Russia’s T-50 PAK FA Fifth Generation Fighter Prototype Given Final Designation Su-57

The Sukhoi design bureau's fifth generation air superiority fighter, known in its prototype stages as the T-50 or PAK FA, has as of this week been designated the Su-57. The fighter is set to have air superiority capabilities superior to those of the Su-35, currently Russia's most potent air superiority platform, which is also manufactured by Sukhoi. With the U.S. Air Force's F-22 currently dominating the skies as the world’s foremost air superiority platform, despite its limited production with only 187 fighters in service, the Su-57 is set to challenge American technology for supremacy in its air superiority capabilities. With the F-22 in service since 2005 and having undergone few modernisations since then, Sukhoi claims its Su-57 will be the superior fighter - while also being expected to cost far less than its American counterpart. Despite its higher radar cross section, it is set to have far superior manoeuvrability and electronic warfare capabilities and incorporate several more modern technologies developed since the F-22 was completed. The fighter will also integrate far more capable missiles, the 200km range K-77, which will far surpass the range of the F-22's AIM-120C - limited to just 105km. The Russian fighter is also set to have substantially lower maintenance requirements and operational costs, thus increasing the sortie rate and compensating for the primary weakness of the F-22.

Along with Chengdu's J-20, in service since April 2017 and operated by the Chinese Air Force, the Su-57 and F-22 may well be the world's only fifth generation air superiority fighters ever to enter service - with design programs for sixth and seventh generation fighters now well underway in these countries and smaller nations little able to afford designing such large and high performance platforms. Those few other fifth generation fighters set to potentially enter service such as Turkey’s TAI TFX or South Korea's KFX are all less capable multirole fighters, smaller and far less costly to operate. Like the F-22 the Su-57 is expected to be produced in limited numbers due to its cost. The key difference however is that the fighter's availability for export may well change regional power balances wherever it is sold - something the F-22 could never do due to the strict congressional export bans on the fighter preventing American allies and client states from obtaining it. Ultimately, though prototypes have demonstrated impressive manoeuvrability, the full capabilities of the Su-57 remain to be seen. Should it prove to be to the fifth generation what the Su-35 was to the fourth - it will be a widely sought after platform and a game changer for aerial warfare.

Note: The Sukhoi fifth generation air superiority fighter will in subsequent articles be referred to as the Su-57, where previously it was named T-50 or PAK FA.