Test pilot Evgeny Frolov said that the Russian heavy attack drone S-70 “Okhotnik” can hit targets on command from the Su-57 fighter jet. He stated this on the air of the TV channel “Russia 1”, RIA Novosti reports.
According to him, the pilot does not need to say anything in order to give the command to the drone. The capabilities of the Su-57 allow it to independently determine which target to assign, and the Hunter strikes.
Frolov said that now the place of the ground operator of the drone is with control knobs like in a manned fighter, a keyboard and several liquid crystal multifunctional screens that display information from onboard systems and cameras of the device. “In the future, this device will be purely automatic,” said the pilot.
Earlier it was reported that the Russian Ministry of Defense plans to create one squadron of fifth-generation Su-57 fighters for two or three squadrons with their wingmen – heavy shock-reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) S-70 “Okhotnik”. Fighters and UAVs “will begin to act together, using new tactics and capabilities of elements of artificial intelligence.”