Zephyr Net

The drone S-70 Okhotnik: the new multirole of Russia and its allies?



The United States owns 185 F-22 5th-generation aircraft. From 2006 to the present, 400 F-35s have been manufactured for the United States, Australia, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Holland, Norway, and England. These planes are prepared for use during long-range invasions of their own territory.

Russia did not adopt the same method as the United States, with a massive endowment of 5th generation planes. Instead, Russia has invested heavily in C4 I systems (Command, Control, Communications, Computing, Intelligence), coupled with radio-electronic warfare systems and defensive weapons to provide an impenetrable stronghold. A2 / AD (anti-access / air exclusion). C4 I weapons are S-400, S-500, anti-ship systems from the K-300P Bastion-P, KALIBR and Zirkon cruise missiles on ships and submarines, and so on. Radio-electronic warfare equipment prevents aerial and space surveillance, blurring detection and guidance systems on enemy attack craft (1RL257 Krasucha-4, 1L267 Moscow-1 and Borisoglebsk -2 ).



Russia estimated that it could build the A2 / AD bastions using modernized aircraft and a limited number of 5th generation planes, together with a larger fleet of heavy, unseen the radar. The Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik UCAV (Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle) is a variant of the Mikoyan Skat project that uses 5th generation technologies. The propulsion is carried out by a post-combustion engine AL-41F, used on Su-35 S. The Sukhoi S-70 weighs 17.6 T, a wingspan of 19 m, a cruising speed of 1000 km / h. The maximum flight distance is 6,000 km. The main mission of the T-70 is the conquest of air supremacy in a restricted area, by disabling the radar network of AA missile systems, that is to say the creation of a secure penetration corridor for aircraft. fourth-generation aircraft. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the S-70 will use Su-57 aircraft as a joint coordination platform during missions.

The United States can not abandon the production of F-35 aircraft to use attack drones instead, so Russia expects the S-70 production to find a large niche in the international market. However, it is unclear how much money Russia will finance this project. Indeed, from 2015 until today, no funds have been allocated to mass production of the new series of armored vehicles (T-14 tank, T-15 infantry fighting vehicles, Kruganets and the vehicle armored personnel carrier Bumerang).

The benefits of using Russia's S-70 Okhotnik drones are more noticeable in the event of a rejection of an attack by a NATO carrier naval air fleet. The modifications to the S-70 permit the use of K-77M hypersonic air-to-air missiles, with a maximum range of 200 km, against AWACS aircraft and enemy fighter planes taking off from aircraft carriers.

Simultaneously, the S-70 "watches" the timing of launching Tomakawk cruise missiles from surface ships and submarines. Cruise missiles are vulnerable immediately after the launch of the sea, when they can not execute maneuvers of changes of direction and altitude.

Aircraft carriers, helicopter carriers and armored machinery and heavy equipment transport vessels are easy targets for Kinzhal mini missiles. These missiles have a speed of Mach 10 (12 000 km / h), the time available to enemy interception missiles is a few tens of seconds and their reaction probability is less than 7-8%.

The S-70 program began in 2011. In November 2018, the S-70 Okhotnik was tested in autonomous mode, running on the track at 200 km / h, and on May 16, 2019, it flew a few meters away. above the track. The drone was to enter the Russian army in 2020 and will be produced at least 400 to 500 copies, replacing the former aircraft MiG-29, Su-24 and Su-27. Since Syria serves Russia as a testing ground for new technologies, we expect that before being admitted to the Russian army, several S-70 Okhotnik drones will be deployed at the Russian base in Latakia. Because of its wide range of action, the S-70 will test its "invisibility" on the American radar, over the Persian Gulf. However, Russia has been throughout the flight tests of Su-70 Okhotnik outside the scheduled schedule. There are at least two reasons for this.

1. During President Putin's visit to the Akhtubinsk Flight Test Center (Astrakhan region), US spy satellites made structural changes to the S-70. Instead of having two faired compartments as planned, the second prototype Su-70 Okhotnik now has four compartments, larger than those on Su-57, which allows it to ship 3.5 to 4 T of weapons. The S-70 can be armed with guided bombs, anti-ship missiles, cruise missiles or anti-radar missiles. At the same time, the S-70 Okhotnik can also take a hypersonic air-to-ground missile, specially designed for Su-57, that is to say a smaller Kinzhal.

2. In an interview with "Military.com" at the Paris Air Show in June 2019, MiG spokeswoman Anastasia Kravchenko revealed another secret detail. She claimed that the equipment compatibility of the 4+ MiG-35 generation aircraft was coordinated with the Okhotnik S-70 UCAV, which is similar to the 5th-generation Su-57 aircraft. . Kravchenko's statement is plausible because the new "Izdeliye 30" engine of the Su-57 aircraft will complete its flight tests and will be approved after the year 2022. Only in the period 2023-2028 will it be delivered the 76 Su-57, commanded by the Russian army. Until 2028, MiG-35, although visible on radar, can serve as a mission coordinator for S-70 drones.

How so far we are only at the stage of announcements, it remains to be seen if the S-70 Okhotnik will confirm the expected technical-tactical characteristics and whether the replacement of aircraft by drones is a viable solution. Unlike man-made planes, the remote command line of the drone can be hacked, the enemy could take control and capture it. As happened on December 5, 2011 with the US "invisible" UAV RQ-170 Sentinel, captured by Iran to land in Kashmar, in northeastern Iran.

As a sensitive article, Russia will only export Okhotnik to trusted partners. If the S-70 becomes reality, for strategic reasons, Russia could deliver the miG-35 and the S-70 to Syria. Belarus, with which Russia can block the Suwalski corridor, in case of NATO aggression from the Baltic countries, will also be on the list. Venezuela can also receive the MiG-35 / S-70 Okhotnik tandem to counter a simultaneous invasion by sea and land by the Americans, with the help of Colombia and Brazil.

Valentin Vasilescu

Aviation pilot, former Deputy Commander of the Military Forces at Otopeni Airport, graduated in Military Science at the Academy of Military Studies in Bucharest 1992.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL_wEi-ZLdw

Despite what so many people want to believe, Russia's defense industry is export-centric. Since the end of the Cold War, Russia has barely scraped together anything "new" for themselves. The majority of what they prototype and build is for the export market. They will continue to have small numbers of anything new. The rare exception to this has been the Su-34 (which they're actually focusing on making). They struggle to update their massive fleet of Su-27s and the majority of them remain on the initial standard. In comparison, this puts them on the level of the F-15C when it was first introduced. Many cannot carry the R-77 (AA-12), which has never reached major, operational state in Russia. They continue to rely on the R-27s (AA-10). Even in their R-73s and R-74s (AA-11s) remain on the equivalency of the AIM-9M. They've barely introduced enough Su-35s to make it viable, they struggle at upgrading their MiG-31s, the status of their MiG-29 fleet is unknown, they don't do much with their Su-30s and the majority of those that they build go to export customers, the Su-57 PAK-FA they've already announced they won't pursue domestically (maybe they'll export some to India), and the majority of weapon systems they're putting out there right now have been in prototype or pre-production for 20+ years. Their entire navy's newest releases are more or less projects that stalled in the 90s. Their hypersonic weaponry is new - about the only new thing they have going on - and they still resort to the "boogey man" approach (aka that UUV super nuclear torpedo that's entirely completely unverifiable).

I suspect this drone will be more of the same.

As much as I will shit on the F-35 because from a program standpoint it is criminal what Lockmart has done, the F-35 is more capable than anything they produce. However one caveat - I am highly suspicious of Israel's claim to fly them over Tehran. From a strategic POV it is bold, brash, and risky with really no gain. Israel can hit Tehran with cruise missiles without ever crossing into Iranian airspace and the Iranians know this. I half wonder if it's a propaganda thing by Israel to force the Iranians to shake up their military since it can't be proved or disproved either way right now.

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Centurian

Yes we know the chorus ... "The Russians are bad" ...

The Russian state privileges the welfare of the country
, be prosperous and economically strong.

The finances of the Russian armies follow the country's GDP.

But do not worry ... Russia will defend its interests
like any other sovereign country on this planet.

The new unipolar world order is well and truly over

The R-73 and especially the R-74 are capable of higher off-boresight shots though than the AIM-9M. That still doesn't say how they compare to other short-range missiles like the AIM-9X Block II, Iris-T or Python 5 though.

Other than that, I agree with pretty much everything you said.

The high off-boresight has always been a major claim to fame for the AA-11s but unknown if it's ever been used. It'd unlikely to be used where the fight is against an enemy with integrate AEW capabilities that make use of a combination of E-3-level radars and well-developed IFF to allow BVR shots. That being said, the AIM-9X has demonstrated up to 90° off boresight so the AA-11s aren't the only kids on the block anymore with that extreme ability. Add onto the fact that the R-74s have yet to go to an operational IIR seeker unlike the current generation of Western missiles. This doesn't mean they're not laser death rays as of course the AIM-9M was virtually impossible to spoof nor does it mean the IIRs are death rays - look at the AIM-9X over Syria. It was spoofed by low quality flares simply because they're low quality. AIM-9X has shown to be impervious to American-made flares because our flares are consistent in their output whereas the lower quality flares employed on the Su-22s aren't as consistent so in essence, they function as pulse jammers. No one would have seen that one coming.



The world was never unipolar even after the collapse of the USSR. Nor was it "Russians are bad" more like "Russians have a focus on X rather than Y."

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Centurian

After the bipolar world, during the Cold War, political scientists spoke of a unipolar world, dominated by the United States, in the 1990s; now, the term that comes up is that of multipolarity.

It is no longer relevant to speak of "cold war", "blocks", "bipolar world". The world is not unipolar either because the United States can no longer handle it alone. From Syria to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, from their relationship with China, including with Mexico, or with Russia, or even Ukraine, we can see that the United States is no longer able to impose its will to the rest of the world. Moreover, Donald Trump himself acknowledges it implicitly: he talks about making America bigger, which means that it is no longer quite. Currently, the world is divided into power poles.

The error of the United States, at the moment when the USSR was disappearing, was to think that they would have no rival to their measure. Since then, emergence has undeceived them by revealing new powers: China, Russia, etc. It is no longer possible for the USA to impose their will on the rest of the world, as proof of this is the shocking setbacks in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A new target for US Navy aviators!

Best Regards,
Pappy

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Tally Ho Pappy's In!