Russia shoots down own drone in costly military mishap
The Russians shot down their own S-70 drone, with which they most likely lost communication, according to the British Ministry of Defence. "They probably waited until the last moment to make the decision to shoot it down," claims London.
The British Ministry of Defence reported this on the X service, citing intelligence data.
As noted by British intelligence, on 5th October, the Russians shot down their own S-70 Okhotnik drone when it was flying near the front line in the Donetsk region. "Most likely, Russia lost control over the unmanned vehicle and decided to destroy the aircraft to prevent it from falling into enemy hands," reads the report.
British intelligence analysts assume that the Russians waited until the last moment to decide to shoot down the drone. The order must have been given after exhausting all attempts to regain control over it.
Russian defeat. "Delay of the S-70 programme"
"This shows another costly and disgraceful failure in the development of Russian weapons, which will delay the S-70 programme," believes British intelligence.
It should be noted that the S-70, developed by the Sukhoi company, has been in development for at least ten years and was observed during tests at a Russian airbase in Akhtubinsk. The S-70 was supposed to be developed with stealth technology to be as difficult as possible for enemy radars to detect. The drone was intended to carry out strikes from long distances and potentially be able to bypass enemy radars and air defence systems, reports the Ukrinform agency.
The drone was also intended to cooperate with the Russian fifth-generation fighter, the Su-57. Ukrainian analysts recently reported that the production of the Su-57 has been halted due to problems acquiring Western components necessary for the construction of the aircraft.
