On 5 October, media reports indicated that Ukrainian Defence Forces had shot down a Russian Su-25 fighter jet near Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk Region. However, it was later revealed that the downed aircraft was not a Russian fighter jet but the latest Russian heavy drone, the S-70 ‘Okhotnik’ (Hunter), which had been mistakenly shot down by a Russian fighter jet, Militarnyy has reported.
Ukrainian volunteer Serhiy Sternenko released footage of the wreckage of this heavy drone. It was shot down near the town of Kostyantynivka in Donetsk Region.
Before the plane crashed, air-to-air missiles were seen in the sky, probably the new S-70 ‘Hunter’ lost control and was shot down by a Russian fighter jet.
According to the military, "the plane that was catching up with the second one was flying on 2 jet engines, the one that went down had one and had full tanks," which explains the appearance of the aircraft behind the front line and the fighter's hasty actions.
The Okhotnik programme has been under development at Russia's Sukhoy Design Bureau since 2011. The drone is built according to the "flying wing" scheme.
According to the developers' plans, the Okhotnik UAV is designed to strike enemy targets without entering the area of operation of its air defence systems of manned aircraft.
The UAV can carry missiles and bombs weighing up to 2.8 tonnes in its internal armour compartments. Its length is 14 m, its wingspan is 19 m, and its take-off weight is over 20 tonnes.
According to unconfirmed reports, the range of the Russian vehicle will be about six thousand kilometres.