Kronstadt Group developing control post for Okhotnik attack UAV.

The Kronstadt Group is developing a ground-based control post for the advanced S-70 Okhotnik unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), Director of the Ground-Based Control Post Department and Chief Designer of the group Denis Yevstafyev said in an interview with the Zvezda TV channel.

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Okhotnik UAV (Picture source: Russian ministry of defence)

“It is a standardized ground-based control post for medium and heavy unmanned aerial vehicles. Baseline components presented in this container are used in the Okhotnik project. The control post provides for the full cycle of UAV usage,” Yevstafyev said.

According to him, the new ground-based control post can be used to control drones at any part of the world.

“Here on the screens you can see a 3D photograph made on the basis of Russian software developed by the Kronstadt Group. The system can cover the entire globe. Nautical charts can be displayed. There are no operational limits. The talk is about the entire globe,” Yevstafyev said.

The new control post can receive various types of data. “An optoelectronic system is a video stream, TV, thermal imaging, and radar imagery,” he added.

About the Okhotnik

With 20 meters in wingspan and a length of 14 meters, Okhotnik'smass is supposedly around 20 tons It is expected to fly at a speed of 1,000 km/h, for a range of 6,000 km and its two internal bays should embark up to 2.8 tons of weapons.

According to the Ministry of Defence, S-70 Okhotnikis powered by an AL-31 turbojet engine and is equipped with electro-optical targeting, radio, and “other types of reconnaissance equipment”.

The Okhotnik heavy attack drone performed its debut flight on August 3, 2019. The flight lasted over 20 minutes under an operator’s control.

On September 27, 2019, 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 serial deliveries of Okhotnik heavy strike drones to the Russian troops are scheduled to begin from 2024.

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