The Russian Air Force has put into service the first serial production of fifth-generation multi-role Su-57 fighter jets.
“The aerospace force acquired the first Sukhoi-57 (Su-57) aircraft. They were handed over to a Russian army regiment in the Southern Military District,” a military official was quoted as saying by TASS.
The Su-57 has had a long and somewhat difficult course so far as the first test aircraft crashed during a test flight last year.
It took off for the first time on January 29, 2010, and combines the functions of a bomber and an air superiority aircraft while the use of complex materials and innovative technologies in the aerodynamic configuration of the fighter ensures low radar recognition.
On December 7, Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov announced that the first Su-57 with a first-stage engine would be delivered to the Russian army by the end of 2020 and the first Sukhoi-57 equipped with a second-stage engine would be built in 2022.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting of the Defense Ministry board that a total of 22 Sukhoi-57 aircraft will be delivered by the end of 2024. According to a contract signed in 2019, a total of 76 Sukhoi-57s will be delivered by the end of 2028.
The fifth-generation Sukhoi-57 fighter is designed to destroy any type of air and surface target. It has hypersonic flight speed, intra-fuselage weapons as well as radar absorption coating (stealth technology).