Russian Aerospace Forces have received the first series-production multi-role fifth-generation fighter jet Su-57 has been delivered to a regiment in the Southern Military District, according to multiple reports.
“The Aerospace Force has obtained the first batch-produced Sukhoi-57 (Su-57) aircraft. It was delivered to a regiment in the Southern Military district,” according to a military official in a TASS report published Friday.
The Su-57 (NATO nickname Felon) has had a long and somewhat tortured development, first production example crashed during a flight test last year.
The Felon took to the skies for the first time on January 29, 2010. Compared to the Su-27 family of fighter aircraft, the Su-57 combines the functions of an attack plane and a fighter jet while the use of composite materials and innovation technologies and the fighter’s aerodynamic configuration ensure the low level of radar and infrared signature.
On December 7, the CEO of the corporation Rostec, Sergey Chemezov, said that the first serially manufactured Sukhoi-57 with a first stage engine would be provided for the Russian military by the end of 2020, and the first Sukhoi-57 equipped with the second stage engine would be assembled in 2022. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told the Defense Ministry’s board meeting that a total of 22 Sukhoi-57 planes would be provided by the end of 2024. Under a contract concluded in 2019 a total of 76 Sukhoi-57s are to be delivered by the end of 2028.
The fifth generation Sukhoi-57 fighter jet is designed for destroying any type of air and surface targets. It has a supersonic cruising speed, intra-fuselage weapons, radar absorbing coating (stealth technology) and the newest set of onboard equipment.