The start of serial production of the Okhotnik UAV has been postponed at least three times, and development has been ongoing for over 12 years.
Russia has announced the start of serial production of yet another weapon that “has no analogues in the world.” This time we are talking about the heavy attack UAV S-70 “Okhotnik”, the development of which began back in 2012.
Defence Express writes about this.
According to the first deputy director of the Russian state corporation Rostec Vladimir Artyakov, the production and delivery of heavy attack UAVs S-70 “Okhotnik” for the needs of the Russian army will begin within the timeframe determined by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
“We are, in general, innovators here,” Artyakov emphasized.
The Rostec employee boasted that the “Okhotnik” allegedly passed all the necessary tests and trials and generally represents “a new direction in the development of aviation robotics”.
Defence Express notes that in fact the S-70 Okhotnik UAV is “a typical long-term construction project” that has been promised to arm the Russian army for over 12 years.
The Sukhoi company began developing the drone in 2012. Seven years later, in 2019, the developers reported the first 20-minute flight of the Okhotnik. Two years later, three prototypes of the drone were ordered, the tests of which were to take place in 2022-2023.
Despite all the statements that the development of the heavy drone is “going according to plan”, in April last year the Russians cancelled the start of serial production of the Okhotnik for the third time and postponed it to 2025. But recently, Russian media outlets distributed a statement by the Vice-Governor of the Novosibirsk Region, Sergei Semko, who claimed that the Okhotnik would be launched into production this year. At what stage the development of the S-70 UAV is actually, one can only guess.
Recall that the Russian Federation is developing new weapons. The idea that the Russians “borrowed” from high-tech countries is to use universal launchers to launch different types of missiles.
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