Moscow. August 22. INTERFAX - A long-term contract for serial deliveries of the heavy attack drone "Hunter" to the Russian army can be concluded in 2022, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov said in an interview with Interfax.
"As for the S-70 "Hunter" - here we see the interest of the military department, we are preparing for the serial production of this drone, we are working on the issue of concluding a long-term contract next year, " Manturov said.
As Interfax reported, the Sukhoi company is working on the creation of Russia's first heavy attack drone of long flight duration - the S-70 "Hunter". On August 3, 2019, he took to the sky for the first time.
According to open data, its take-off weight is 20 tons, which makes it the heaviest of the currently developed drones. The dimensions of the Hunter (length-19 m, wingspan-14 m) are comparable to the parameters of the Su-57. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the combat load of the Hunter is 6 tons, the flight range is about 6 thousand km, and the altitude is 18 km.
Mass deliveries of the Hunter to the troops will begin from 2024, the first deputy chairman of the board of the Military-Industrial Complex of the Russian Federation Andrey Yelchaninov told Interfax in December 2020.
According to him, serial purchases of the Hunter will be included in the next state armament program for 2024-2033, which is already being developed by both the Ministry of Defense and the Board of the Military-Industrial Complex of the Russian Federation.