The Sukhoi Su-57 is a fifth-generation Russian fighter jet. It is an extremely advanced weapon, often mentioned in the same category with the American F-22 and F-35. This is undoubtedly the most advanced Russian jet fighter today. And it will not participate in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The Su-57 is Russia’s only operational fifth-generation jet fighter. Image credit: Vladislav06112019 via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Russia is hiding its Su-57 from the Ukrainian air defences. If it did attack targets in Ukraine, it was only from very far away, without flying into the air space of Ukraine. The spokesman of the Air Force of Ukraine Ilya Yevlash says the Su-57 is too expensive a toy for Russians to risk losing it.
The Sukhoi Su-57 took off for its maiden flight in 2010 and entered service in 2020. It is a large twin jet fifth generation fighter, originally designed to replace the MiG-29 and Su-27. Russia thought that India would also buy the Su-57, but those talks fell through. Russia still dreams of exporting the Su-57 to cut down the costs. But here lies a big risk – if the Su-57 were to be shot down in Ukraine, it would severely damage the image of this jet fighter. After all, the Su-57 is a fifth-generation fighter and should be very difficult to detect by radars.
Another reason why Su-57s will not see action in Ukraine is that Russia still has a relatively small number of them. And only a handful of pilots are qualified to fly them. The Su-57 is simply not ready for war.
Being a member of the very exclusive fifth-generation club the Su-57 is stealthy – it carries its weapons in the closed weapons bays, it has a very small radar signature, features electronic warfare capabilities and has other advanced technologies. Interestingly, the Su-57 is larger even than the F-22, which in turn is larger than the single-engine F-35. The size does matter, because stealthy jets carry their weapons onboard and a smaller jet cannot possibly have room for a lot of missiles and bombs.
Russia claimed that the Su-57 was used in the war against Ukraine, but it never came anywhere close to the Ukrainian air defence zone. It is simply too expensive for that. This, by the way, should remind you of another Russian weapon. The most advanced Russian main battle tank, the T-14 Armata, will also not participate in the war against Ukraine because it is too expensive. More precisely, there are no Armata tanks that are ready for combat. Russia still dreams of being a large arms exporter, but the war in Ukraine is going to deliver a tremendous blow to the image of Russian weapons.
Can Su-57 still come to Ukraine? Sure. But there isn’t much reason for it. Russia hasn’t lost that many fighter jets yet and can rely on fighter jets that are cheaper to operate and make.
Written by Povilas M.
