Russia Flies Armed, Stealthy Okhotnik Attack Drone Prototypes

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington D.C.) The Russian military is flying two prototype stealthy “hunter” drones expected to become operational by 2024, a significant and potentially concerning development for the Pentagon.

Okhotnik Drone

The Okhotnik is not only stealthy but reported to be an armed strike drone as well, according to numerous reports including one from as far back as 2018 in Russia Beyond quoting Russian experts discussing the drone.

“The Okhotnik’s arsenal includes air-to-surface missiles and an array of bombs (glide and operator-controlled) that will not be suspended from the wings, but hidden inside the body to reduce visibility on enemy radar,” Professor Vadim Kozyulin of the Russian Academy of Military Sciences told Russia Beyond.

As discussed in the Russia Beyond essay, the Okhotnik appears to present significant threats as it is reported to operate with an internal weapons bay, stealth coatings and a B-2-esque blended wing-body horizontal, stealthy configuration. The ability to keep weapons inside the aircraft without hanging them underneath on pylons, means the drone can attack while operating in stealth mode. 

There may also be some small “hard points” on the drone to enable a beast-mode kind of heavier attack. The absence of protruding structures, shapes and sharp angles from underneath weapons means ground based air-defense radar will have much less to “bounce” its signal or “ping” off of to generate a rendering to ground sensors.

Real questions about the drone also may pertain to the level of technological sophistication when it comes to its additional stealth characteristics, meaning what kind of thermal management or heat-reduction does the drone have? How effective are the stealth coatings? Perhaps most of all, is there an internally buried engine which may ensure the air temperature surrounding the drone is roughly equivalent to the drone itself to essentially “blind” thermal sensors. How is the exhaust managed?