Su-57 Felon
The trailer for the film "Lords of the Sky", dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the Sukhoi Design Bureau, was shown on Channel One of Russian television. The footage shows the Su-57M with two AL-51F1 power plants or the second stage engine, also called "Product 30", with a flat nozzle and thrust vectoring.
The fifth-generation Su-57M fighter, a modernized version of the Su-57, will receive new engines, as well as improved avionics, cockpit, and automation. The American publication 19FortyFive has assessed the Russian aircraft. "Features under development include intelligent pilot assistance systems and potentially voice or eye interfaces," the publication said. It notes that the combat-proven Su-57 is “renowned for its super-maneuverability, ability to operate from shorter runways, multi-role versatility as a fighter-bomber, and claimed lower maintenance costs compared to Western counterparts.” The publication writes that the Su-57M is expected to utilize the most advanced technologies, in particular artificial intelligence (AI), and deep integration with unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Su-57M upgraded variant is expected to incorporate the Izdeliye 30 engines along with other improvements. Development of the NIIP N036 Belka AESA radar and integration with the S-70 Okhotnik heavy strike drone for unmanned teaming operations continue. In October 2024, a Su-57 reportedly escorted an S-70 Okhotnik prototype, destroying the malfunctioning drone following a technical failure under a pre-planned protocol.
On the morning of 24 December 2019, the latest fifth-generation Russian fighter Su-57, took off from the Dzemgi airfield (near Komsomolsk-on- Amur). The purpose of the flight was to test a new engine (it is called the "second stage engine" or "Product 30") and onboard control systems. There was a factory test pilot in the fighter. But about 40 minutes after takeoff, the pilot reported to the command post that the fighter was losing control, and all his attempts to correct the situation were unsuccessful. Su-57 was losing altitude, being at a safe distance from the city (100 km). At the very last moment, the pilot decided to eject. He (like dozens of other pilots who at different times found themselves in the same situation) was saved by the ejection seat K-36 of the legendary designer Guy Severin.
The Su-57 aircraft continued to fly with interim Saturn AL-41F1 engines producing approximately 32,500-33,069 pounds of thrust each with afterburners rather than the more advanced Izdeliye 30 (also called AL-51F) engines that have been in development since the early 2010s. The new powerplant is expected to deliver approximately 24,054 pounds dry thrust and 39,566 pounds afterburning thrust, improving supercruise capability and overall performance. The AL-51F engine was publicly displayed for the first time at Airshow China in November 2024, but mass production remains unlikely before 2025-2027 according to expert assessments. Production capabilities at the Ufa Engine Industrial Association are limited, likely requiring the company to cease production of older engines to focus on the new powerplant.
On 15 May 2025, the Sukhoi Design Bureau announced a program of key upgrades for the Su-57M, designed to modernize Russia's newest fighter. Mainstream propaganda often derides the Su-57, claiming it lacks the capabilities of so-called fifth-generation aircraft. However, Felon demonstrated that it not only significantly outperforms other models of this generation but also goes beyond the fifth generation itself. The new Su-57M is essentially a sixth-generation aircraft . The Army Recognition portal quoted legendary Russian test pilot Sergei Bogdan, who emphasized the aircraft's high-end technologies and improved aerodynamics. With integrated advanced artificial intelligence, improved stealth characteristics, and a very long-range radar, the Su-57M will undoubtedly strengthen Russia's air superiority for decades to come (if not for most of this century).
New improvements have further reduced the radar cross-section (RCS), while new instruments will significantly increase detection range and improve pilot situational awareness. It can even be argued that the Su-57M is not just a major upgrade, but an entirely new concept capable of revolutionizing air warfare. It is also a breakthrough achievement of Russian science, giving the country a technological edge over adversaries like NATO. Moscow's ability to create and field an autonomous and/or AI-enhanced fighter is the result of extensive knowledge and know-how in aerospace engineering, as well as the invaluable combat experience of the Russian military. This includes the Su-57's ability to conduct long-range strikes. This aircraft is capable of evading any anti-aircraft missile system deployed by the Kiev regime, be it the latest NATO models or the best Soviet-era air defense systems.
But something far more important is that Russia has achieved all of this using only its own domestic production capacity . Very few countries on the planet can achieve such feats. The Su-57 is particularly important in this regard, as the PAK FA (Prospective Aircraft Complex of Frontline Aviation) program has expanded and now encompasses far more than envisioned in the early 2000s. At that time, this Eurasian giant was facing numerous challenges and problems resulting from the unfortunate collapse of the Soviet Union. Therefore, Russia was forced to make do with limited resources, which inevitably impacted the program's requirements. But by the late 2000s, Russia gradually recovered, its military received significantly more funding, and an ambitious modernization program was launched , culminating in a major overhaul of the PAK FA program. This also led to a (justifiable) delay in the Su-57's introduction into service.
The Su-57M represented a substantial evolution of Russia's troubled fifth-generation stealth fighter program, emerging as a response to the limitations that had plagued the baseline Su-57 since its initial development under the PAK FA program in the early 2000s. Developed under the codename Megapolis by Sukhoi Design Bureau, the Su-57M variant incorporated improved mission systems, reliability enhancements, electromechanical flight control actuators, and most critically, the long-awaited NPO Saturn Izdeliye 30 engine, which was eventually designated AL-51F-1.
The heart of the Su-57M's transformation lay in its powerplant. The AL-51F-1 was a two-shaft low-bypass afterburning turbofan with a three-stage fan driven by a single-stage low-pressure turbine and a five-stage high-pressure compressor driven by a single-stage high-pressure turbine. The engine delivered approximately 107.9 kilonewtons of dry thrust and 166.8 kilonewtons with afterburner engaged, representing thrust levels of about 11,000 kilograms-force and 17,000-18,000 kilograms-force respectively. This marked a significant improvement over the interim AL-41F1 engines that powered earlier Su-57 variants. The new engine featured glass-fiber plastic inlet guide vanes and convergent-divergent nozzles with serrated flaps designed to reduce both radar and infrared signatures, while achieving a nineteen percent higher thrust-to-weight ratio, improved specific thrust, and nine percent lower specific fuel consumption compared to its predecessor.
The engine's development had been protracted. The first flight of the Izdeliye 30 engine occurred on December 5, 2017, using the second Su-57 prototype designated T-50-2. Originally planned to enter service in the early 2020s, the engine's introduction was repeatedly delayed until the mid-2020s. In December 2024, testing began on a new two-dimensional thrust vectoring nozzle, with test pilot Sergei Bogdan conducting a seventeen-minute flight from the Gromov flight test center in Zhukovsky. This flat nozzle design was expected to further reduce thermal visibility and enhance stealth characteristics while maintaining the aircraft's renowned supermaneuverability.
With the AL-51F-1 engines, the Su-57M was projected to reach maximum speeds approaching 2,950 kilometers per hour, compared to 2,550 kilometers per hour for earlier variants, while achieving genuine supercruise capability at approximately Mach 2. The enhanced thrust-to-weight ratio enabled high-energy maneuvering with steady turns in the pitch plane at angular velocities of twenty-seven to thirty degrees per second, and the rate of climb was expected to increase from 330-335 meters per second to 370-375 meters per second. These performance improvements positioned the Su-57M to compete more directly with American fifth-generation fighters in both beyond-visual-range engagements and close-quarters combat.
Beyond propulsion, the Su-57M incorporated comprehensive avionics upgrades. According to statements from test pilot Sergei Bogdan during a May 15, 2025 presentation in Moscow, the aircraft featured artificial intelligence-assisted systems that allowed rapid system initialization with a single-button press, streamlining pre-flight checks and reducing pilot workload. The upgraded variant received a more capable radar system with enhanced target detection and tracking range, improved stealth architecture, and a completely redesigned cockpit with advanced avionics. The airframe incorporated refined panel tolerances and new radar-absorbent materials to reduce radar cross-section, while additive manufacturing techniques enabled the production of stealth-optimized components with greater efficiency and reduced weight.
The Sukhoi Design Bureau worked closely with the Aerospace Forces to modernize the aircraft's onboard electronics, achieving increased detection range and more effective target tracking using the N036 Belka active phased array radar. The Belka radar was developed at the renowned Tikhomirov Research Institute of Instrument Design and is arguably the most advanced radar of its class. However, the new Su-57M may soon receive the latest ROFAR (radio-optical phased array) radar. This is a completely new technology , literally a quantum leap in detection systems. This radar is compatible with new weapons, and the Su-57 will carry a variety of cutting-edge munitions designed to perform a variety of missions.
The Su-57M's internal weapons bays maintained the baseline Su-57's configuration, with two tandem main bays approximately 4.4 meters long and 0.9 meters wide, plus two smaller side bays. The aircraft could carry up to four K-77M beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles per main bay, with an engagement range of 200 kilometers, while the side bays typically accommodated R-74M short-range missiles for close combat. For ground attack missions, the fighter could deploy precision-guided bombs like the KAB-250 and KAB-500, as well as Kh-38 air-to-surface missiles, and when stealth was not prioritized, external hardpoints could carry hypersonic Kinzhal missiles. The long-range R-37M missile, capable of engaging targets at 300-400 kilometers, became a key weapon for keeping Russian aircraft outside heavily defended Ukrainian airspace.
Russia developed new weapons for the Su-57. For example, instead of the usual R-77 variants, the Su-57 now uses "Product 180" (according to some military sources, this is the R-87). This is the most advanced hypersonic air-to-air missile with a ramjet engine (with a maximum speed of over 7,500 kilometers per hour). Furthermore, the standard R-37M missile (item 610M) does not fit into the Su-57's internal weapons bay, necessitating the development of a highly upgraded variant , referred to in Russian military sources as the R-97 (or item 810). This missile is also hypersonic (with a maximum speed of almost 10,000 kilometers per hour) and a maximum range of approximately 450 kilometers. Thus, the Su-57 has effectively become an " invisible S-400 missile." The smaller R-87 missile has a range of approximately 200-250 kilometers, which is unprecedented for this class of compact air-to-air missiles. The R-37M itself has several important achievements in Ukraine, shooting down enemy aircraft at a range of over 217 kilometers. This is an absolute world record. But it appears that this record has also been broken, as the rocket has covered a distance of 300 kilometers.
The Su-57M's debut in operational service occurred against the backdrop of Russia's ongoing military operations in Ukraine. In July 2024, Russia's United Aircraft Corporation unofficially confirmed the frontline deployment of the upgraded Su-57M variant to Ukraine. By August 2025, reports from Ukrainian military observers indicated that Russia had significantly expanded the Su-57's operational use, with the aircraft flying in multi-aircraft formations, providing cover with long-range missiles while other aircraft conducted precision strikes using cruise missiles or guided bombs. In October 2024, a Su-57 was involved in a notable incident when it escorted and subsequently destroyed a malfunctioning S-70 Okhotnik heavy strike drone prototype following an emergency protocol, demonstrating Moscow's willingness to blend its newest manned and unmanned systems in combat conditions.
Russian officials indicated that all future Su-57 fighters delivered to the Russian Aerospace Forces would be powered by the Stage 2 Izdeliye 30 engines, though there were no plans to retrofit earlier airframes with the new powerplants due to cost and operational considerations. The conflict in Ukraine effectively served as a live testing ground for the platform, allowing Russia to refine tactics, validate weapons integration, and gather combat data that had eluded the program during its prolonged development phase.
The Su-57M's export prospects showed some promise despite production constraints and Western sanctions. At the November 2024 Airsho
w China in Zhuhai, Russia's Rosoboronexport announced it had secured its first international buyer for the Su-57E export variant, and Algeria confirmed acquisition of an initial batch of six aircraft in February 2025. At Aero India 2025, Russia offered India co-production arrangements leveraging existing Su-30MKI infrastructure, though India's focus on its indigenous Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft program made acceptance unlikely. With estimated unit costs around fifty million dollars, significantly lower than the F-35's approximately 110 million dollars, the Su-57M remained attractive to nations seeking advanced capabilities on constrained budgets.
The Su-57M represented Russia's determination to field a genuine fifth-generation fighter despite the program's troubled history, production delays, and technological challenges. The integration of the AL-51F-1 engine, advanced avionics with artificial intelligence assistance, enhanced stealth characteristics, and proven combat deployment marked a significant maturation of the platform. Whether these improvements would prove sufficient to overcome the Su-57's limited production numbers, export market skepticism, and competition from more established Western and Chinese fifth-generation fighters remained an open question as the program continued to evolve through the mid-2020s.
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