Russia's S-70 Okhotnik looks promising and is similar to America's stealth planes. However, major adjustments are needed to ensure the S-70 is actually as stealthy as it is supposed to be, Eurasia Diary reports citing The National Interest.
Okhotnik, which means “Hunter,” is a large flying-wing style Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle, or a “Strike Reconnaissance Unmanned Complex” in Russian nomenclature. That means it’s a low-observable drone that can launch deadly attacks as well as serve in a surveillance and electronic warfare role.
Satellite photos revealed that the drone, when compared to nearby parked Flanker jets, is fairly large with wings roughly 19-meters wide. According to Jane’s, it weighs a hefty 20 tons and its maximum speed is in the high subsonic range.
The drone’s capacious fuselage has two internal bays with a capacity for over two tons of weapons or specialized equipment, and supposedly enough fuel to give the drone a range exceeding 3,700 miles. The UCAV reportedly incorporates composite surfaces coated with radar-absorbent materials to minimize its radar cross-section.
While the Okhotnik was remotely controlled by a human pilot for August 2 test, Russia Beyond claimed the ‘fully robotized’ aircraft would be able to fly autonomously under operational circumstances—meaning instead of being under direct remote control by a human operator, it would use an onboard AI to dynamically react to changing circumstances and execute its pre-programmed mission. That way, the Okhotnik won’t have to maintain a jammable or hackable command link to a human pilot over long distances.