The long awaited Sukhoi Su-57 is finally joining Russian military. It has taken more than two decades to make initial 5th generation concept aircraft to introduce in the battlefield. It has incredible capabilities potential and appearance. Let’s take a closer look at what the latest and most advanced Russian fighter.
Sukhoi Company is all about a unique combination of speed stealth and super maneuverability. The Su-57 multi-role fighter currently is the most modern Russian military plane and its production code is the t-50 and initially it was called the prospective aviation complex of frontline aviation. it’s been entirely designed and produced In Russia this is a super advanced fifth generation.
Get to know Sukhoi Su-57 Fighter Jet
| Role: | Stealth multirole fighter |
| National origin: | Russia |
| Manufacturer: | Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Plant |
| First flight: | 29 January 2010 |
| Introduction: | 25 December 2020 |
| Status: | In Service |
| Primary user: | Russian Air Force |
| Developed from: | None. |
| Number built: | 12 |
Su-57 aviation is complex. It’s a brand new unique platform which is developers call it and this platform is not building on the legacy of its predecessors like the Su-27 and Su-30 or su-35. It seems to become apparent to all the next generations of fighters and unmanned aerial vehicles the Su-57 is a single-seat jet, the duties of the Co-pilot are now performed by artificial intelligence.
The plane combines the functions of an interceptor and a strike aircraft it’s filled with the best technologies. The Russian aerospace industry has to offer powerful engines excellent maneuverability and first-class avionics including an active phased arrow radar. It’s able to reach supersonic speeds without any after burner.
It maintains a stable and controlled slide at high angles of attack and can fly at supersonic speeds at an extremely low altitude. It takes off and lands in a traditional horizontal manner it’s got an extremely short take-off and landing distance. I can’t say how short it is it’s a closely guarded secret but presumably the length of an aircraft carrier fly deck should be enough for it to take off and land so the jet can be adapted for the navy without the need to be specially modified for vertical takeoff and landing like for example the American f-35b or the old soviet carrier-based yak-38 and yak-41 jump jets.
The Versatility of Su-57
The versatility of the Su-57 the jet is equipped with an impressive arsenal of high-tech weapons on board. Its missile’s range is twice as long as the previous generation missiles along with the aircraft itself its missiles are covered with a special coating that makes the entire arsenal practically unnoticeable to radar the jet has a target detection range of up to 200 miles and simultaneous tracking of around 30 targets in the future. It will be equipped with hypersonic weapons this plane will serve far into the future to the middle of the 21st century.
It has enormous modernization potential on the basis of this magnificent aerodynamic platform it’ll be possible to create and develop new types of weapons it has all the characteristics of a fifth generation aircraft at present it’ll be difficult to find a worthy rival to it indeed for a long time the American f-22 raptor was considered the most versatile fighter in the world.
However everything has changed with the arrival of the Su-57 the fifth generation f-22 which has already seized production was created for the domestic market only it’s an air superiority fighter equipped primarily with air-to-air missiles later the Americans created another fifth generation f-35s bomber specializing in ground enabled targets in the f-35 developers put stealth technology at the forefront.
Su-57 Specification
| Crew: | 1 |
| Length: | 20.1m |
| Wingspan: | 14.1m |
| Height: | 4.6m |
| Wing area: | 78.8 m2 (848 sq ft) |
| Empty weight: | 18,000 kg (39,683 lb) |
| Gross weight: | 25,000 kg |
| Powerplant: | 2 × Saturn AL-41F1 turbofans |
Su-57 v/s F-22 Raptor; Which one is better?
To create a multi-role fighter that would be superior to both the f-22 and f-35 aircraft so here it is all-in-one it’s been designed to gain superiority in the air meaning it’s an interceptor that can employ guided air-to-air missiles it’s also a bomber being able to strike brown-enabled targets it’s a flying information center that provides other airplanes of its group with necessary data and it’s a perfect close-range dogfighter, thanks to its outstanding maneuverability plus it’s got that magnetic beauty however the super maneuverability is not a fundamental requirement in the west because they focuses more on long-range combat but experts say in case of a real air war planes will inevitably have to close the distance and go for a close-range dogfight.
So the Russians say they have built an aircraft that excels both in long and close range combat that suggests the Su-57 combines and exceeds the abilities of the American f-22 raptor and f-35. if we add up the numbers 22 and 35 it makes 57 Ironically it’s a pure coincidence. Even though they all are the gen 5 jets a street comparison is not really appropriate because they all are different and serve different purposes.
Su-57 Performance
| Maximum speed: | Mach 2 |
| Range: | 3,500km |
| Supersonic range: | 1,500 km (930 mi, 810 nmi) |
| g limits: | +9.0 |
| Max altitude: | 50,000 ft (15,420 m) |
| Service ceiling: | 20,000 m (66,000 ft) |
| Thrust/weight: | 1.02 (1.19 at normal takeoff weight) |
Maneuverability
The more I learned about this machine the more I admire the technology in fact the Su-57 is superior to the American fighters in maneuverability speed range and flight duration. The Russian fighter can reach speeds of 1600 miles per hour while the American f-35 1200 miles per hour. The ability of constantly generating oxygen the flight duration of the Su-57 is 5.8 hours almost twice as long as the American f-35 which can stay in the air turn to half hours.
The capabilities of this aircraft the super maneuverability of the Su-57 comes courtesy of its aerodynamic configuration and twin turbojet engines. The aircraft is currently being produced with a so-called first stage engine and second stage engines will be installed on the mass produced versions in the not so distant future the Su-57 uses a thrust vectoring control engine meaning its nozzles can deviate diagonally. This is a great advantage when flying at high angles of attack and while performing aerobatics for comparison the standard engine of the American f-22 the f-119 pw100 from Pratt Whitney Can rotate its nozzle plates only vertically up and down that simplifies takeoff and pitch at altitude but does not make the raptor equally maneuverable.
Avionics
Su-57 has Autonomous navigation system which works regardless of whether there is a signal from satellites or not it will point the aircraft to its target and allow high-precision use of weapons even with no satellites the Su-57 will never get lost; the question is now are humans smart enough to pilot such a smart machine? A Military pilot must perform all the task by keeping away all the distraction from secondary tasks and minor things.
So it’s Necessary for them to interact with the machine easily therefore there are so-called electronic assistants that eliminate unnecessary options and actions.
Weapon
The maximum combat load of the Russian aircraft is 22 000 pounds while that of the American plane is 20 000 pounds the maximum take-off weight of the Su-57 is also bigger seventy-eight thousand three hundred pounds versus seventy thousand pounds the service ceiling of the Su-57 is sixty-five thousand feet and the f-35 service ceiling is fifty thousand feet
The jet is built as a stealth fighter. Special radar solvent materials coatings and shape. It bombs and missiles are carried in special internal weapons bays. All that makes it practically invisible to enemy raider including infrared eyes plus a special pixelated coating gives the effect of a blurry contour which somewhat distorts the boundaries of the plane however some western experts claim it’s not as stealthy as its American rivals of course raider stealth significantly increases the combat effectiveness and survivability of a plane but without high flight performance and the full range of combat equipment stealth itself is meaningless the Su-57 has a combination of all those characteristics and that makes it an absolute world leader.
Battlefield
It’s obvious though that the outcome of aero combat primarily depends on the skill of the pilot these guys the test pilots are the ones who determine what to remove and what to keep in the planes, in order to set the limits for combat pilots.
Lightweight and super hard carbon composite materials make up to 25 of the empty weight of the airplane the ejection seat of the Su-57 is able to save the pilot at any flight altitude,
Even from the ground the jets equipped with a powerful locator called APAR which is an active phased array system plus there are also a huge number of receiving and transmitting modules distributed all over its body that provides the aircraft with a long detection range multi-channel tracking of targets and the employment of guided missiles on them the Su-57 has its own high-precision.
Real Combat
It has already fought in real combat conditions in Syria launching guided missiles and dropping bombs on ground targets the NATO press was wondering back then what the 5th gen fighters were doing in the local conflict. The answer was simple any aircraft is taken seriously after it’s been used in real combat as a rule, any customer is always interested in whether an aircraft is in service and in which conflicts it’s taken part that adds status to the aircraft on sale. The Su-57 is the newest aircraft but it already has its history so here are some of the main milestones in its life the aircraft made its first maiden flight in January 2010 the fighter’s first flight with a new second stage engine with increased thrust and fuel efficiency took place in December 2017.
During the operation of the Russian Air Force in Syria in November 2018 the Su-57 attacks terrorists with cruise missiles in September 2019 the first joint flight of the Su-57 as a leader aircraft and the heavy strike drone a hotnick or hunter took place in December 2019 the Sukhoi company lost one of the machines right before its transfer to the army, it crashed some 60 miles from the Komsomos Onomar plant In the Siberian tiger during a test flight but despite some failures the plane’s design is now totally completed and it is planned that by 2028, 76 mass-produced Su-57 aircraft will be in service.
Sukhoi Su-57 – Pushing the Limits
Reference
- Wikipedia
- https://www.defenseforces.com/
- https://fighterjetsworld.com/
- https://militaryleak.com/
- Haci Productions
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