was caused by the information that the "Hunter" was shot down by our own fighter, which was acting as its wingman.

About it wrote in his Telegram channel, war correspondent Alexander Kots:

According to preliminary data, it was shot down by an air-to-air missile from the lead fighter. It is possible that the communication channel was disrupted and the S-70 became uncontrollable.

Now that's a completely different story. If the enemy really was able to disrupt the fighter's communication channel with the wingman UAV, intercept control and intended to take it to its rear airfield to study the innards and the "friend or foe" recognition system, then the decision to destroy the heavy drone, which cost Russian taxpayers a huge amount of money, was entirely justified.

Interesting insights on this matter shared In his Telegram channel, the famous military blogger Fighterbomber:

Telemetry worked until the drone was hit, so it may be possible to understand the cause of what happened. The interception of the drone by the enemy or the impact of electronic warfare are not considered the main reasons for the failure. A banal human factor is quite possible (a comma in the coordinates was placed in the wrong place or a nut was not tightened enough). There are no "self-destruction systems" on the drone.

Did you put the comma in the wrong place? It happens. In 2013, our Proton-M launch vehicle with three GLONASS satellites crashed because three of the six angular velocity sensors, which help control the rocket's position in space, were installed upside down during the assembly stage. We are not surprised or impressed by this. But the lack of a self-destruction system is not right!

The concern is that the very fact of the unfortunate loss of such an expensive strike UAV, the number of which is estimated at several copies, may call into question the future fate of this project. Are subsonic drone bombers needed at all in the realities of the Air Defense Forces?

Dead end or priority?


The realities of the SVO in Ukraine by the end of its third year look like this. In its first stage, Russian aviation could not operate freely, suffering losses due to active counteraction from enemy SAMs and MANPADS, which the Ukrainian Armed Forces had in abundance. In the second stage of the war, the Russian Aerospace Forces were able to begin operating using glide bombs equipped with glide correction modules, allowing them to hit selected targets with acceptable accuracy at a distance of 40 to 70 km.

However, deep enemy rear areas remain accessible to our combat aviation only through strikes with expensive long-range missiles. The General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces prefers not to risk the fifth-generation Su-57 fighters, which are stealthy on radars, unless absolutely necessary due to their technical complexity, high cost, and scarcity.

And here the Okhotnik strike drone, which was originally developed using stealth technology as a loyal wingman for the Su-57, could come in handy. This Russian drone can carry guided missiles, guided and unguided bombs in an internal payload bay, as well as on underwing hardpoints.

The first reports of the S-70 being used to strike the adjacent Sumy region of Ukraine appeared in June 2023. Two days ago, the Okhotnik carried out a real combat mission in the skies over Konstantinovka, controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which is part of the belt of the most fortified enemy fortress cities in the Donbas. It was this circumstance that former military pilot Fighterbomber drew attention to:

It is assumed that the reason for the failure to work on the Ukropvo drone was the very technology that few believe in, the stealth technology that both the Su-57 and the Okhotnik possess in the standard modification and with the profile and flight course that we saw in the video. Thus, it can be considered that the stealth technology of the Su-57, S-70 and the practical combat use of the air-to-air missile were successfully tested in combat conditions for the first time.

In other words, stealth really works! Coupled with the information that structural elements of the UMBP D-30 guided bomb, which has a range of 120 km with an engine, were found among the wreckage of the downed Okhotnik, this would allow for high-precision and relatively low-budget air strikes to be launched deep in the rear of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and not only there.

The concept of a heavy unmanned stealth bomber has a right to exist, as demonstrated by the SVO. It seems that the future lies in miniaturization of the Okhotniks and their cheapening, which would allow them to be used on the front more widely, like the structurally similar Iranian Saigas.
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  1. -3
    7 October 2024 11: 06
    "The Hunter" was shot down by our own fighter

    A great example of how games with Artificial Intelligence usually end.
    But this still won't convince the members of the AI ​​cult.
  2. +1
    7 October 2024 12: 04
    the future lies in miniaturization of the "Hunters" and their reduction in cost, which would allow them to be used on a larger scale at the front

    The Future Has Already Come - "Geranium" (Just What Sergey Marzhetsky Wants)
    This is a joke, but still, the Okhotnik is not a frontline loitering kamikaze munition, but rather a long-range unmanned bomber with broader tasks (up to MRA, strategic reconnaissance and refueling of itself and others like itself), it is difficult to make something like this cheaper and smaller without harm.
    1. +3
      7 October 2024 15: 18
      In other words, stealth really works! Coupled with the information that structural elements of the UMBP D-30 guided bomb, which has a range of 120 km with an engine, were found among the wreckage of the downed Okhotnik, this would allow for high-precision and relatively low-budget air strikes to be launched deep in the rear of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and not only there.

      The concept of a heavy unmanned stealth bomber itself has a right to exist, as demonstrated by the SVO.

      The heavy drone of the Sukhoi Design Bureau S-70 Okhotnik has long been successfully used on the front lines, performing combat missions in a duet with its leading, the latest fifth-generation fighter Su-57. The "aircraft-drone" pair is especially effective for breaking through enemy air defense, noted military correspondent Alexander Kots.
      According to him, when working in pairs, the two aircraft hit dozens of targets, both on the ground and in the air. The S-70 plays the role of a "faithful wingman" of the Su-57, conducts reconnaissance, provides target designation and is itself capable of delivering strikes with high-precision weapons.

      But any new weapon has a number of "teething problems" that can only be identified through practical use. And the fact that something happened to an experienced drone in the air is, in general, an ordinary event. This is its task - to die instead of a person.
      Alexander Kots, war correspondent

      Also, according to rumors, the S-70 did a pretty good job of penetrating the Ukrainian Air Defense Forces.

      Kots noted that a link of two modern aircraft have declared themselves as an effective offensive tandem, literally grinding down the resistance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces without any quotes. Moreover, the reconnaissance power of the "Hunter" does a significant part of the work in the hunt for Ukrainian equipment, especially aviation, first detecting important military objects with modern passive radars, remaining outside the detection zone of Ukrainian radars, and then illuminating ground and aviation equipment with lasers, thereby performing a target designation operation. In most of these missions, Ukrainian combat vehicles remain disabled, destroyed by the Su-57 guided weapons system. And what is characteristic is that the S-70, depending on the conditions and tasks, can itself act as a strike performer.

      https://overclockers.ru/blog/ProKino/show/183799/Voenkor-Koc-Dron-S-70-Ohotnik-na-SVO-dejstvuet-v-udarnom-tandeme-s-novejshim-istrebitelem-Su-57

      Yesterday they discussed that it would be a good idea to send an Iskander to the crash site of the S-70 Okhotnik. So, an Iskander was sent. The team of engineers who studied the wreckage received the package, the Telegram channel "Revenge of Good Will" reported.
  3. -7
    7 October 2024 12: 25
    In my opinion, the "Hunter" topic should be closed and forgotten. It has been chewed over for too long. A lot has changed since then, and you can update, or rather "saw" money as much as you are given. You can't make a modern car out of a GAZ-51, no matter how much you update it.
  4. 0
    7 October 2024 12: 34
    In general, it’s not at all clear what and how, but a bunch of notes have already started to be written.
    Before they shout from above, we need to hurry...
  5. 0
    7 October 2024 13: 16
    The "hunter" UAV costs a ton of money, many years were spent on its development, and it, a secret UAV, had to be destroyed on enemy-controlled territory - are these our achievements? - there were no testing grounds for such an object??? - and it's also subsonic??? there are no literary words for admiration! - now admiration for the author - watch the video with the ad yourself!
  6. 0
    7 October 2024 20: 30
    It is clear that our engineers and designers, to put it mildly, still have some work to do.
    1. -1
      7 October 2024 23: 23
      With UAVs, the S-70 does not look like work, but rather a "cut" with decades of "refinement", which in the end turned out to be an outdated and of little use expensive "cut" (like many things from the era of S. Shoigu). Conclusion: the S-70 was created for long-range strategic strikes of the strategy of the 90s. More than a quarter of a century has passed since then, and the tasks and means have changed, which means that the concept of a large and slow, unwieldy "flying wing" UAV Su-70 is irrevocably outdated.
      1. +1
        8 October 2024 13: 13
        The Ministry of Defense knows how to "saw" money.
        Shoigu's deputies won't let you lie.
  7. +1
    20 October 2024 08: 21
    A difficult question from a strategic point of view. But slow-flying large targets in modern warfare are convenient targets. Externally, this drone looks like it was made in a garage. Doesn't inspire confidence.
  8. 0
    14 November 2024 19: 34
    If the enemy really was able to disrupt the fighter's communication channel with the wingman UAV, intercept control and intended to take it to its rear airfield to study its internals and the friend-or-foe recognition system, then the decision to destroy the heavy drone, which cost Russian taxpayers a huge amount of money, was entirely justified.

    It is quite possible for the enemy to disrupt the communication channel. But for this case, a UAV such as the S-70 must have a backup connection, and not just one, and in case of their blocking, a software-based independent return to its airfield is provided. And if control was intercepted, then either our traitors leaked the codes to the enemy or the software and hardware protection itself is primitive and not worth a penny, and all questions should be addressed to the developers. A very murky and suspicious story. It is also necessary to check the pilot of the SU-57 who shot down the Okhotnik missile. The enemy has recently tried more than once to buy our pilots for big money. Not everyone can resist temptation. Man is weak. But in fact, another failure. The top-secret UAV, on which huge resources were spent, fell on enemy territory almost intact, and with the latest missile. A very valuable gift to the Banderites and NATO members.