Putin Announces Contract to Build 76 5th Gen Su-57 Fighters

Two days ago Putin took a highly publicized trip to a military proving ground escorted by six of the existing 10 pre-serial Su-57s fighters.

As soon as he came back and saw Pompeo off, he announced the fighter will be produced serially. He announced a contract will be signed soon to build 76 machines by 2028.

Putin noted that up until now the manufacturer had an order for just 16 of these planes. What made the increase in the number of planes possible, according to Putin is that the government and the manufacturer negotiated a 20% reduction in price per machine:

This will be Russia’s first wholly new combat aircraft of the post-Soviet era. Putin himself pointed out “we haven’t done anything like this new platform in the last 40 years”:

“Multipurpose fighters Su-35S and Su-57 are in the final phase of state testing. These aircraft have unique characteristics and are the best in the world. It’s essential to fully rearm three Aerospace Forces regiments with the future aviation system fifth generation Su-57.”

“At the range yesterday the Minister [of Defense Shoigu] and I talked about this. Under the arms program to 2027 it’s planned to buy 16 of such aircraft. We analyzed the situation yesterday, the Minister reported. As a result of the work we did, as a result of the fact that we agreed with industry, — industry has practically reduced the cost of the aircraft and weapons by 20 percent, — we can buy many more of these combat aircraft of this class, of this, essentially, new generation. We agreed that we will buy over that time period 76 of such airplanes without increasing the cost. We have to say that in such volume, but the volume isn’t even the thing, the thing is we haven’t done anything like this new platform in the last 40 years. I hope the corrected plans will be fulfilled. And we’ll soon complete the contract for the systematic delivery of 76 of these fighters equipped with modern aviation weapons and the essential supporting ground infrastructure.”

76 machines isn’t a big number if we’re talking WWII production runs, but on the other hand the US itself only has 187 F-22s and Russia isn’t looking to dominate skies all over the world, just its own,

However if the plan is really to be fullfilled by 2028 the industry has to hurry and deliver the Izdeliye-30 engine that design calls for soon. The pre-serial machines are powered by the less powerful AL-41 engine which powers the Su-35.