Su-57’s Chief Engineer Explains Why the Next Generation Russian Fighter Can Beat America’s F-22 and F-35

The head of Russia’s Sukhoi Design Bureau, Mikhail Strelets elaborated in a recent interview on one of the major strengths of the the bureau’s new Su-57 next generation fighter relative to rival American F-35 and F-22 next generation aircraft. The interview was conducted by the corporate journal of the Russian United Aircraft Corporation, of which Sukhoi is a subsidiary. The Su-57 represents a heavyweight design intended to succeed the Su-27 Flanker of the late Cold War era, and will upon entry into service later in the year be the world’s fourth fifth generation fighter to become fully operational after the two American jets and the Chinese J-20. The Russian Air Force has placed an order for 76 of the aircraft to be delivered by the end of 2027, with the new fighters entering serial production in July 2019. Advanced combat capable prototypes of the fighter have seen limited combat in Syria.

Strelets noted that a major strength of the Su-57 was its superior versatility relative to the American F-22 and F-35 - both of which were highly restricted in this regard. He further observed that the Su-57 was a more well rounded aircraft - not only in its ability to engage both air and ground targets but also in its ability to excel in both long range and visual range air to air combat. The engineer stated to this effect: “Su-57 was originally designed as a versatile fighter jet capable of fulfiling multiple roles. […] High manoeuvrability is not the key requirement for the jets produced by Western countries. They are focusing on long-range fights instead of direct engagement. We instead are focusing on both.”

Regarding how the Su-57’s versatility compared to American platforms, Strelets noted that the F-22 was deigned as a highly specialised air superiority fighter, and was only later modified to be able to carry out limited air to ground strikes. The fighter is only compatible with a very small range of air to ground munitions however, and will be of little use in a standoff role, an anti shipping role or against fortified bunkers or tunnel networks due to its inability to carry high or medium diameter weapons. The F-35 on the other hand, as the name of the program Joint Strike Fighter suggests, is overwhelmingly oriented towards an air to ground role and has only very limited defensive air to air capabilities. The fighter lacks the F-22 and Su-57’s respective two and three dimensional thrust vectoring engines, is restricted to operating at below average speeds and altitudes, and cannot climb fast, manoeuvre well or accommodate enough missiles to be a serious air superiority platform.

According to Strelets, a major advantage of the Su-57 is its ability to operate with a high performance in air to air, air to ground and anti shipping roles. The fighter can carry over twice the air to air missile payload of the F-35, exceeding that of the F-22 by two missiles, but its launch bays are also deep enough to accommodate high diameter weapons which the F-22 cannot. The fighter’s armaments include cutting edge air to air missiles such as the R-37M, which has almost four times the range of the AIM-120C which equips most U.S. air units and over twice that of the much more costly AIM-120D which has begun to be used by elite units. It is also capable of deploying a range of cutting edge standoff air to ground munitions which have far superior endurance and speeds to those carried but he F-35, including the Kh-47M2 hypersonic ballistic missile which can be used for both ship hunting and ground attack. The missile has a 2000km range and Mach 10 impact speed. At just $35 million per fighter as of May 2019, the Su-57 costs the Russian Air Force a small fraction of what the F-22 cost the U.S. Air Force - and comes at under half the price of the much lighter F-35.