Russian Industry Minister Elaborates on Continuous Improvements for Su-57 Fighter

Since before its entry into service in December 2020, reports on new technologies under development for Russia’s Su-57 next generation fighter have been many ranging from directed energy weapons to artificial intelligence which will assistant pilots. The head of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, observed in a recent interview regarding plans to upgrade the aircraft: "The Su-57 has just entered service, is just being supplied, and we are already thinking and preparing for a new stage of modernisation. This is an ongoing process.” Aside from new weapons systems and avionics, more fundamental upgrades to the airframe design are being implemented as production lines are themselves modernised with new technologies being integrated into the production process. A notable example was the use of virtual reality, which was first seen on Su-57 production lines in 2020. Continuous improvements to an aircraft and its production methods are far from uncommon for a major fighter program, with the Su-57's foreign rivals the Chinese J-20 and American F-22 seeing similar improvements.

The Su-57’s design has seen significant improvements, including use of much more modern construction methods for serial production aircraft which have served to improve the aircraft’s stealth capabilities. The fighter and its future derivatives are expected to see a production run of several decades, with serial production having only begun in the summer of 2019. 76 fighters are on order under the current state armaments plan, which will end in 2027, and the aircraft are expected to make up a much larger proportion of new acquisitions by the Russian Air Force after this date as older designs such as the Su-35 see production wound down or ended entirely. Minister Manturov noted regarding the scale of production: "In 2021, it is planned to increase the pace of construction of these machines in accordance with the approved schedules," with aircraft that begin construction this year expected to integrate more capable engines than earlier models.

Su-57 fighters are expected to begin entering service with new Saturn 30 engines from 2022, with Russian sources reporting that the next generation power plants will be the strongest integrated onto any fighter in the world. The rate of production of the aircraft is expected to rise significantly from 2024, meaning only around five aircraft will enter service with the older AL-41 engines that are currently in use. The Su-57 has seen considerable foreign interest, with some reports indicating that Algeria may have already placed an order for 14 fighters. A cheaper and lighter single engine fighter built around many of the same technologies is reported to currently be in development to extract further benefits from investments in research and development for next generation fighter technologies.