What does the control panel of the heavy attack drone S-70 "Hunter" look like, what does its pilot see and what happens when communication fails. Part of the secrets of the drone was shown by the Zvezda TV channel.
The main character of the new issue of "Military Acceptance" was the first prototype of the S-70. It is very different from the device that will go into the series.
- This is a flying laboratory where new technologies are being developed. For example, we are currently testing deceleration algorithms on the ground. The device does not have a braking parachute, so this testing is very important. The location of the landing gear "Hunter" is fundamentally different from the aircraft: the track is large, the longitudinal base is small. This introduces certain difficulties in taxiing algorithms and especially deceleration during landing," said Sergey Bibikov, chief designer of the Hunter.
I borrowed the landing gear and the C-70 engine from the Su-57. Only the fighter has rotary nozzles, and the drone has a fixed one. He doesn't need supermaneuverability. The whole country works for the drone: the composite elements of the airframe are made near Kaluga, the engine comes from Bashkiria, the control system is made in Moscow.
The ground console from which the Hunter is controlled is two deaf green containers without windows. In one of them there is communication equipment, in the other there is a pilot sitting in front of five monitors. The screens display the same information as in the cockpit of a combat aircraft, plus an image from two nose cameras. However, the modern war begins not even in the air, but on the air. Therefore, the "Hunter" is being prepared to work in conditions of loss of communication with the operator.
Removed from the drone, its information and control system occupies three racks. Artificial intelligence lives in black metal blocks. That is, it is not only the spinal cord of the drone, but also the brain, too.
- This IUS is more complicated than that of the Su-57. She fully performs the functions of the crew at least for the safe return of the device to the base," Bibikov explained.
Nevertheless, the image from the nose cameras of the drone is displayed on two wide displays of the ground control center.
- Two cameras and two monitors for insurance. They have different communication systems, if something happens to one, the other will work," said the test pilot of the Hunter, Hero of Russia Evgeny Frolov. Flight information is displayed on other monitors, as in the cockpit of a conventional aircraft. The engine control knob is under the left hand, the right one is on the aircraft control knob. Also quite ordinary.
Before takeoff, a picture from ground control cameras is displayed on the navigation display, allowing the pilot to look at the drone from the outside. Well, you can get out of the C-70 cockpit right during the flight - passing the test navigator's and test signalman's chairs. During the tests, the crew of the unmanned vehicle consists of three people. And the pilot of a serial drone will not even have a control knob - his job is to set a task and monitor its implementation.
Anton Valagin