S-70 "Okhotnik" UCAV

Supersonic would be useful during egress mission once Hunter drops its weapon it would want to fly high and fast back to its base rather than going subsonic. It will increase its survivability chance of it gets detected.

Remember even B-2 used long range stand off weapons in Serbia conflict. 

During Dog fight being supersonic will improve weapons capability in BVR missile 


I am not sure if this bird can go supersonic or not but since it has a Nozzle and 117S engine perhaps it can ,Russia has officially acknowledged it is working on supersonic UCAV

Russia Developing New Supersonic Attack Drone
https://i-hls.com/archives/81761

“Development work is currently underway on a long-range unmanned system capable of carrying out unmanned low-altitude supersonic flights, and striking both stationary and mobile targets at operational-strategic depth,” the officer explained.

Impact drone "Hunter" will be able to break through the air defense together with the fifth generation fighter Su-57

Moscow. January 26th. INTERFAX-AVN - The “Hunter” heavy drone drone is intended, inter alia, to break through the air defense when working in tandem with the fifth-generation fighter Su-57, an informed source told Interfax.
"It is assumed that the" Hunter "will be able to work in conjunction with the Su-57 fighter. That is, one of the tasks of the drone is to break through the air defense, and then the manned aircraft enters the perimeter," the agency’s source said.
According to him, in the future, several impact drones will work in conjunction with the fighter. “The crew of the Su-57 will be able to remotely control the“ Hunter ”so that both devices work smoothly in a single network circuit,” the source said.

More
http://www.militarynews.ru/story.asp?rid=1&nid=500441

GarryB wrote:Why would it be supersonic?

That possibility was being discussed. IMHO it makes no sense with that aero design and besides it is not the point behind an unmanned strike flying wing, which is optimized for endurance and stealth to tackle high-risk missions

Supersonic would be useful during egress mission once Hunter drops its weapon it would want to fly high and fast back to its base rather than going subsonic. It will increase its survivability chance of it gets detected.

Going supersonic would increase its IR signature, both from engine exhaust and visible AB flame adding IR and optical signature, but also increased friction heating of the front of the aircraft as it moves at high speed.

At most it might go mach 2... which is not really any safer against enemy missiles...

To make it supersonic there are serious design changes that need to be made that will restrict size and wing sweep which might make it worse in a lot of other areas...

Remember even B-2 used long range stand off weapons in Serbia conflict.

Americans are cowards.

During Dog fight being supersonic will improve weapons capability in BVR missile

There is no aircraft on the planet that can dogfight at supersonic speeds... dogfight means turning manouvering combat... supersonic speeds means flying straight and level for long periods burning large amounts of fuel.

Being able to climb and accelerate to launch a missile will improve its flight range and energy performance, but you are hardly going to go for a flying wing configuration for a dogfight aircraft.

"It is assumed that the" Hunter "will be able to work in conjunction with the Su-57 fighter. That is, one of the tasks of the drone is to break through the air defense, and then the manned aircraft enters the perimeter," the agency’s source said.
According to him, in the future, several impact drones will work in conjunction with the fighter. “The crew of the Su-57 will be able to remotely control the“ Hunter ”so that both devices work smoothly in a single network circuit,” the source said.

So basically the hunter drone is sent into enemy air space first and all the things that target it and open fire on it are detected and located and likely fired apon... the Hunter will probably be armed with ARMs and also carries towed decoys and jamming equipment to attract the attention of the enemy air defences and engage them while the Su-57s monitor and engage targets too, while trying to not reveal their presence.

Hole wrote:Which crew? It is one man = pilot. Until now.

One remark to Austin: BVR means beyond visual range = long range, dog fight means close encounter = short range.

Fair point. Where is the 2-seater Su-57? Given the paltry numbers to be procured and no sign of the Indians signing on to the project the 2-seater Su-57 is several years off - 5 years least.

In a one-seater configuration you're running into massive pilot overload or extremely limited capability. Doesn't make sense at all.

As for Garry's suggestion - that's a moronic use of a tens of millions of dollars worth of a drone - sacrificial lamb kamikaze.

The Russians are at the beginning stages of this sort of pairing and so are the Americans so things will get cleared out in time.

Fair point. Where is the 2-seater Su-57? Given the paltry numbers to be procured and no sign of the Indians signing on to the project the 2-seater Su-57 is several years off - 5 years least.

In a one-seater configuration you're running into massive pilot overload or extremely limited capability. Doesn't make sense at all.

The Russians never wanted a two seater Su-57... that was a demand from India and now they have pulled out I doubt Russia will bother making one just to get India to buy some.

This is a 5th gen fighter with AI and automation... data is supposed to be processed and converted into easy to understand forms and displayed to the pilot when relevant and largely hidden when not.

They have mentioned several times that the Su-57 has a computer based copilot...

As for Garry's suggestion - that's a moronic use of a tens of millions of dollars worth of a drone - sacrificial lamb kamikaze.

Yeah, of course... drones are so valuable you would never want to risk one.... so they have no fucking point then... if they cannot be risked then they cannot be used.

The facts of the matter is that in a serious conflict the Su-57 will need to operate in places that are very dangerous, and it makes sense to have an unmanned platform that can go into places that would be considered suicidal to send a manned platform.

You don't intend to lose them but the risk of losing a few is actually rather high but the two alternatives are to not go there or to send a manned platform... but you think sending an unmanned platform into a highly dangerous situation is moronic... right...

The Russians are at the beginning stages of this sort of pairing and so are the Americans so things will get cleared out in time.

The US needs this pairing much more than the Russians do because the US is replacing all its fighters with F-35s and F-22s so the amount of missiles they can bring into a combat situation is plummeting to a pitiful level... even though they are planning to buy over 2,000 F-35s.

It is no accident that the planned UAV for the F-35 is a C-130 sized aircraft...

GarryB wrote:
The Russians never wanted a two seater Su-57... that was a demand from India and now they have pulled out I doubt Russia will bother making one just to get India to buy some.

This is a 5th gen fighter with AI and automation... data is supposed to be processed and converted into easy to understand forms and displayed to the pilot when relevant and largely hidden when not.

You know that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a pilot controlling a drone (or drone swarm) while at the same time carrying the duties of a fighter pilot. In a two-seater configuration you can divide the work respectively and avoid compromising capability - needless to say lessen the workload extensively. Strike aircraft like the Su-34 and Su-30SM are examples of the concept.

Yeah, of course... drones are so valuable you would never want to risk one.... so they have no fucking point then... if they cannot be risked then they cannot be used.

A 20 ton UCAV ain't cheap. You don't send those to the meat grinder just because. You do make a valid point that it's better for a drone (AND NOT a manned fighter) to get the first go at contested airspace (as part of a larger strategy). But for that sort of mission you described it's better to send a significantly cheaper and more specialized drone (alone, in a pack or large swarm) instead of a top of the line 20 ton UCAV.

ATLASCUB wrote:...In a one-seater configuration you're running into massive pilot overload or extremely limited capability. Doesn't make sense at all....

With 5th gen aircraft computer processes the sensor data and identifies and prioritizes targets

List is then displayed to pilot

These drones will be tailing airplane automatically and will be getting target data from it's computer after which they will engage targets

Pilot will have very little to do so no need for two pilot configuration

Yeah, in the end the pilot will be little more than the human in the loop that authorises the weapons release...

You know that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a pilot controlling a drone (or drone swarm) while at the same time carrying the duties of a fighter pilot. In a two-seater configuration you can divide the work respectively and avoid compromising capability - needless to say lessen the workload extensively. Strike aircraft like the Su-34 and Su-30SM are examples of the concept.

There was a game called Outbreak where you were part of a two man team investigating what turns out to be an alien invasion.

Anyway it was a good first person shooter, but it was a single player game... you could switch between the two players, but obviously you could never control both at the same time... so while you were one you put the other in a mode... there were several including stay here or follow me or guard this area... just as there were different setting for engagement... protect me, fire at will, hold fire etc etc.

With a simple combination of settings like this you could actually quite effectively operate as a real team... you robot partner could pick out enemy forces much better than any human so it was actually rather valuable to have him with you rather than waiting at the last waypoint till you cleared the way ahead.

It is likely the drone will have many of the same systems the Su-57 has so it wont be cheap but it will be much cheaper than an Su-57.

Having an extra crewman dedicated to flying this UAV sounds like a remote controlled aircraft... it would be easier and safer to have someone no the ground doing that...

Very simply the data collected by the UAV as it enters enemy airspace can be linked back to the Su-57 so his view is expanded rather than him seeing two separate views... the UAV will have its own weapons and could deal with some threats as they appear, but some times it might need to retreat and sometimes it will get things wrong and get shot down... but that is just a case to send in another UAV and deal with the new threats as they appear from both the UAV and the Su-57s further back as well as S-400 and S-500 systems in the region. Ground targets could be dealt with using long range missiles and stand off weapons, but the UAVs will force the defences to activate to defend themselves and reveal their positions and force strengths.

A 20 ton UCAV ain't cheap. You don't send those to the meat grinder just because. You do make a valid point that it's better for a drone (AND NOT a manned fighter) to get the first go at contested airspace (as part of a larger strategy). But for that sort of mission you described it's better to send a significantly cheaper and more specialized drone (alone, in a pack or large swarm) instead of a top of the line 20 ton UCAV.

At the end of the day everything is expendable and depending on the situation the cost of a few unmanned platforms is money well spent.

Certainly there are other drones that could be used to light up defences and to activate enemy forces, but the purpose of operating with a Stealth Fighter is to extend its missile and sensor reach and reduce its exposure to enemy forces/threats.

Looks like small stealth gliding bombs and missiles. Russia is learning from Israel for massive attacks with small stealth bombs. They should made kamikaze drons as well to attack enemy air defense complexes.

There was talk of lots of brand new weapons getting final testing in 2019... perhaps a few of those will be new weapons for UCAVs and land and sea based robotic vehicles....

PapaDragon wrote:

ATLASCUB wrote:...In a one-seater configuration you're running into massive pilot overload or extremely limited capability. Doesn't make sense at all....

With 5th gen aircraft computer processes the sensor data and identifies and prioritizes targets

List is then displayed to pilot

These drones will be tailing airplane automatically and will be getting target data from it's computer after which they will engage targets

Pilot will have very little to do so no need for two pilot configuration

Serves as reply to others....
------------------

Effective target discrimination and target prioritization is a big fat if without human input. This task aka its automation shouldn't be left to a drone. If a single-seater pilot is controlling more than 2 drones the workload will overwhelm him more than likely.

What happens the moment the pilot of the controlling Su-57 becomes a target of of a SAM battery or enemy planes? Suddenly the drones hover around waiting for command? Or are we going to suggest they enter into this A.I mode where they become expert dogfighters? Please....we're not there yet, not even close. If we're suggesting satellite link to an operator at home then all the known limitations of today's drones come into play (not least, the potential for getting one or several hijacked).

Much better for a dedicated operator in a two-seator to control the drone swarms in combat, while the pilot can focus on piloting the plane around the mission area (itself a big task - avoiding enemy planes, or SAM coverage area) + dogfighting BVR or WVR if the mission goes wary. Remote operation via sat link at "home" as a fall back fail-safe of a mission failure if the Su-57's gets taken out (to salvage as much as possible of the op.).

Are the things you guys suggest possible? Anything is possible if you limit your scenarios to fit the argumentation. Are they practical and feasible by today's tech? Absolutely Not. I could come up with many more scenarios and question about this but suffice to say I got limited time for something I already worked up in my mind. Besides we'll know in the future what's what.

Effective target discrimination and target prioritization is a big fat if without human input. This task aka its automation shouldn't be left to a drone. If a single-seater pilot is controlling more than 2 drones the workload will overwhelm him more than likely.

The newest ESM suites are automatic and don't require the pilot to tell it when to launch flares or chaff or to engage laser dazzlers to defeat EO sensors in incoming missiles...

Target detection and identification don't require human input either.

The Shkval-M system in the Ka-50 from the late 1980s could identify targets and mark them with a box for the pilot to either engage or not engage...

What happens the moment the pilot of the controlling Su-57 becomes a target of of a SAM battery or enemy planes?

For him to be the target I assume you mean they are scanning for his location actively... the drone equipped with ARMs would climb and accelerate in the direction of the radar signal and when in range a missile would be launched to deal with the problem...

Enemy planes and the drones equipped with AAMs would climb and accelerate in the direction of the threat and launch missiles and then turn back to the planes they are supporting to wait for the results... any survivors and repeat until there are no more missiles or no more threats.

Suddenly the drones hover around waiting for command? Or are we going to suggest they enter into this A.I mode where they become expert dogfighters?

The UAVs shown are flying wings so will have nothing to do with turning dogfights... they are sensors and weapon trucks... they will climb and scan and launch missiles at high speed and high altitude to give their missiles max energy and then they will turn back and return to the pack supporting their aircraft.

They will pretty much be fuel, weapons, sensors and decoys/jammers. They will have rather more fuel than the Su-57s because a lot of their time will be spent climbing and accelerating to launch weapons at max range.

Please....we're not there yet, not even close. If we're suggesting satellite link to an operator at home then all the known limitations of today's drones come into play (not least, the potential for getting one or several hijacked).

The purpose of AI is to prevent that... current simple UAVs have had their communications cut and simply landed as a standard protocol... a more intelligent AI would know not to land on enemy territory and to keep aware of friend and foe using its IFF systems.

AI systems likely wont be better than humans, but wont be dumb drones either.

Much better for a dedicated operator in a two-seator to control the drone swarms in combat, while the pilot can focus on piloting the plane around the mission area (itself a big task - avoiding enemy planes, or SAM coverage area) + dogfighting BVR or WVR if the mission goes wary. Remote operation via sat link at "home" as a fall back fail-safe of a mission failure if the Su-57's gets taken out (to salvage as much as possible of the op.).

So you are claiming a satellite link is easy to hijack, but a local link is safe? You also think having both links would be best?

Sure is Russian?

The grenades are Russian... look like RGD-5...

Well.... Duh... silly me... read the text on the picture...

There are three sections... the top says basically standard grenades, the second is anti armour weapons and the third anti personel munitions.
The standard grenades are VOG-25P and VOG-25... which are 40mm underbarrel grenade launcher grenades... I assume they are mounted in their own launchers for the purpose in this case, the RGO and RGN which are new Soviet hand grenades developed from experience in Afghanistan... they have a time fuse but also an impact fuse so they wont bounce off rocks back to the person throwing it... if you loft it right you could get an air burst when the timed fuse set the grenade off too...

RGD-5 and F-1 are the popular lemon type grenades (RGD-5 is smooth, while the F-1 looks segmented like a pineapple grenade).

Zara-2 is a stun/flash grenade... could be used to break up riots without killing people...

The second section is the PTAB-2.5 HEAT submunitions used in artillery (gun and rocket) as well as cluster bombs/warheads for bombs and various missile types.

The third is AO-2.5T which are HE Frag submunitions for anti personel use.

GarryB wrote:

So you are claiming a satellite link is easy to hijack, but a local link is safe? You also think having both links would be best?

A local link (usually limited by range) emanating from the controlling aircraft/drone might be safer. I think the goal and objective should be having both links simultaneously working together. One obviously being more secured than the other, both hedging each other and complementing each other for the operational workload.

I think the discussion is interesting but in the end making guesses about capabilities is like arguing in thin air. These technical areas are not my forte either, only working here with whatever logical conclusions I can make from gathered knowledge - which means I could be wrong on a great many many things. We'll see what's in store in the not so near future - what the tech is, what the tech allows in theory, what the tech allows in practice and the strategies that go along with it, as well as the limitations. As always engaging in healthy skepticism should be undertaken when talking about new wunderwaffe.

Source: Hunter's UAV systems are tested on Su-57

This is due to the delayed flight tests of the apparatus, the source said.

MOSCOW, January 29. / TASS /. The systems of the newest Russian heavy assault unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) “Hunter” are being tested on board the 5th generation fighter Su-57 due to the delayed flight tests of the device itself. This was announced on Wednesday TASS source in the military-industrial complex.

“On the third prototype of the Su-57, Okhotnik’s onboard radio-electronic systems are installed, they are tested in flight on this fighter. The UAV does not fly, its first flight dates have been shifted since last year,” the agency’s source said. He explained that "the testing of the UAV systems on the Su-57, in the absence of flight tests of the apparatus itself, allows not stopping work on other components of the Okhotnik design work.

The source noted that the tests are carried out at the Novosibirsk Aviation Plant "Sukhoi". "The onboard - onboard communication between the onboard radio electronic equipment (avionics) of the Hunter on the Su-57 in flight and the equipment of the Hunter itself on the plant strip) is also being tested. - said the source. He did not specify the dates for the start of flight tests of the Hunter.

The United Aircraft Corporation did not comment on the TASS information provided by the source.

Earlier in the network appeared photos of the “Hunter” on the runway, as well as pictures of the third prototype of the Su-57 with a pictogram printed on the keel, depicting the latest drone.

More
https://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/6054472

Some clarification.

Okhotnik-B sideview

I almost cry for such a beauty with such a ugly engine.
I beg you Russian to install a Type 30 without afterburner on it....

It's a prototype

I think most here bitched and moaned about Su-57 prior to type 30 prototype

The Su-57 has a very flexible autopilot. It can simulate the flying habits of other planes. Or drones. The Su-57 will fly all the maneuvers the Okhotnik sould be able to fly, saves the data and then the autopilot of the drone is programed accordingly. This proceeding will save a lot of time and money.

The Yak-130 also has a very flexible autopilot that can simulate the flying habits of other planes or drones... the thing is that there are not that many Su-57s available and there are probably Su-57 things that need testing too... there are plenty of other aircraft... I mentioned the An-12 because there would be plenty of space for all the electronics from the drone as well as measuring equipment to record results and there are plenty of An-12s, but you could use any of a range of aircraft types... don't confuse a flying wing with a dogfighting 5th gen fighter plane... this UCAV wont be turning and burning with anything... it is a sensor platform with some weapons... it wont be dodging missiles or chasing enemy F-35s around the place.

Some kind of High Res photo of Hunter UCAV , Front and Side view 

https://a.radikal.ru/a09/1901/03/829206529cf6.png
https://a.radikal.ru/a10/1901/5d/5eaaed3dc672.png
https://c.radikal.ru/c36/1901/fd/97a3c58d1940.png
https://c.radikal.ru/c21/1901/be/494c5749292d.png
https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/bmpd/38024980/6492783/6492783_original.jpg

zg18 wrote:Okhotnik-B sideview

Apart from the more or less ugliness of the thing, what's is IMHO more impressive is how compact its body is, even with a disproportionate engine, it is practically just an inverted Flanker nacelle plus a small protuberance for the front wheel and a little electronic (radar) compartment.