Russia’s new heavy drone ‘Hunter’ performs maiden flight – Defense Ministry

The Russian state-of-the-art heavyweight combat drone ‘Hunter’ has successfully performed its maiden flight, the Russian Defense Ministry has said.

The flying-wing-type unmanned aircraft has hit the skies after taking off from one of the test airfields and stayed in the air for about 20 minutes, the ministry told the Russian media without revealing the exact location of the test flight.

It flew over the airfield several times at an altitude of 600 meters before making a successful landing.

The technical specifications of the brand new UAV still remain a secret, although some media reports suggest it boasts a takeoff weight of between 20 and 25 tons and an operational range of 5,000km while being allegedly able to operate at a supersonic speed of 1,400 km/h (870mph).

The ministry has not provided any photos or videos of the flight so far. A model of the drone was earlier exhibited at the ARMY-2019 expo held in the Moscow region in late June.