The third year of the Russo-Ukraine war only served to expose the limitations of Russia’s military capacity, specifically in the sphere of air superiority. Core to this struggle is the Sukhoi Su-57, Russia’s fifth-generation stealth fighter, introduced with many setbacks and delays.
The Su-57 was designed to replace the MiG-29 and Su-27. It first flew in 2010 and went into production in 2019. Only 32 have been produced so far. More generally, this slow rate of production speaks to problems in Russia’s military-industrial complex. It is somewhere in the vicinity of 0.5 square meters, according to Sandboxx News’ Alex Hollings for the RCS of the Su-57, comparable, he noted, to what a fourth-generation F/A-18 Super Hornet presents when it’s not armed, but way over that of the F-22 Raptor, whose RCS comes in at some 5,000 times smaller.
Its engine design is more pessimistically underdeveloped because AL-41F1 engines in it are derived from Su-35S, which is not a stealth aircraft at all. Its 360-degree operational capability with an advanced sensor suite has remained underdeveloped, probably due to the international sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in 2014.
But then again, the wrong inference would be to count out the Su-57, notes Christian Orr from Jane’s, which rates 360º thrust vectoring control for additional agility and speed of up to Mach 2. Operational impact in the skies over Ukraine has been limited, though, predominantly because comparatively small numbers have been sent.
The Su-57 got more mention in popular culture than it did in actual combat. One such blockbuster movie was that of 2022: “Top Gun: Maverick,” with the Su-57 serving as a shadowy antagonist, setting its extremely stark real-world utilization by Russia into bold relief.
The misfortunes of the Su-57 serve to symbolize a wider problem now faced by the Russian military: it was considered the very best in Russian technology and has ended up disappointing. India bailed out on the partners regarding the Su-57 back in 2018 due to its failure to reach the standards for a fifth-generation warplane, much less with its radar and avionics.
Also, some problems have been encountered with the engines for Su-57. The aircraft was supposed to be powered by the new AL-51F1 which gives it the supersonic speed without afterburners; this is almost the main thing for fifth-generation fighters. Nowadays, though, the aircraft comes fitted with the AL-41F1 or its modification AL-41F1S engines, neither of which corresponds to the above-said standards.
Further degrading the stealth characteristics of the Su-57 is the placement of its design. There are significantly more composite and radar-absorbing materials taken up by the F-22 compared to the Su-57. The F-22 is designed with engine nozzles that are buried deep in the fuselage, this design makes it more advantageous compared to the Su-57 which has round nozzles that further evidently protrude on the radar to infrared.
Russia may wish to promote the Su-57 as the best plane in the world, but the truth of the matter is that there exist only some 15, including prototypes. In contrast, the United States has produced 195 F-22 fighters and over 1,000 F-35s, both of which were real 5G planes.
Its production is limited. The price per unit is too high, and these airplanes cannot be produced in mass at an affordable cost for Russia, given the current international sanctions. Doubts about the real battleworthiness of the aircraft have also come up. Missile deflection attacks on Russian airspace were practically the only real use of Su-57 to show its unwillingness to lose the plane and spoil its reputation over Ukraine.
Finally, the Su-57 represents another very expensive high-tech weapon system that Moscow does not want to field in any numbers like the T-14 Armata tank. It will perhaps paper over cracks and dazzle in parades going through the skies over Red Square, but somehow it seems like nothing new.