A few days ago, a short video appeared on the Internet showing a large twin-engine unmanned aircraft. According to the leading Russian expert in unmanned aviation Denis Fedutinov, this drone is a "Sirius", and the fact that it is in the sky indicates that UAV has entered the stage of flight tests.

"The leaked video captures the flight of the new twin-engine UAV 'Sirius', which is being developed by the Russian company 'Kronstadt'. The development of this drone was executed quite quickly. Obviously, 'Kronstadt' used the experience gained from its previous unmanned system 'Inokhodets' (factory name 'Orion'). It is also quite likely that the heavy version inherits a number of subsystems originally developed for the junior model", — said Fedutinov.

However, the start of flight tests is not at all a guarantee of the early launch of mass production: several years may pass between these phases.

The takeoff weight of the 'Sirius' was previously reported to reach two tons, with a wingspan of 23 meters, flight duration up to 20 hours, maximum altitude - 7 km, and a cruising speed of 180 km/h.