"}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What aircraft does Putin fly in?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"A highly customized version of the Il-96-300, called the Il-96-300PU, is used as the primary aircraft in the Russian presidential aircraft fleet. Four were used by Russian president Vladimir Putin, and by Dmitry Medvedev as VIP planes."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How many fighter jets does Russia have?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"As of 2024, the total number of aircraft of Russia outnumbered that of the Air Forces of Ukraine by more than 13 times. The number of Russian fighter aircraft amounted to 809, whereas Ukraine had 72 fighter aircraft."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Does Russia have drones like the US?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The Russian military operates a fleet of about 500 drones. Russian officials stress that short-range drones are the most needed in the armed forces."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How fast is the XPG S70?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"With the latest PCIe Gen4 interface, the GAMMIX S70 BLADE will help you dominate the competition with sequential read/write performance of up to 7400/6800/MB per second. That's up to two times faster than PCIe 3.0 SSDs!"}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How fast could the SR-71 theoretically go?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is, to date, the fastest airplane ever to streak across the sky, even though it's more than 30 years old. Capable of speeds over 2200 miles per hour—that's more than three times the speed of sound—the SR-71 can fly at altitudes above 80,000 feet."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How fast is the Pershing 70?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Maximum speed of Pershing 70 is 46 knots, cruise speed is slightly less - 40 knots. The main salon lounge and cockpit space are combined when the divider between them is open, providing guests with a single open space from the stern to the control room."}}]}}

First Flight of Russia’s S-70 Okhotnik-B UCAV (2024)

Russia’s first UCAV prototype marks a milestone for the country’s troubled efforts to field truly modern airpower capabilities, and should also be a wakeup call to NATO Allies still publicly opposed to or unconvinced by the need for Western UCAVs to be part of future capability plans

Ever since the F-22 Raptor ushered in a new generation of combat aircraft, when it entered frontline service in 2005, Russia (and China) have been working hard to catch up and field fifth-generation combat aircraft of their own. China’s J-20A Mighty Dragon is now in service, while Russia’s troubled Su-57 programme recently received an apparent reprieve from irrelevance in the shape of a surprise order for 76 production aircraft. However, while individually impressive in some areas, a small Russian Su-57 fleet is hardly a match for the latest NATO capabilities in the shape of mature F-22s and increasing numbers of F-35s operating alongside legacy fleets equipped with modern missiles and radars. In effect, Russia has failed to keep up in terms of manned fighter technology. However, another much lower profile American success in 2005 took the form of cooperative mock combat trials conducted with two innovative stealthy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) prototypes known as X-45As.

Unlike the F-22 and F-35, which have become the most visible symbols of US dominance in the air domain, UCAV demonstrators such as the X-45s, X-47B and British Taranis have so far failed to lead to any publicly admitted combat capabilities. The Joint Unmanned Combat Air System, or J-UCAS programme collapsed when the US Air Force pulled out in 2006 and the subsequent US Navy Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) was denuded into the unarmed tanker and ISR-focussed MQ-25 with no low-observability requirements specified. The British Taranis and Franco-Swedish nEUROn UCAV demonstrator programmes initially led to a Future Combat Air System (FCAS) working group, but this has withered under the political disruption of Brexit and the launch of competing future fighter programmes. As a result, there is currently no openly acknowledged UCAV programme either in development or service in NATO. Some have speculated that the US has covert UCAV capabilities and there are discussions ongoing in both the British Team Tempest and Franco-German-led FCAS future combat air programmes about including UCAV elements in those system of systems. Nonetheless, given that there are major advantages inherent in UCAVs for high-intensity warfighting scenarios compared to manned aircraft in terms of mass, cost, endurance and risk to operators, the absence of current UCAVs is decidedly strange.

Part of the objection in the West is that to be credible in a high-intensity combat situation which would almost inevitably include heavy jamming and communications denial, a UCAV must have the ability to detect, classify, prioritise and engage targets with lethal weapons without real-time human yes/no oversight. Those targets would hardly be ambiguous – civilians seldom operate ground or air-based fire control radars, nor do they fire SAMs or air-to-air missiles. However, UCAVs require a level of temporal distance from real-time human control over lethal weapons employment which raises significant ethical, moral and potentially legal questions, which the governments of NATO member states have so far proven unwilling to tackle, at least in public. Nonetheless, the technology is already mature enough to enable the development and use of such weapons systems – adversaries unconstrained by such ethical, moral or legal scrutiny are not waiting for the West to get over its own scruples. China has at least three known UCAV development programmes – Sharp Sword, Dark Sword and CH-7 – and the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s pursuit of this class of weapon has been known for years. Meanwhile, until recently, Russia’s only effort to develop a UCAV was the almost certainly non-airworthy mock-up from Mikoyan known as SKAT. Russia’s more traditional military equipment preferences, along with budget constraints and difficulties in substituting domestic micro-electronics for lost imports due to Western sanctions post-2014, are likely to have contributed to the lack of a comparable demonstrator to the X-47B, Taranis or Sharp Sword. With the first flight of the S-70 Okhotnik-B, this has clearly now changed.

The S-70 has many visible shortcomings in terms of stealth properties compared to Western demonstrators, most notably the extremely non-stealthy and unshrouded engine installation and protrusions across the airframe. Some of the latter are likely to be purely for instrumentation purposes during testing and will not feature on any production version, but nonetheless it is clear from the S-70, just as the Su-57 before it, that Russia lags significantly behind China and the US in stealth airframe design. It is, however, a leading developer of counter-stealth radars such as the Nebo M series, and information campaigns through Russia media outlets have regularly attempted to question the value of Western stealth advantages.

The flight of the S-70 and apparent Russian determination to field such a strike and ISR UCAV, either as a standalone capability or as a ‘loyal wingman’ to accompany Su-57s and other manned aircraft, therefore, shows several things. First, that despite significant economic limitations and an economy which is hardly well suited to producing the complex electronic systems on which a UCAV is dependent, Russia feels that it cannot afford not to develop this capability. Second, it shows that Russia sees enduring potential value in tailless blended wing-body type stealth aircraft despite its own decades of research into fielding counter-stealth radar systems. Third, it is yet more proof that Western public reluctance to develop UCAV systems is not deterring competing powers.

It is no longer tenable for Western air forces to treat lethal and survivable UCAVs as an optional and politically inconvenient potential ingredient in future air force capability plans. Instead, it is time to recognise that these systems will have a role in any future high intensity state-on-state conflict. Therefore, the only question is whether NATO Allies will leverage their advantages in airframe design, micro-electronics and software development to out-compete adversaries in the UCAV race, or simply wait and hope their air forces can deter, and, if necessary, defeat them in combat without the advantages inherent in such weapons systems.

Justin Bronk is the Research Fellow for Airpower and Technology at RUSI

First Flight of Russia’s S-70 Okhotnik-B UCAV (2024)

FAQs

How fast is the s70 Okhotnik? ›

The maximum speed of the drone is reportedly 1,000 km/h while carrying its payload internally.

What is the range of Sukhoi S 70 Okhotnik B? ›

Its operational range is enhanced by the AL-31 jet engine, the same used in the Su-27 fighter jet, allowing it to reach speeds exceeding 620 miles per hour and a range of nearly 6,000 km.

Does Russia have UCAV? ›

Russia has lagged behind its peers in the production of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs), only starting to introduce domestically-designed versions into service in recent years. Procurement of Kronshtadt Group's Orion drone, capable of delivering airstrikes, got underway in 2021.

What does Okhotnik mean? ›

Okhotnik (Russian: Охотник, lit. 'Hunter') may refer to: The Hunter (2011 Russian film) Aero-Astra Okhotnik, a Russian autogyro. Vladimir Okhotnik (born 1950), French chess grandmaster.

What's the fastest an SR-71 has flown? ›

The first SR-71 flight took place at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, on 22 December 1964. The SR-71 reportedly reached a top speed of Mach 3.4 during flight testing, with its most efficient cruise speed being Mach 3.2.

Which is the fastest Sukhoi plane? ›

Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker - Mach 2.35 (1,553 mph)

The diversity of the Su-27 is also impressive with models such as the Su-33 and Su-34 being developed from its design. Newer than the F-15, the Su-27 shows no signs of retiring soon and matches well with the MiG-29 as a counterpart.

Who owns Sukhoi? ›

What aircraft does Putin fly in? ›

A highly customized version of the Il-96-300, called the Il-96-300PU, is used as the primary aircraft in the Russian presidential aircraft fleet. Four were used by Russian president Vladimir Putin, and by Dmitry Medvedev as VIP planes.

How many fighter jets does Russia have? ›

As of 2024, the total number of aircraft of Russia outnumbered that of the Air Forces of Ukraine by more than 13 times. The number of Russian fighter aircraft amounted to 809, whereas Ukraine had 72 fighter aircraft.

Does Russia have drones like the US? ›

The Russian military operates a fleet of about 500 drones. Russian officials stress that short-range drones are the most needed in the armed forces.

How fast is the XPG S70? ›

With the latest PCIe Gen4 interface, the GAMMIX S70 BLADE will help you dominate the competition with sequential read/write performance of up to 7400/6800/MB per second. That's up to two times faster than PCIe 3.0 SSDs!

How fast could the SR-71 theoretically go? ›

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is, to date, the fastest airplane ever to streak across the sky, even though it's more than 30 years old. Capable of speeds over 2200 miles per hour—that's more than three times the speed of sound—the SR-71 can fly at altitudes above 80,000 feet.

How fast is the Pershing 70? ›

Maximum speed of Pershing 70 is 46 knots, cruise speed is slightly less - 40 knots. The main salon lounge and cockpit space are combined when the divider between them is open, providing guests with a single open space from the stern to the control room.

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