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Russia’s top brass to insure latest stealth drone for over $18 mln

Pursuant to the official document, the Okhotnik stealth drone will be insured against its loss (total or constructive total loss), disappearance or damage as a result of an incident during the insurance period

Okhotnik stealth drone Russian Defense Ministry/TASS

Okhotnik stealth drone

© Russian Defense Ministry/TASS

MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/. Russia’s latest Okhotnik (Hunter) stealth drone being developed by the Sukhoi Aircraft Company will be insured for more than 1.2 billion rubles (over $18 million), according to the information posted on the government’s procurement web portal on Wednesday.

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Pursuant to the document, the Okhotnik stealth drone will be insured against its loss (total or constructive total loss), disappearance or damage as a result of an incident during the insurance period. The drone’s ground-based control post will be insured for another 145.2 million rubles ($2.1 million).

"The sum of 1,422,995,317.74 rubles [over $20 million] will be understood to mean the maximum insured liability for the drone and the ground-based control post under the insurance contract," the document stipulates.

The drone will be insured for the period of its operation in test, demonstration and familiarization flights, flights under pilot training programs, and also in engine runs, taxiing, ground-based work and system testing, the document says.

The application for the drone’s insurance indicates that the service will be provided on the territory of Russia for a period of seven months from the date of concluding the relevant contract.

Russia’s Okhotnik heavy attack drone developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau performed its debut flight on August 3. The flight lasted over 20 minutes under an operator’s control.

On September 27, the Okhotnik performed a flight together with a Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jet. The drone maneuvered in the air in the automated mode at an altitude of around 1,600 meters and its flight lasted over 30 minutes.

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 last year.

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