The UAV will receive a new upgraded ground control station to increase its effectiveness. “The work on ‘Okhotnik’ is one of the key directions for Sukhoi and UAC,” Yuri Slyusar, the general director of the UAC, said at the ceremony, according to a press release published by Russian state conglomerate, Rostec.
According to UAC, serial drone production should start in 2024, with the first delivery expected later the same year.
The Okhotnik has been under development since at least 2011 when The Russian Defence Ministry selected Sukhoi to lead a new heavy unmanned surveillance and attack drone programme. The new UCAV is being jointly developed by MiG and Sukhoi, based on the earlier Mikoyan Skat UCAV programme data. The work is carried out by the Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association (NAPO), part of the Sukhoi company. Russia identifies the drone as a "sixth-generation unmanned aerial vehicle."
