Russia’s New Su-57 Fighters Undergo Further Testing in Syria - Reports

Russian Su-57 next generation air superiority fighters have reportedly undergone a second stage of testing in Syria, according to recent reports from Russian media citing the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov. The Chief of Staff noted only that the fighters had completed all assigned tasks without elaborating on what these may have been or how many fighters were deployed to Syria. Russia previously deployed four Su-57 fighters to Khmeimim airbase in Syria in February 2018, with the aircraft carrying out combat sorties against islamist insurgent targets to test their capabilities. Little is known about the performance of the recently deployed fighters or whether or not they performed in a combat role.

Ongoing war in Syria has provided the Russian military with an opportunity to test a number of pieces of new hardware, with some such as the Su-35 air superiority fighters and Kalibr cruise missiles proving highly effective while others, such as the Uran-9 robot tank, were less successful. The deployment of the Su-57 provides opportunities to test its sensors, and allows servicing crews and pilots to operate the jets in real combat conditions. With American, Israeli and Turkish jets among others flying frequent sorties in or near Syrian airspace, and with ground battles ongoing in the country’s northeast, the theatre provides an excellent chance for the fighter to test the limits of its situational awareness. It is notable that the Russian Air Force has yet to receive a single serially produced Su-57 fighter, although it will field almost 80 of them by 2027 with mass production having begun in July 2019. Fighters deployed to Syria so far have been advanced combat capable prototypes, which may be converted for military use once their role as technology demonstrators has expired. The deployment of these aircraft to Syria follows unconfirmed reports that parts of the Russian S-500 Prometheus next generation surface to air missile system were also deployed to the country for testing - with the platform's sensor suit also potentially benefiting from the wide range of inputs available in the theatre.