Posted on 08/08/2020 12:13:22 PM PDT by RomanSoldier19
n a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the head of Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation, Yury Slyusar said that UAC will begin deliveries of the Okhotnik unmanned aerial vehicle to the Russian armed forces as early as 2024.
In keeping the Russia’s top-down approach to management, UAC’s President, Mr. Slyusar, stated that Russia’s Ministry of Defense “instructed us to speed up the design and test works, to move it ‘to the left’ as much as possible so that deliveries begin as early as 2024.” In keeping with those instructions, UAC is now “actively working on this issue with our colleagues.” Though the drone seems to be promising, this deadline might not be possible.
The Drone
The drone in question, the Okhotnik, which is Russian for Hunter, is a relatively large drone intended for aerial reconnaissance, though it can also be armed and used in an attack role. It is reported to tip the scales at about twenty tons and has a sixty-five-foot—or nearly twenty-meter—wingspan. Still, the Okhotnik is said to have a stealth coating, and may be fairly low-observable, especially from the frontal aspect.
According to UAC, the Okhotnik has “unprecedented capabilities, having the largest combat flight range, the widest range of weapons, the broadest range of equipment,” though it was not exactly clear what the Okhotnik was being compared to. The UAC President further explained that these types of drones are currently only manufactured by two other countries, the United States and China.
The Okhotnik bears some resemblance to the United States’ B-2 Sprit stealth bomber, though that iconic flying wing bomber is manned and has two engines. Moreover, the B-2 is presumably much stealthier thanks to its sleeker, smoother design that does not feature the protruding engine, antennas and other protuberances that the Okhotnik does.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalinterest.org ...
Very Old stolen tech ?
US X47B
RQ-170 Sentinel
High-speed strike weapons (hypersonic missiles) are the future of modern warfare, not drones. They will render our aircraft carriers obsolete.
5 tons !?!
That’s Really Stealthy.
They do as long as they still have tugboats.
Russia’s big weakness is electronics. I was laughing at their latest radar that is supposed to phased-array and scary to us. Without decent signal processing, it’s about worthless. This is like the Chinese “stealth” planes that have canard winglets. Media morons don’t know that that absolutely kills your stealth.
The neat thing for the Russians is that they have FAR MORE than just one system. For example, they have stealth drone subs that can park just off our coasts and give our cities a nuclear black eye*.
I guess we can find out how our defenses work against those.
*I know, but I’d still like our cities to survive
Elevators on the nose we had a fighter in comp with them but it lost.
What fighter? I don’t really understand what you posted.
The Russians spin all kinds of crazy yarns and the media morons love to carry their water. They claim to have a Mach 27 missile (which is a shade over 20,000 MPH). Putin should’ve consulted an aerospace engineer before floating that lie. At Mach 27, your missile is no longer sub-orbital. It will hang out in low earth orbit until it picks up enough drag to drop out of orbit and come down SOMEWHERE, which will take years. Putin is not very bright.
Canards can also be considered a kludge- a fix to an unstable design. Depends on the design, though.
CC
We’ve had high speed strike weapons for generations. They’re called ICBMs. High speed strike weapons are vulnerable to having their launch points hit in a surprise first strike.
The point of bombers has been that you can get them in the air at the first sign of trouble, and then call them back if it turns out to not be an attack.
Bombers can carry high speed strike weapons, and unmanned bombers can stay aloft for a long time.
Although the new drone will not be near to the quality of US and allied models, weak militaries aligned with Russia may find it attractive because even a problematic but relatively cheap new weapons system can intimidate neighbors and provide an infusion of new technology and military capability.
Think of what say, a dozen such drones and Russian technical help would do for Venezuela a half decade from now. Venezuela would have a new capability that her neighbors lacked. Sure, good quality radar, fighter aircraft, and AA missiles from the US or Europe would counter the threat, but the expense would be new and burdensome and would raise domestic issues about dependence on foreign help.
Of course, even if the new model drone is never fielded by Russia or anyone else, funding and work on it helps to maintain Russia's military industrial base. And, best of all, for a regime founded on corruption, such projects offer opportunities for graft. For Russia's kleptocratic leadership, there are always extra homes to pay for: dachas on the outskirts of Moscow, summer villas in Cyprus, Spain, or the south of France, and townhomes in London.
Yep, makes sense. Sweden’s Saab Viggen made good use of them but they’ll kill your stealth, that’s why China’s J-20 makes me laugh. Those giant canards give it the same stealth characteristics as a brick.
5 —— 20 tons!
Yep, just a bunch of PAPER TIGERS, can’t build a damn thing. We’ll be safe since we spend so much more on defense than Russia (or China) does. Yep, nothing to worry about or plan for.
(makes it easy to sleep at night)
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