Russia’s mysterious S-70″Hunter” heavy stealth UAV, recently in the Russian-ukrainian conflict suddenly came out”Broken halberd sink sand” news. As to who shot down the plane and what kind of special mission it was carrying out, opinions vary. Even more exciting for the west is that the Ukrainian military has acquired the wreckage, which may reveal the core secrets of the Russian military.
The hunter (Top) flies side by side with the Su-57 stealth fighter.
Might leak vital information?
The Hunter drone was shot down over the Kostiantynivka area of Donetsk on May 5, the us-based power website said Wednesday. Photos circulating on social media showed the drone was shot down, the burning drone hovered and fell to the ground, and Ukrainian military personnel then scrutinized the wreckage. This UAV uses the flying wing layout, conforms to”The hunter” the UAV appearance characteristic. The report said that engine parts, well-preserved wing fragments and a mysterious glide-guided bomb can be seen in the video, they are likely to be quickly shipped elsewhere for further analysis. “This is likely to be a very substantial windfall for Ukrainian and western intelligence agencies,” says motive.
Russian”Viewpoint” on the 7th whether the Ukrainian military through the study of the drone wreckage to obtain useful information expressed doubts. “The most valuable pieces of equipment in these types of weapons are usually set to self-destruct. There is reason to believe that the Hunter’s onboard computer and navigation systems will not be the subject of rival research. When the drone caught fire in mid-air, the main system responsible for operating the device was destroyed, or the drone could have triggered a self-destruct mode when it crashed,” the report said, “Sooner or later it’s going to crash” is a consideration in the production of any drone. Since any kind of weapon would fall into the hands of the enemy in some way, the Russian army was not worth the special anxiety about the hunter’s crash. However, the Russian media also admitted that because it is difficult to know how the final wreckage of the drone integrity, so the western intelligence agencies more or less to obtain some Russian military intelligence.
The wreckage of the Hunter drone that crashed on the ground. Social media
According to reports, the”Hunter” UAV is currently the most advanced stealth UAV in Russia. It adopts a highly stealth flying wing layout and is equipped with a wide internal bomb compartment, capable of carrying a variety of missiles and guided bombs, thus ensuring a strong ground attack capability. It weighs about 20 tons, has a top speed of 1,400 kilometers per hour and a range of about 6,000 kilometers. In particular, the UAV has been designed to be”Tailored” for use with manned fighters and can serve as a”Loyal wingman” for the Russian Aerospace Force’s Su-57 stealth fighter, including the implementation of pre-reconnaissance, high-risk ground attack and other tasks.
A prototype of the Hunter drone first flew in 2019 and has continued to improve with the latest technology. Russia has taken additional measures to improve its invisibility in follow-up improvements, the newspaper said, “In particular, the first prototype with a flat-tailed nozzle, which appears in 2021, will not only further reduce radar reflectivity, but will also reduce infrared signatures by lowering the temperature of the gas being ejected, reducing the likelihood of detection by an adversary’s infrared detection system and the risk of being hit by an infrared-guided missile.”
However, the US”Business Insider” website mentioned that as the Russian military’s most advanced and most secret stealth UAV, “Hunter” UAV to improve the ability of cooperative operations and reduce the development difficulties, a lot of the same design and components as the SU-57 stealth fighter. Therefore, some analysts believe that after the wreckage of the”Hunter” drone falls into the hands of Ukrainian and Western intelligence agencies, it will not only expose the technical details of this advanced drone, it may also leak a lot of information about Russian stealth fighters.
Did the Russians shoot themselves down?
Because the”Hunter” drone was shot down on the front line of the Russian-ukrainian conflict and fell into ukrainian-controlled territory, so initial speculation that the plane crashed may have been caused by Ukrainian air defense missiles deployed in the frontline area, or by Ukrainian Air Force fighter attacks. But video circulating on social media since then shows a Russian Air Force fighter launching a air-to-air missile from behind to shoot down the Hunter drone.
“Power” website said, there are witnesses claimed that the Russian Air Force SU-57 stealth fighter jet shot down the”Hunter” drone. “Although this has not yet been confirmed, it makes sense because the two projects are directly linked. A test of the SU-57’s co-ordination with the Hunter was already under way before the 2022 Russian-ukrainian conflict,” the report said, russia often sends new equipment to war zones for actual testing, so it’s possible the Su-57 is being tested on the front lines with the hunter. “If a Russian fighter jet does shoot down its own drone, the most likely scenario is that the ground operator loses control of the drone and it strays over the ukrainian-controlled area and is shot down to avoid falling into Ukrainian hands.”
The report said that given the complex electromagnetic combat environment on the Russian-ukrainian front, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) combat system, which relies on remote control technology, could indeed fail. It is therefore one of the normal responses in such situations to be shot down by a fighter aircraft to prevent danger or security risk to others. “In the Global War on Terror, the United States has repeatedly done this when drones were out of control,” the report said, adding that if they were not shot down, the risk that the highly sensitive hunter could crash into ukrainian-controlled territory in a semi-intact state is very high for Russia. The United States has learned this lesson the hard way — in 2011, a highly classified U.S. RQ-170 stealth unmanned aerial vehicle was successfully lured into Iranian territory using GPS jamming technology, the Pentagon was then forced to retire the costly drone early.
Basil Cacín, a Russian military expert, agreed that if the hunter had indeed been shot down by the Su-57, there are good reasons for this: “The most likely explanation is that the drone went out of control and the fighter pilot shot it down to prevent it from falling into enemy hands,” he says, the drone was badly damaged and apparently caught fire, proving that it has worked.
What exactly is the mission?
At least one nose cone of the UMPB D-30SN precision-guided bomb could also be clearly seen in the wreckage of the Hunter drone, Power.com said. “This is the first time the UAV has been confirmed to be equipped with this new glider-guided bomb,” the report said, the overall design of the UMPBD D-30SN, which was launched earlier this year, is more refined than the current UMPK series of free fall gliders, which are widely used by the Russian military and are adapted for emergency use on conventional bombs, the operational thinking is similar to the SDB small diameter bomb of the US Army, which brings considerable difficulties to the Ukrainian air defense system. Russian”Komsomolskaya Gazeta” website on March 9 has revealed that the bomb is only 30 cm in diameter, regardless of size and weight are convenient to carry a large number of, and more intelligent. The bomb, which can be thrown not only by fighter jets but also by tornado-s or other multiple rocket launcher capable of firing 30cm rounds, is known as the “Magic Bomb”.
The US media acknowledged that so far, few details have been released about the weapons that the”Hunter” drone can carry, but it is widely believed that because the drone is highly stealthy and does not require a pilot, it can therefore be used to carry out dangerous missions deep into enemy territory, which is particularly important in air-defense-intensive battlefields. Reported speculation, when the Russian military is likely to be in the field of actual test”Hunter” drone dropped this new guided bomb effect when the failure.
Ukraine has previously revealed that the”Hunter” drone has been repeatedly involved in air strikes on Ukrainian positions. Cacín believes a new guided bomb equipped with a hunter drone could glide tens of kilometres to its target, greatly increasing the range of Russian air strike platforms. Given its stealth capabilities and suitability for high-risk combat missions, the Jaeger will eventually replace the SU-34 as the Russian Aerospace Force’s new generation of front-line bombers, and more efficient.