UK Defence Intelligence comments on Russia downing its own latest drone, calling it expensive and embarrassing failure

Russia has shot down its latest S-70 Okhotnik (Hunter) drone, which had been under development for ten years. UK Defence Intelligence believes that the Russians simply lost control of the UAV and that it was an "expensive and embarrassing" failure of Russian weapons development.

Source: UK Defence Intelligence update dated 15 October on Twitter, as reported by European Pravda

Details: On 5 October, Russia shot down its own S-70 Okhotnik unmanned aerial vehicle as it flew west over the front line in Ukraine.

UK Intelligence considers that Russia lost control of the UAV and decided to destroy it to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.

It is noted that the S-70, developed by Sukhoi, has been in development for at least a decade and was spotted during tests at the Russian airbase in Akhtubinsk.

Quote: "It is likely Russia waited to the last moment before choosing to engage the UCAV [to shoot it down] having exhausted attempts to bring it [the Okhotnik] back under control. This demonstrates yet another expensive and embarrassing failure of Russian weapons development and will almost certainly delay the S-70 programme," the review says.

Background:

• UK intelligence dedicated its preliminary update to the large-scale strategic exercises of the Russian navy Ocean-24, which took place from 10 to 16 September.
• Earlier, UK Defence Intelligence reported a new record for the average daily losses of Russian forces in Ukraine in September 2024, marking the highest figures recorded since the start of the full-scale invasion.

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