Wetin be Okhotnik – Russia powerful secret weapon wey crash for Ukraine – BBC News Pidgin

Wen two strands of white smoke start to dey pass di sky for eastern Ukraine, na one tin e mean, e mean say Russia jets go soon attack.

But sometin new happun near di city of Kostyantynivka. Di lower smoke divide into two and one new object race enta di oda vapour until dem jam and one orange flash brighten di sky.

Wetin happun? many pipo bin believe say na one Russian war plane dey shoot down anoda inside so-called friendly fire 20km (12 miles) from di front line, or maybe na one Ukrainian jet dey shoot down Russian plane?

Ukrainians soon discover from di debris wey fall, say wetin dem just witness na di destruction of Russian newest weapon – di S-70 stealth combat drone.

Dis one no be ordinary drone. Di drone wey dem name Okhotnik (Hunter), na one heavy, unmanned vehicle, e dey as big as fighter jet but e no e get cockpit. E dey very hard to detect and di drone developers claim say “two types of am” no dey di world.

All dis fit be true, but clearly e bin go astray, and e be like say di second trail dem see on di video come from one Russian Su-57 jet, wey clearly pursue am down.

Di Russian plane fit be say dey try re-establish contact wit di errant drone, but as di two of dem bin dey fly enta one Ukrainian air defence zone, e be like say dem agree to destroy do Okhotnik, so dat e no go fall for enemy hands.

Moscow and Kyiv neva tok pim officially on wetin happun. But analysts believe say di Russians lose control of dia drone, most likely bicos of Ukraine electronic warfare systems.

Dis war don see plenti drones but none of dem be like Russia S-70.

E weigh ova 20 tonnes and get range of 6,000km.

Dem shape am like arrow wey make am resemble di American X-47B, anoda stealth combat drome wey dem build ova a decade ago.

Di Okhotnik suppose to fit carry bombs and rockets and to fit strike ground and aerial targets as well as run inspections.

And most importantly, e dey designed to work togeda wit di Russia fifth-generation Su-S7 fighter jets.

Dem don dey build am since 2012, and im first flight happun for 2019.

But until last weekend, no evidence bin dey say Russia bin use am for dia two and half year war wit Ukraine.

Earlier dis year, tori bin comot say dem spot di Okhotnik for Akhtubinsk airfield for southern Russia, one of di launch sites dem dey use attack Ukraine.

So e dey possible say dis flight wey scata ova Kostyantynivka, na one of Moscow first attempts to test dia new weapon for combat .

Tori say dem find di spoilt remains of one of Russia notorious long range D-30 glide bombs for id aircraft crash site.

Dis deadly weapon dey use satellite navigation to dey even more dangerous.

So why di Okhotnik bin dey fly wit Su-S7 fighter jet? Kyiv based sabi pesin on aviation, Anatoliy Khrapchynskyi tok say, di warplane fit dey carry signal from ground base give di drone, so e go increase di reach of dia operation.

Dis failure go be ogbonge blow to di Russia military. E suppose go into production dis year, but e clear say di drone neva ready.

Tori be say dem bin build four prototypes of di S-70 drone and di one wey blow out for Ukraine fit be di most advanced one.

Even though dem destroy am, Ukrainian forces go still fit collect valuable information about di Okhotnik.

Anatoliy Khrapchynskyi explain say, “we fit learn weda e get im own radar wey e dey use find targets, or weda e dey pre-programmed wit coordinates of wia di drone go fire im ammunition put”.

By just looking at images wey comot from di crash site, e believe say e dey clear say di drone stealth capabilities dey limited.

E say di shape of di engine nose wey dey round mean say radar fit pick am. Dis na same for di many parts of di drone, wey most likely na aluminium dem take build am.

Las-las, Ukraine engineers go torchlight di wreckage wella and send anytin dem find to Kyiv Westerm partners.

But wetin dis mata show be say Russia no just dey siddon look. Dem still dey work on newer and smarter ways to fight di war and wetin fail today, fit work tomorrow.