Coming Soon: Russia's Strange B-2 Looking Stealth Drone

David Axe

Security, Europe

What is it up to?

Hunter-B’s much-anticipated first flight could signal the beginning of a long development that could end with the Russian air force operating fighter-style stealth drones.

Russia’s prototype stealth drone will make its first flight in July or August 2019, state media reported.

The Hunter-B drone will be fully autonomous and follow a pre-programmed flight path, according to Russian news agency TASS.

“The Russian defense establishment is promising a test that will include a short-duration 'jump'—the [unmanned combat air vehicle] will rise ever so briefly above the tarmac to test its launching and landing capabilities," said Samuel Bendett, an independent expert on the Russian military.

(This first appeared earlier in June 2019.)

“The flight will not last for long — several dozens of minutes at the maximum," a source told TASS. “Teams on the ground will intervene if necessary.”

Hunter-B’s much-anticipated first flight could signal the beginning of a long development that could end with the Russian air force operating fighter-style stealth drones.

A flying wing similar in shape to the U.S. Air Force's B-2 stealth bomber, Hunter-B in theory could penetrate enemy defenses to deliver ordnance.

The subsonic Hunter-B is in the same class as China's Tian Ying drone, the U.S. Air Force's RQ-170 surveillance unmanned aerial vehicle, the U.S. Navy's experimental X-47B UAV and Boeing's X-45C drone demonstrator.

It’s unclear how many Hunter-B prototypes exist. At least one was on the flight line when Russian president Vladimir Putin on May 14, 2019 visited the 929th Chkalov State Flight-Test Center in Russia's Astrakhan region.

Commercial satellite imagery confirmed the Hunter-B drone’s presence at Chkalov alongside various other warplane types, including the Yak-130 trainer and several version of the Su-30 multi-role fighter.

It was the unmanned aerial vehicle’s first appearance since January 2019, when photos began circulating depicting the large, flying-wing UAV on the ground at an airfield in Novosibirsk.