Russian officials have stated that Russia’s most advanced fighter jet Sukhoi Su 57 has
crashed during a training flight.
As per reports, the pilot safely ejected and there was no damage on the ground.
Russia's United Aircraft Corporation said in a statement on December 24, the Su-57 came
down near Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the country’s Far East.
The crash is the first loss of an Su-57.
The news comes as just after the reports of Tupolev Tu-22m3 backfire bomber's crash.
To know more about that, viewers can check the video on the above card.
The cause of the Su 57 crash is currently not clear.
Russia's TASS news agency quoted unnamed sources in the defense industry as saying that “according
to preliminary information, the crash was caused by a technical failure of the aircraft
control system.”
In this video discusses Defense Updates why Russia’s Sukhoi Su 57 crash is only the
tip of the iceberg when it comes to the problems of the fighter jet?
Let’s get started
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The Sukhoi Su-57 is a 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.
Although most information is classified, sources within the Sukhoi company and Defense Ministry
have openly stated that the aircraft is stealthy, super maneuverable, have supercruise capability,
incorporate substantial amounts of composite materials, and possess advanced avionics such
as active phased array radar and sensor fusion.
A prototype first flew on 29 January 2010 and this is the first time the fighter has
been deployed.
Last year Su-57 fighters in batches of 2 each were seen at Syria’s Hmeymim Airbase and
they engaged in limited combat missions.
The Su-57 is the first operational aircraft in Russian Air Force service to use stealth
technology.
Similar to F-22, the airframe incorporates design elements that reduce Radar Cross Section
(RCS) of the jet
Weapons are carried internally in weapons bays within the airframe and antennas are
recessed from the surface of the skin to preserve the aircraft’s stealthy shape.
Also, Radar Absorbent Material (RAM) has been used to reduce its radar returns.
Su 57 is designed to have extreme maneuverability at both supersonic and subsonic speeds, this
can provide it with a brutal advantage in dogfights & help it defeat missile with extreme
evasive maneuvers instead of entirely relying on stealth.
It is the first fighter jet to utilize 3D thrust vectoring.
This enables engine thrust to be pointed in different directions, providing increased
pitch, roll, and yaw control.
American F-22 Raptor also utilized thrust-vectoring, but it is only two-dimensional (up and down,
for pitch control)
Supercruise is the ability to sustain supersonic flight without using fuel-inefficient afterburners.
Su 57 is thought to be capable of reaching speeds up to Mach 2 without an afterburner.
Su 57 has N036 Belka radar system that consists of a main nose-mounted X-band AESA radar,
two smaller X-band AESA radars mounted on the sides of the forward fuselage and 2 L-band
arrays on the wing’s leading edge extensions.
This provides Su 57 with 360-degree coverage.
It also houses an Infrared Search And Track (IRST) sensor at the base of its windscreen,
providing it with another option with which to detect enemy aircraft apart from the Belka
radar system.
IRST sensors can track an aircraft by its Infrared signatures.
In this regard, it is well ahead of F 22 Raptor which has 1 AESA radar and no IRST sensor.
So, on paper, the fighter looks promising but things have not gone as per plan.
Russian president Mr. Putin had earlier revealed that a procurement plan is being laid out
for acquiring 76 Su-57.
The announcement was made during a meeting on May 15, 2019.
These jets are expected to be deployed by 2028.
The Kremlin previously planned to have 150 of these aircraft in service by 2020.
This announcement had thrown more questions than answers related to budgeting.
As per some reports in Kommersant newspaper in Russia, the unexpectedly high numbers of
the order has been possible because of reduction in cost made possible due to some change in
aircraft’s internal layout, improvements to the production process and capping of the
profit margin for defense procurement program to a maximum of 5%.
According to President Putin, the program will cost around $2.63 billion.
If we calculate that 76 will be brought, it comes out to be $34 million per jet.
This figure is insanely low, even the Sukhoi Su-30 variants sold to China & India in 2000
were priced at $53 million per jet.
Also, Mr. Putin seemed to suggest in his comments at the meeting that the price reductions would
make the order for 76 Su-57 costs the same as the previously planned purchase of just
16 aircraft.
It is difficult to understand how it could be possible to acquire nearly 5 times as many
planes for the same price with just a 20 % decrease in per unit cost.
Overall there seems to be something amiss.
Viewers may note that the Su 57 program had the backing of India.
India was looking for a customized variant of Su 57 for its air force and had put in
significant funding.
India wanted to acquire around 150 jets.
In April 2018, India pulled out of the project.
The main reasons were engine issues and unconvincing stealth characteristics.
Sukhoi originally planned to use an advanced derivative of the Saturn AL-31F engine, found
on its Flankers, for the Su-57.
Su 57 was supposed to have new AL-41F-1 engine.
But the AL-41F-1 engine ran into technical difficulty and didn’t match the required
performance criteria.
Saturn, the manufacturer is working on a new and more powerful design, known as the Izdeliye
30 or Product 30.
But even this has been facing developmental challenges and may be available for testing
at some time in the 2020s.
As reported in Indian media, Indian experts were of the view that the aircraft’s stealth
characteristics could not be improved significantly even with future modifications since it was
flawed at many basic levels.
Though exact details regarding this are not available but 2 basic observations have been
pointed out by several military analysts.
1.
Su 57 is not precision engineered like F 22 Raptor.
For example, there is a lot of gap between flaps as well as between the rear vertical
tail and the fuselage.
This is probably because Russia doesn't have the machining technology to engineer seamless
surfaces.
This heavily compromises stealth.
2.
Su 57 also has rivets on the outer surface.
For example, the nose is bolted on the main body with rivets sticking out.
This kind of unevenness drastically affects the stealth profile.
Just around a year back Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister, Yuri Borisov had said that
Su 57 will not be serial produced anytime soon.
Mr. Borisov during an interview with the state-owned Russia 24 television network on July 2, 2018,
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.
The official statements from Russian officials in 2018 indicated that cost was the driving
factor for deferring production Su 57 in favor of the latest models of existing 4th generation
fighters like Su 35.
It is unclear what has changed in a year and if Russia is trying to rush into production
a product which is not actually ready Significant questions also remain as to how
capable of the Su 57 will actually be given its lingering issues and Russia's ability
to serially produce 76 jets around in 8 years.
The fact remains that even if Russia acquires the 76 Su 57 by 2028, it will be less than
half of F 22 Raptors the U.S currently has and will also be much less than F 35s that
will be acquired in the meantime.