The Russian air force will arm its Su-57 stealth fighter with a hypersonic missile as per news
in the state media.
An unnamed official told TASS, “In accordance with Russia’s State Armament Program for
2018 to 2027, Su-57 jet fighters will be equipped with hypersonic missiles”
As per reports, the hypersonic missile arming the Su 57 will be a variant of Kinzhal air-to-surface
missiles.
In this video Defense Updates, analyzes why Hypersonic missile won’t be able to save Russian Su 57 fighter ?
Let's get started
The Kinzhal or Dagger was one of the weapons the Russian president Vladimir Putin unveiled
in his 'state of the nation' address earlier this year.
An animated video that played during Putin’s speech showed the missile being launched from
a MiG-31.
The video depicted the missile striking what seemed like an American warship.
A few days after Putin’s speech, the Russian defense ministry stated that the Kinzhal missile
was launched from a MiG-31 aircraft that took off from an airfield in south-western Russia.
As per it, “The launch went according to plan: the hypersonic missile hit its target."
A footage was released showing two pilots running towards a MiG-31 carrying Kinzhal
missile.
The footage further shows the missile being launched and flying towards a target.
Kinzhal reportedly has a range of approximately 1,250 miles or 2000 km and a top speed Mach
10, that is more than 10 times the speed of sound.
The Sukhoi Su-57 is the 5th generation, stealthy, single-seat, twin-engine jet multirole fighter
aircraft designed for air superiority and ground attack operations.
It is the successor of Su 35 and Russia’s answer to American F 35 Lightning II and F
22 Raptor.
Its prototype first flew on 29 January 2010 and recently it has seen limited operational
deployment in Syria.
Russian air-force has ordered 22 of these for its own use.
The MiG-31 carries a single Kinzhal , hooked from external hard-point.
The Su-57’s stealth profile calls for the weapons to be carried internally.
The fighter has weapons bay for this purpose but those are too small for Kinzhal.
Hence, a modified smaller variant of the Kinzhal missile will have to be designed for the Su 57.
There are 2 major problems in the path:
Firstly, earlier this year it came to light that the Su 57 will not see serial production
anytime soon.
Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister, Yuri Borisov during an interview with the state-owned Russia
24 television network on July 2, 2018, defending the move had said,
"You know that today the Su-57 is considered d to be one of the best aircraft produced
in the world.
Consequently, it does not make sense to speed up work on mass-producing the fifth-generation
aircraft.”
He was implying that the MIG 29 Fulcrum and Su-35S Flanker-E, are more than capable of
fulfilling Russia's air combat needs.
While the assertion may be true to an extent there are many other reasons for this.
This includes budget constraints and issues in developing an engine suitable for 5th generation
fighter.
The Su 57 also lacks a fully capable avionics suite.
It must be noted here that the Russian Su 57 program had active backing of India.
India wanted a customized variant of Su 57 for its air force and had put in significant
funding.
India had plans to acquire around 150 of these jets.
In April 2018, India pulled out of the project.
India had reservations about the engine as well as stealth performance.
The Su 57 still needs a significant amount of work and will be available only in limited
numbers.
The second issue is reducing the size of Kinzhal to accommodate it inside Su 57 weapons bay.
Kinzhal is large for a reason.
The large size enables it to have a powerful rocket booster and a decent amount of fuel
that enables it to reach hypersonic speed and have a long range.
If the size is shrunk, the missile will have to a smaller booster and less fuel.
This in all probability will reduce its speed and range negating the main advantages of the missile.