A Russian combat drone S-70 was shot down on Saturday by a Su-57 aircraft that was escorting it above the Donetsk region during a test flight. The Ukrainians recovered the wreckage and began to examine it.
Several images broadcast on X showed the moment when a Russian Su-57 fighter jet (NATO reporting name: Felon) with two engines shot down an experimental combat drone it was escorting, which had begun to experience malfunctions.
According to radio intercepts of Russian control center communications, the drone was malfunctioning, and the Su-57 pilot failed to regain radio control over it. As the drone was about to enter Ukrainian airspace, the pilot received the order to launch a missile at it to bring it down.
The drone crashed in Kostiantynivka, a town in the Kramatorsk district, and contrary to information circulated on Saturday, it fell in an area controlled by Ukrainian military personnel. They found it and took it to a safe location for examination.
Initial assessments suggest that, as has often happened during the war in Ukraine, Moscow's claims about its advanced technology and the capabilities of the latest Russian weapons are exaggerated, and it appears that the S-70 drone is no exception, notes Kyiv Post.
The Kremlin presented the S-70 drone as an invisible, unmanned extension of its fifth-generation Su-57 multirole stealth aircraft.
The initial examination seems to indicate that the drone does not, in fact, include stealth materials to make it radar-invisible, nor is it equipped with artificial intelligence communication and guidance systems.
According to a Ukrainian expert quoted by the military-themed website Defense Blog, the S-70 drone was far from being as sophisticated or advanced as Moscow boasted. "This is not an advanced combat drone. It is more of a glider equipped with basic flight capabilities and radio commands," the specialist said.
Although a large part of the wreckage was damaged by the fire that broke out after the drone crashed into a house, Ukrainians have already obtained enough material that can provide potentially useful technical information, including an almost intact wing.
At the impact site, remnants of a 250-kilogram Russian UMPB D-30SN aerial bomb were also found. This could be one of the 70 guided and unguided missiles and bombs that the S-70 is supposed to carry, with a payload of up to 2.8 tons.
The fact that the S-70 drone, which, along with the Su-57 aircraft, was based at the Akhtubinsk airbase located about 600 kilometers from the front line, was carrying at least one bomb suggests that the flight was more of an operational test. It appears that the Russians intended for this to take place in a combat situation, with the drone set to launch the bomb at Ukrainian positions.
The mission ended in failure, however, and the Ukrainians now know the capabilities of the "super drone" that the Russian military boasted about.
T.D.