Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Uncategorized

Russia’s Su-57 Felon Fighter: Too Little, Too Late?

Russia's Su-75 Checkmate and Su-57. Russian Air Force.
Su-75 Checkmate and Su-57 stealth fighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

What You Need to Know: Russia’s Su-57 Felon, its much-touted fifth-generation fighter jet, faces a challenging future.

-Despite its advanced design, the Su-57 suffers from reliance on Western components blocked by sanctions, outdated manufacturing capabilities, and slow production rates.

-Once seen as a potential global export success, the aircraft has failed to attract foreign buyers, with India withdrawing from its development program in 2018.

-Russia’s financial struggles and a shrinking arms export market further compound the jet’s issues.

-While the Su-57 was meant to replace aging MiG and Sukhoi fleets, its limited production and economic constraints leave its future uncertain.

Russia’s Su-57 Fighter Jet: Why Its Future Looks Grim

Ever since the fall of the USSR, the military aviation community has been waiting for the next-generation Russian fighter jet to emerge. 

For more than a decade, the backbone of Moscow’s fighter force was the Mikoyan MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-27, so what Russia would come up with next was the question.

During the Cold War years, the Mikoyan Design Bureau labored on a new-generation design heavily cloaked in secrecy.  

This program was later revealed to be the Project 1.44/1.42 design (also known as the Multi-Role Fighter or “MFI” in its Russian acronym), which turned out to be too large, too heavy, not stealthy enough and designed more for the previous decade than for the 21st century.  

The single prototype flew twice in 1999, and the program was canceled.

At the same time, Mikoyan’s main rival in the fighter business, Sukhoi, had been developing an aircraft under the Perspective Aviation Complex – Front-Line Aviation (or “PAK-FA” in the Russian acronym) program.  

The prototypes were initially known by the design bureau internal designator of T-50.

That T-50 design was awarded a contract in 2002 with the team at Sukhoi, set ordered to develop, as one Moscow colleague described it, “an aircraft larger than a MiG-29, but smaller than a Su-27 and would eventually replace both those types in service.”

Su-57 Felon: What Gives the Program Bleak Prospects

Following the selection of the Sukhoi design, the first flight of the aircraft occurred in 2010 from the aerodrome at the Komsomolsk-na-Amure aviation plant in the Russian Far East.  

It would take another decade until the current production version of the aircraft (now designated Su-57) entered service with the Russian Aerospace Forces in 2020.

These timescales are one of the reasons the program will probably never be built in large numbers. The window of opportunity that the Russian industry once had to produce and sell this aircraft to export customers has passed.

The original plan of Russian industry was that any nation that had already acquired the Su-27, Su-30SM, or Su-35 would be a captive market for the sale of the Su-57. 

But many of those target nations are now procuring other western-made aircraft that are more reliable and easier to maintain in most respects.  

India once partnered with Russia to develop a specialized version to meet their requirements but withdrew entirely from the partnership in 2018.

Su-57 Felon Fighter

Su-57 stealth fighter. Image Credit: Wikicommons.

As many commentators have pointed out, the chief maintenance issue with the Su-57 is that it relies heavily on imported Western components.  

These are parts required both for production and for maintaining the aircraft daily.  They are also unobtainable due to sanctions imposed on Russia over its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine that bars their importation.

Su-57 Fighter: What Holds the Warplane Back?

Russian aircraft programs also depend on export orders to create economies of scale or are challenging to support correctly.  

Unfortunately, not only are there not any external buyers for the Su-57, but Russia’s arms exports are shrinking rapidly – along with that downturn in those arms sales, Russia’s influence in foreign affairs globally is dropping.

Speaking with numerous Russian industry leaders at various international defense expos in the past two decades, a collection of their comments paints a picture of why there is not much of a future for the Su-57 Felon:

-New-age aircraft designs require the development of lighter-than-metal alloys and non-ferrous materials – usually composites. The Russian aerospace industry is far behind in this technology, mirroring a deficit in composite production capabilities across the whole economy.

Su-57 Felon Fighter

Su-57 Felon Fighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

-The Su-57 is supposed to be equipped with an AESA radar set, the NIIP N036 “Belka,” and a new NPO Saturn/Lyulka AL-51F 5th-generation jet engine developed at the aero-engine enterprise in Ufa. Neither system has been ready for installation in the initial batches of aircraft. The AL-51F engine was only mature enough to be shown publicly for the first time at Air Show China in Zhuhai in November 2024.

-Aircraft production is painstakingly slow and is produced at a single-digit per-year rate. If there is to be a wholesale replacement of the older MiGs and Sukhois with Su-57s, a massive investment in manufacturing and test facilities would have to be made to facilitate series production.

Su-57 Seems Destined to Fail

The latest economic data also shows Russia’s situation is worsening daily.  

The head of Russia’s major defense industrial conglomerate, Rostec GD Sergei Chemezov, has said publicly at the end of 2024 that the current high interest rates mean “we will go bankrupt in a short period of time and will again come to the government with an outstretched hand and say, give us money to save our production,” he said.

Su-57 Felon

Su-57 Felon. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

With the many demands on Russia’s central budget to finance the war in Ukraine, it is doubtful that kind of money would be forthcoming.

About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson 

Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is now an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw and has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defence technology and weapon systems design.  Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.

Written By

Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is now an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw and has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defence technology and weapon systems design. Over the past 30 years he has resided at one time or another in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.

7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. bobb

    January 13, 2025 at 10:04 pm

    Things will change lightning fast once joe asmodeus biden leaves office in a week’s time.

    Meanwhile, wise for the su-57 to lie low until the dark shadow of asmodeus goes away.

    Asmodeus joe is a liar and trickster. And bluffer.

    For example, asmodeus constantly berates everybody, reminding everyone he guided US economy until it couldn’t be overtaken by any country.

    That’s a complete crap, US was overtaken by china over a decade ago if measured by PPP gdp.

    Asmodeus biden threatens everyone with illegal sanctions and bans for buying russian equipment but these evil practices will kaput immediately once biden leaves office.

    Once biden has fled far far away from the oval office, russia will be able to sell su-57 like hot cakes.

    Thus, a bright future for the su-57 lies ahead.

  2. bobb

    January 14, 2025 at 9:25 am

    Genocide joe never figured the russian su-57 is moscow’s latest top-rated complement to its fully unstoppable hazel tree rockets.

    Joe keeps ranting on how he confronted russia, how he stopped russia, how he gave US a really strong hand.

    What have those rants achieved against the top rated russian weapons like the su-57 and its accompanying hazels.

    Nothing. Absolutely Nothing.

    It’s a fact the su-57 and the hazel rockets have been successfully employed in the ukraine conflict. Against biden’s foot soldiers.

    Biden’s just a puffy old fool.

  3. Bob Warvick

    January 14, 2025 at 10:31 am

    Propaganda piece. If it were so useless, the Russians wouldn’t have stepped up their use and increased production. Also, the focus of Russians are asymmetrical in nature. Ie missile technology versus airplanes. Drones like the lancet have become more key and what use are planes if the airfields and carriers are preemptively destroyed. We still think that everyone has to have the same military doctrine. Silly article.

  4. HotMale

    January 14, 2025 at 1:22 pm

    Get admission in nursery school and stop cheap rubbish propaganda. Write something on environmental issues, poverty alleviation etc.

  5. Yosutebito

    January 14, 2025 at 9:46 pm

    The SU-57 is the very least of Putin’s worries these days.

  6. SMS

    January 15, 2025 at 1:15 am

    Cheap & poor propaganda from a Ukrat who never gonna fight in like other Ukrainian

    It’s lot better for the prize 😒.. so many Countries want to buy but afraid of US sanction India gonna buy 5 squadrons…

  7. Ruben Schmuben

    January 15, 2025 at 2:01 pm

    “Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is now an Expert”

    ROFL. Another piece of garbage propaganda from 1933.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement