Russia shooting down its own drone an expensive and embarrassing failure, MOD says

Russia's destruction of its own drone is "yet another expensive and embarrassing failure of Russia's weapons development", says the MOD. 

The S-70 Okhotnik 'Hunter' uncrewed combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) was flying west over Ukraine when it was shot down by Russia. 

Ministry of Defence intelligence said it's likely Russia lost control of the drone and waited until the last moment before choosing to destroy it, having exhausted attempts to bring it back under control.

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The S-70 has been in development at Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi for more than a decade and one of its key strengths is its reduced radar cross-section.

This is intended to make it a "stealth" deep strike asset, meaning it is potentially capable of penetrating enemy radar and air defence coverages.

On X, the MOD explained that the shooting down incident "will almost certainly delay the S-70 programme" and it's likely that Russia couldn't risk the aircraft falling into its adversary's hands so chose to engage the UCAV to avoid that happening.

It's believed the S-70 that was shot down was one of only three owned by Russia.