Shooting down their own brand new S-70 drone on video when it went out of control over Ukraine may be one of the biggest embarrassments ever suffered by the Russian Air Force. But there may be worse to come.
The Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik-B (“Hunter-B”) was a prototype stealth combat drone, a ‘loyal wingman’ designed to operate alongside with the new Sukhoi Su-57 “Felon” fighter. After it was shot down by its accompanying Su-57, the Russians fired an Iskander missile at the crash suite to destroy the S-70 wreckage. Pictures show that well before the missile strike took place, the Ukrainians had already taken away key components for analysis.
That analysis will likely be very embarrassing for the Russians – but maybe not for the reasons you might expect.
Russia’s stealth embarrassment
The technology of reducing how easily an aircraft can be seen on radar is technically known as ‘signature reduction’ and is commonly known as stealth. While the general approach has been known since WWII, the idea of specifically designing an aircraft that would be effectively invisible to radar was revolutionary and highly classified.
Recently, the pictures of Su-57, Su-75, and S-70 have attracted everyone’s attention because they were taken very clearly. Even the details of aircraft manufacturing processes commonly used by the outside world can be seen clearly. Su-57, S-70, and Su-75’s stealth characteristics are incredibly poor; even the rivets and screws are directly exposed.
The S-70 is now in production and does not have stealth coating; it does not involve stealth testing.
Of course, the stealth performance of the Su-57 and S-70 are relatively poor; it is not fake, and there is no need to wash it. As we can see from the first picture, it doesn’t even align the gaps of the front edge flaps in the production variant Su-57.
Russia can’t improve the stealth performance of the Su-57 and S-70 because it lacks the technology and funds to invest in new technology.
Due to different manufacturing processes, the fifth-generation aircraft cannot be produced on the same line as the fourth-generation aircraft. Due to financial constraints, Russia cannot build a new production line for the Su-57. It can only be produced with Su-30 and Su-35, so the fuselage manufacturing process cannot be re-used.
The most significant indicator to me was India’s withdrawal from its joint effort with Russia to develop the Su-57; they were reportedly dissatisfied with the production aircraft’s lackluster stealth capability, which makes complete sense.
Developing an aircraft with advanced low observability requires a strong defense industry to overcome the costly setbacks that inevitably accompany such programs and produce sufficient numbers. Still, Russia is simply unable to keep up. The Su-57 and Su-75 programs are all but failures, and now Moscow is pursuing yet another ambitious S-70 drone that the same fate will likely plague.
Russia cannot produce stealth drones or jets
Stealth is achieved mainly by carefully shaping the airframe, avoiding straight lines and sharp corners reflecting radar. However, ensuring that the surface minimized radar reflection is also crucial.
One of the original stealth coatings or Radar-Absorbing Materials (RAM) was a special paint known as ‘Iron Ball,’ which contained metallic particles. The right size and shape of the particle of the right metal can absorb radio waves and dissipate them as heat rather than reflecting them.
Stealth aircraft may also incorporate radar absorbent structures and honeycombs of material which trap and disperse radar waves.
Finding an effective combination of materials and structures to minimize visibility to particular radar wavelengths from particular directions is a tricky and complex discipline with many tradeoffs. New metamaterials – which can, in principle, be used to make an ‘invisibility cloak’ – are used extensively in current stealth research.
Russia initially paid little attention to stealth technology, but in recent years they have claimed advances in this area and the new Su-57 is described as a stealth fighter with a far smaller radar signature than previous generations. According to Russian officials, the S-70 drone is “made with the use of special materials and coatings that make it practically invisible to radars.”
Dead Drones Do Tell Tales
After the S-70 was shot down, the Russians hit the crash site with an Iskander ballistic missile. These missiles are scarce and expensive, and diverting one from the campaign against Ukraine’s cities suggests this was a high-priority target. There are several reasons why the Russians would want to stop the West from recovering the drone wreckage.
A Ukrainian scene investigator was removing wreckage from the downed S-70 drone in eastern Donetsk. The least likely thing is that NATO would gain technology that it could reverse-engineer and use in its own aircraft. Nobody seriously thinks Russia is ahead in this field, and even Russia’s optimistic claims for the Su-57 indicate it is far less stealthy than Western aircraft.
More significant is the risk that Western engineers could discover what wavelengths the S-70 has been designed to counter from what angles and which ones it will still be visible to. This information could contribute to nullifying the S-70’s stealth capability. Given that it is a relatively big, slow, and expensive drone, if its stealth is compromised, it will become far less useful.
Even more serious is that the S-70 was designed alongside the Su-57, Russia’s showpiece next-generation combat aircraft, and likely uses the same stealth materials and techniques. If the West can see how the S-70 stealth works, it could gain a pretty good insight into how to defeat the Su-57, too.
But there is a more likely explanation of what the Russians are really trying to hide. That is, the Emperor has no clothes, and their stealth technology is non-existent.
The Russia’s Great Stealth Hoax
We have already seen some indications that Russian stealth is not up to scratch. In 2023, Ukrainian engineers were able to analyze the remains of a Russian Kh-101/ X-101 long-range cruise missile, which supposedly has an anti-radar coating. According to Ukrainian news site Defense Express, this is not the case.
“The results of the research show that despite Russian claims, Kh-101 is not covered with a special paint that reduces reflection of radiation,” says Defense News. “All the Russian stories about RAM coating on the Kh-101 body turned out to be nothing but propaganda.”
Similarly, Western analysts were horrified by its crude finish when the Russians recently published images of the new Su-57. Stealth aircraft need a perfectly smooth surface, as even slight projections can significantly affect radar return. The B-2 bomber is notorious for its demanding stealth maintenance requirements with the need to apply radar-absorbing tape to specific surfaces and thousandth-of-an-inch tolerances. The Su-57 has bare screw heads and rivets all over the wing and fuselage, suggesting poor stealth qualities.
Given Russia’s culture, even senior commanders may be unaware of these shortcomings in their stealth technology. Nobody ever wants to report bad news, and Russian defense contractors know how to pay off procurement officials all the way to the top.
The Russian leadership may soon discover that their expensive, much-hyped invisible drone is not stealthy at all. They will read about it in the public media.
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