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Rostec says NATO countries don’t have anything comparable with its Okhotnik drone

Vladimir Artyakov said that the drone uses artificial intelligence technologies, has stealth capabilities and can travel at a high speed

MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. Not a single NATO country has anything like the unmanned aerial vehicle Okhotnik, or Hunter, Vladimir Artyakov, a first deputy director general at Rostec, said on Rossiya-24 television.

"The concept is singular. Neither the Americans, nor a single NATO country has a device like this. [Next year] we will hold initial tests and we’ll start mass production, I think, within a year or two," he said, when asked about progress of work on the drone.

Artyakov said that the drone uses artificial intelligence technologies, has stealth capabilities and can travel at a high speed.

The S-70 Okhotnik drone developed by the Sukhoi design bureau uses the "flying wing" stealth technology, which reduces its radar visibility. According to open-source data, the take-off weight of the device is up to 20 tons, while the maximum flight speed is about 1,000 km/h. Mass deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2024. The drone first took to the air on August 3, 2019, with the flight lasting more than 20 minutes under the control of the operator. On September 27, 2019, the UAV flew in tandem with a Su-57 fighter.