This became known
during the MAKS-2019 international aerospace show on Wednesday.
ZHUKOVSKY /Moscow
Region/, August 28. /TASS/. The serial deliveries of the latest heavy attack
drone Okhotnik (Hunter) to the troops will begin in 2025, the office of Russian
Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told TASS at the MAKS-2019 international
aerospace show on Wednesday.
"On August 3,
2019, a prototype of the heavy reconnaissance and attack drone Okhotnik
performed its debut flight. A large volume of trials is required to bring the
drone to the level of the serial-produced model. The serial deliveries to units
of the Aerospace Force [are planned] beginning from 2025," the
vice-premier’s office said.
"The basic
volume of flight tests [of the Okhotnik drone] is planned to be carried out in
2023-2024, including the attack modification with various air-launched
weapons," the office noted.
The Okhotnik will
serve as a "universal baseline platform for carrying advanced air-launched
weapons, onboard reconnaissance systems and other equipment, which will allow
constantly expanding the drone’s functional capabilities during the serial production,"
it stated.
Okhotnik heavy attack
drone
The debut flight by
Russia’s Okhotnik heavy attack drone developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau
lasted over 20 minutes. As the Defense Ministry specified, the aircraft
"performed several flyovers around the aerodrome at an altitude of about
600m under an operator’s control and landed." The flight took place at one
of the Defense Ministry’s testing aerodromes.
The Okhotnik features
stealth technology and the flying wing design (it lacks the tail) and has a
take-off weight of 20 tonnes. The drone has a jet engine and is capable of
developing a speed of around 1,000 km/h.
According to the data
of Russia’s Defense Ministry, the drone has anti-radar coating and is outfitted
with equipment for electro-optical, radar and other types of reconnaissance.
The remote-controlled
Okhotnik model was unveiled at the Army-2019 international defense exhibition
outside Moscow in late June.
A source in the
domestic defense industry earlier told TASS that the heavy stealth attack drone
Okhotnik would perform several more test flights this year.
"The program of
the Okhotnik’s flight tests stipulates several more flights with the sequential
complication of flight assignments," the source said.
The drone will
perform one of its flights in a partially autonomous mode: an operator on the
ground will give only a few commands, the source stated. "A possibility is
also envisaged for the drone’s completely autonomous flight without the
operator’s participation when it takes off, performs its program and lands only
under the control of its own guidance system."
As another source in
the defense industry told TASS, before that the drone already made several
take-offs, jumping several meters above the runway and landing immediately
after that. The drone performed a whole series of such tests but they are not
viewed as a full-fledged flight, the source pointed out.
The MAKS-2019
international aerospace show runs in the town of Zhukovsky outside Moscow on
August 27-September 1. The event’s organizers are Russia’s Industry and Trade
Ministry and the state hi-tech corporation Rostec. A total of 827 companies
from 33 countries are taking part in the aerospace show, including 184 foreign
firms.
Source: ITAR-TASS
28-08-2019
