Su-57 and S-70: combat pair or combat myth?
For a long time there was nothing about our successes in the field of aircraft construction, but this is not surprising: all eyes are riveted to a somewhat different area. The situation revived somewhat by Victory Day, when an air parade was to take place, at which ...
However, it doesn't matter. The parade did not take place due to "weather reasons", although the Muscovites will not let you lie, the weather was perfect. But nothing, just think, the parade of planes ... The parade is not the main thing, for us the process itself is much more important. After all, even the country's chief meteorologist Roman Vilfand could not really explain the reason for the cancellation of the air part of the parade. And according to the leading specialist of the Phobos weather center Mikhail Leus, a strong gusty wind could also interfere with the air part of the parade.
But Peskov said that the weather is bad, which means that it is so.
It is a pity, of course, that the Russian Aerospace Forces can operate only in exceptionally favorable weather conditions. Which took place in Moscow, but now it really doesn't matter. The balloons and airships that are in service with the Aerospace Forces, of course, are very dependent on the weather.
So all the media that could, began to discuss and cover the preparations and dress rehearsal of the parade.
Naturally, a group of Su-57 fighters, which were supposed to participate in the parade, came into view. And the keel of one of them was decorated with stylistic images of the Su-57 itself and a certain aircraft, in which you can, if you wish, recognize the same “Hunter”, a strike UAV that so far exists in one (two) copies.
Naturally, there were many interesting hypotheses around this image, some of which we will try to discuss now.
The press service of the UAC (the site of the Sukhoi company is “under development”) has repeatedly reported that the S-70 can fly in conjunction with the Su-57 and interact, hitting ground and air targets with its set of weapons as part of the so-called network-centric interaction.
Today, in general, many believe that a bunch of aircraft - UAV has a pretty decent prospect. The interaction of aircraft and cheaper unmanned vehicles that can clear the way for aircraft with their on-board weapons.
The UAC believes that the joint use of an aircraft and a strike UAV has a future. With the joint use of UAVs, they will be able to solve a very wide range of tasks, working on ground and air targets under the control of a flying command center as part of network-centric interaction.
The UAC emphasized that they are considering various concepts for the use of unmanned systems, depending on the conditions and tasks of operations.
Let's take a look at our couple. Not closely, without performance characteristics.
The Su-57 is a fighter designed to destroy all types of air targets, destroy enemy ground and surface targets with overcoming air defense systems, as well as to monitor airspace far from the base and disable the enemy’s control system.
A fairly wide range of capabilities, which should be provided by an equally wide range of weapons. This is clear.
According to UAC experts, the Su-57 is hardly noticeable due to the special hull design and radar-absorbing coating, and is able to successfully solve the entire range of tasks that will be assigned to it.
The S-70 Okhotnik, for which there is very little data, can fly up to 6 kilometers at a speed of 000 to 1000 km/h. The number of weapons carried is kept secret, but if we were shown hitting a target with a 1400 kg bomb, then the UAV is capable of taking at least two tons of various weapons. The maximum is left to guess. They write - eight, but as a matter of fact ...
Why does an airplane need a drone?
In general, the concept seems to be simple: the UAV can be used as a radar carrier to increase the aircraft's viewing radius, roughly speaking, to let it go forward, to clear the way. A less noticeable "Hunter" could cope with such a task. In addition, the drone could use its weapons, for example, on enemy radars capable of detecting an aircraft. Distract enemy planes and the like.
True, there are doubts about the effectiveness of such cooperation. The cost of the Su-57 is estimated at about 2,3 billion rubles. The first five devices (2 finished and 3 under construction) S-70 cost the budget 1,6 billion rubles. Of course, the S-70 is much cheaper, but not so much that it can be spent on trifles.
In 2019, the Su-57 and S-70 conducted a joint flight for the first time. The S-70 worked out interaction with the Su-57 in automatic mode. The main task was to expand the radar field of the fighter and for target designation of targets for the Su-57 without the latter entering the zone of conditional enemy air defense countermeasures.
Options for interaction have been identified. Work continued.
But in 2021, something strange began to happen. In June last year, many Russian media began to publish materials on the topic that "the pilot of the Su-57 will be able to simultaneously coordinate the actions of two to four "Hunters".
Judging by the links, TASS was the initiator, followed by Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Vzglyad, Arguments and Facts, and other media outlets that did not bother to comprehend what was written.
The only portal that was more than skeptical was warspot.ru. The rest habitually huddled in a paroxysm of "And we've done it all again."
For some reason, it never occurred to anyone that the unfortunate Su-57 pilot, who would somehow have to try to fly FOUR "Hunters" at once, would still have to pilot his own plane in some incomprehensible way.
Rave. Obviously, none of those who simply rewrote the letters from the unconfirmed TASS message knows what it is like to control an ordinary copter. And, say, at the same time typing a message on the phone. That's something similar and was supposed to take a fighter pilot.
It is not necessary to analyze another stupidity performed by the Russian biased media, in fact, it is already clear that the boundaries of the reasonable were somewhat violated in the creation of the victory.
True, the defense industry realized that something strange was going on and corrected themselves, saying that a special two-seat control aircraft would be created specifically for such a case. A sort of command version of the Su-57.
Not much better. No, it’s already good that at the top they realized that one person would not be able to control FIVE aircraft. With his plane and four UAVs.
True, few people thought about how one person would manage four "Hunters". Perhaps for some it seems like some kind of computer-aided shooting game, but in reality everything is somewhat more complicated.
Moreover, neither the UAC nor the Sukhoi Corporation confirmed the information about the development of a two-seat control aircraft based on the Su-57 either.
But the domestic "experts" had a lot of fun, inventing how interesting the combination of the Su-57 and S-70 turned out to be.
For example, the "expert" RT Knutov gave this:
“The Su-57 is a unique machine, especially in combination with drone "Hunter". In fact, they form a complex that can be attributed to the sixth generation. The drone can overcome air defense systems at low altitudes, clearing the space for the Su-57 to advance.”
We present this picture: a 25-ton machine, with a wingspan of 19 meters (by the way, more than that of the Su-57), flies at low altitude, pretending to be a paper airplane and trying to depict something in relation to air defense, clearing the way for the Su -57.
Not at night, the aforementioned Bayraktar, which is smaller in length (6,5 meters versus 14), with a smaller wing (12 meters versus 19), less weight (650 kg versus 25 kg) and possessing, however, a lower speed, but obviously less noticeable, easily knocked down by everyone, from anti-aircraft gun systems and MANPADS to anti-aircraft missile systems.
It’s hard for me to say what the “experts” are counting on when sending such a machine as the S-70 to fly at low altitude. It is just as difficult to say where our media get such “experts”.
Move on. The same "expert" colorfully painted what an advantage the presence of such a "command post" on the basis of the Su-57 would give. And how much the integration of a network-centric control system will increase the effectiveness of air combat.
In general, Yuri Albertovich Knutov, director of the Air Defense Museum in Balashikha, does not have a very good idea of managing four aircraft. But the trouble is the beginning:
“With such a system, the Su-57 will be able to control not only drones, but also Su-35 aircraft. This is actually a small command post. Moreover, it can interact with ground systems, transmitting information to them. This is the basis of our future aviationwhen there will be unified air and ground-based complexes capable of solving many tasks to destroy the enemy quickly and efficiently.
Yes, this is the opinion of one person who presents himself as an expert. But how many others repeated what Knutov said ...
A “small command post” that can act as a hypothetical two-seat Su-57 should already exist. And it's called the A-50. In fact, it is an AWACS aircraft, which can easily carry out target designation for aircraft and UAVs. Moreover, doing this is much better than an improvised "command post" hastily created from a single-seat fighter.
If we talk about the fact that it makes sense to create an air CP for drones, then this can be implemented on the basis of an An-26 type aircraft. And it will be very easy for such a command post to control the UAV, following them at a distance, outside the enemy air defense coverage area, under the cover of their fighters.
And from the board of such an aircraft, not one, but as many operators as needed will control the "Hunters". Based on one operator per UAV, as is customary throughout the world.
Everything else, excuse me, is stupidity performed by people who, although they call themselves "experts", did not take the control panel from the Mavik into their hands.
Clearing a path for planes with UAVs is not a good idea. A pilot in the cockpit of a fighter-bomber is many times better in control of the environment than an UAV operator looking through cameras in the cabin of a flying CP. An operator flying an UAV from the cockpit of a fighter-bomber would have a better understanding of the situation, but controlling more than one UAV looks very doubtful.
And thus, a bunch of "one aircraft - one UAV" is obtained. Moreover, the aircraft must be double. The navigator-operator will direct the actions of the drone from his workplace. That is, he will have to have flight training in this regard. But this is really the easiest task to solve.
I don’t know if it’s worth arranging another budget cut and creating on the basis of the Su-57, which, admittedly, didn’t really go into the series, a two-seat modification, when we are armed with just a wonderful Su-34 aircraft, in which you can find a place for placing UAV control equipment. And which, it seems to me, is most suitable for such operations as flight control of an unmanned vehicle, although, of course, large-sized and high-resolution screens will be more appropriate in the cabin of a transport aircraft than in a fighter cockpit.
Doubt is caused not only by the ability of the S-70 at low altitude to quietly fly up to the air defense system and work on it with standard weapons. There is still doubt that the operator flying behind the "Hunter" will be able to properly control the device. Still, in the cockpit there is no place for screens that can show the situation around the UAV, which will fly 100-120 km ahead of the aircraft.
The "experts" did not think about this.
So does the Su-57-S-70 linkage have any future?
Further experiments will show. So far, the S-70 can only be considered as a flying additional magazine with rockets and bombs, which can be activated while maintaining the aircraft's ammunition load.
Moreover, a very expensive store.
And you can arbitrarily make plans in terms of emotions for how the unmanned "Hunters" will go ahead of the Su-57 and "clear the way for them." In fact, a cruise missile is a much cheaper and more effective way to suppress enemy air defense systems than a huge and clumsy, albeit relatively fast drone, comparable to an airplane in mass.
Let's put it this way: a combination of Su-57 and S-70 is nothing more than a conceptual model, which in our conditions can be implemented no earlier than in 10 years. Why? Because we still have less than a dozen Su-57s in the Aerospace Forces, and God forbid that by 2028 the order, according to which 76 of these aircraft should be in the Aerospace Forces, is not disrupted.
As for the S-70 Okhotnik, the two built copies are nothing more than an object of testing and verifying the correctness of the developed application concept.
And the fact that checks and tests are underway is not yet evidence that the S-70 will actually go into production and enter service. The device is original and quite expensive. And this in our reality ruined more than one project. "Armata", "Coalition", "Kurganets" ...
So drawing attention to projects is useful, first of all, for the projects themselves. And, if the work on the projects goes according to plans, then the option is quite possible in which aircraft and drones will interact.
No - another myth will appear on the ruins of the budget, like a fairy tale about a thousand "Armat" in tank troops of the Russian army.
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