Russia Unveils New Fighter at Moscow Airshow — Su-75 ‘Checkmate’

It Does Look Great…

And while Slyusar speaks about few particulars which were already more or less known or anticipated (in Russian).

The most important part, apart from a killer price and impressive performance, is this, captured in this photo, feature of ease of maintenance in severe (a euphemism) environment. That is huge and Soviet/Russian combat aircraft were never known to be “hangar queens”.

This “checkmate” or, if you wish, Su-75 is not a hangar queen and is designed for battle and, in the end, it is Su-57 Lite and a platform (I stress it–platform) which gives birth to very many other variants of this aircraft. Do not also forget, that Su-57 will also be offered for export.

UPDATE: full presentation and yes, it has it all: supercruise, super-maneuverability, AESA, AI elements, full netcentricity, drones’ control, etc. All included.

This is an awesome machine. Here is full Rostec (UAC) video (in Russian).

They also answer questions.

Source: Reminiscence of the Future


Two Things To Remember Before…

…arguably the most important event in combat aerospace this year. I am talking, of course, about the unveiling of this Russia’s “mysterious” single-engine fighter which is few hours away. Since this (or parallel) question popped up on this blog, when I was reacting to the article in Drive, I need to make some clarification.

1. Whatever the aircraft will be unveiled tomorrow (for some–today) at MAKS-2021, this aircraft will be primarily the result of a very long discussion in Russia re: single-engine fighter. Russians always admired USAF F-16 which is still in service, albeit is nearing obsolescence. Russia’s last single-engine fighter was MiG-23 Flogger which got a bad rap in the West but was loved by Soviet pilots. “Checkmate” moniker refers primarily to F-35 and not to some “future” aircraft from South Korea, China or Turkey. South Korean and Turkish aircraft cannot be “responded to” because they do not exists as viable aircraft yet. China has a single-engine aircraft but it is not a “fifth generation” fighter. The new Russian aircraft will be eventually driven by brand-new Item (Izdelie) 30 engine which will increase its performance and the Checkmate in this case is addressed to the USAF F-35 namely in combat performance. Especially, since rumor has it, it is a platform which has a lot in common with SU-57 and thus is easier manufactured in large numbers.

2. Russia seldom creates something special purely for export, those are always degraded (aka monkey models) variants of Russia’s technology for domestic use, but better performance (almost guaranteed) by this fighter, with dramatically lower price (100% so) and no strings attached (146%) when compared with F-35, definitely creates a new reality for F-35 as an export item. So, that means that the aircraft we may see tomorrow will be primarily for Russia’s VKS, with its “simplified” version for export.

There WILL BE a copious amount of butt-hurt tomorrow, but that is expected. It is something like John Kirby’s response to the issue of Russia’s yet another successful test of 3M22 Zircon yesterday. As Kirby stated at Pentagon’s briefing, it is a threat because Russians can stick a nuclear warhead on Zircon, while the United States doesn’t develop such systems. There is a lot to be said about it, but, hey, that’s your media (a euphemism for BS) battlefront today. Admiral Gorshkov however, successfully launched one and couple-three minutes later it struck the target 350+ kilometers away, averaging M=7 during the flight.

State test (which are final acceptance tests) for 3M22 are planned for August. So, tick-tock, tick-tock….

Source: Reminiscence of the Future

16 Comments
  1. ken says

    A beautiful plane. Those Russian engineers are definitely first class. Russia obviously hasn’t gotten around to cancelling math and physics in their education system yet.

    1. XSFRGR says

      Russian still teaches math, and physics because Russia doesn’t have the Black Factor.

    2. Jim Richardson says

      They can be grateful that Critical Race Theory is not a part of their curriculum and in Russia 2 plus 2 DOES equal 4 unlike America where you can “think outside the box” if you
      don’t know the answer

      1. Jays says

        Critical race theory is being pushed in Russia by NGOs

  2. Ultrafart the Brave says

    Lots of hype in the big PR unveiling, but the real McCoy is still a few years off yet.

    If Sukhoi’s track record is anything to go by, the name chosen for this project will most likely be borne out in future conflicts.

  3. Raptar Driver says

    I’m not sure if there is a need for a single engine fighter in the future.

    1. Rightiswrong says

      Tell that to the bean counters. The US has sold more old F16s than Russia will ever sell Su30, 34 and 35.
      It’s about time Russia threw a spanner in those workings, and deprive Uncle Shmuel of the income they get from selling to the majority of small nations who couldn’t afford to run a twin engine design,. There’s no point worrying about the range of an aircraft when your nation is the size of Holland or Iraq. The rifle has been about for centuries, but still they produce handguns and knives.

      1. Raptar Driver says

        I agree that it could be used for export.
        For guns I would rather have a semi automatic than a muzzle loader.

  4. Robert I Bruce says

    They really need to quit with these high profile “unveilings”, as it takes forever for them to actually produce even a few squadrons of these planes. Also, why choose to voluntarily show your hand.

    1. Robert the Bruce says

      It makes the US spend more money it doesn’t have. Just another way to win.

  5. yuri says

    Russian planes already preferred by many nations despite threats by USA to sanction etc—the desperate empire whimpers….India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, former Soviet republics, Serbia, Algeria are only a few

  6. Rightiswrong says

    The difference between the F35 and this aircraft is obvious.

    One looks a right fat b’stard, the other looks like it only ever ate energy bars, lol.

  7. XSFRGR says

    In talking to a fellow engineer in Russia I asked how they were able to advance their designs so rapidly? He replied, “We celebrate failure.” I asked him to explain, and he said that whenever they were looking at a serious problem with a design they let everyone know, and then everyone was working on it, and they usually came up with a solution.

    I promptly emailed him the seven phases of an American project:

    1. Enthusiasm
    2. Disillusionment
    3. Panic
    4. Search for the guilty
    5. Punishment of the innocent
    6. Awards for the non-participants
    7. Over billing the client

    Alex M. is still laughing !!

  8. kkk says

    Looks like a piece of garbage

    1. yuri says

      “nothing can thrive in Amerika unless inflated by hyperbole and gilded with a fine coat of fraud. amerikans cannot think except by means of slogans–they identify garbage as quality. the stupidity and ignorance of amerikans has long been a topic of hilarity in Europe”. Paul Fussell

  9. Pablo says

    You can not, imho have a sharper contrast. The SU-57 versus the F-35. The SU 57 is a high tech, State of the Art warplane. The F-35 is a alleged warplane that has had serious development issues from the beginning. Redesigns. Rebuilds. The scrapping of various systems within the F-35. Never ending cost over runs. All of which have incurred enormous cost to fix. Of course the F-35 is designed exactly as its “Planners” designed it. Maximized profiteering was and is the goal of the F-35. costs be damned and the Pentagon really doesn’t care if the plane ever takes to the skies. The Russians do NOT have similar issues with their high tech weaponry.

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Anti-Empire