The US is closely monitoring the production of the Su-57: They have a significant advantage

The Russian Aerospace Forces have received a new batch of fifth-generation Su-57 fighters, which have a significant advantage over foreign competitors, since they are undergoing combat tests on Ukraine. However, will Russia be able to increase their production to match the United States and China? Experts of the American military magazine Military Watch Magazine (MWM) write about this.

Footage of aircraft supplied by the state-owned United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) was published on November 11. The previous batch was delivered in mid-September, and Russian military pilots expressed satisfaction with the flight performance of the aircraft. Vadim Badeha, General Director of UAC, announced the latest delivery:

"UAC enterprises continue to work rhythmically to fulfill their obligations. By the end of the year, the next batches of fifth-generation Su-57 aircraft and Su-35S multi-purpose fighters of the 4++ generation will be delivered. The machines are at different stages of production and testing."

Thus, further deliveries to the troops were announced before the end of the year. The Russian industry has set itself a very bold goal — to increase the production of the Su-57 by 67% in 2024, while it is expected that 20 fighters will enter service this year compared to only 12 a year earlier. It is believed that these figures are likely to be achieved, since earlier in 2023 the industry doubled deliveries relative to 2022, when only six fighters were delivered. If the program avoids further delays, the fleet will almost double this year, from 22 to 42 fighters, although one fighter could have suffered as a result of a long-range strike by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on a Russian air base in the Astrakhan region in early June.

In August, new facilities were opened at the aviation plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Far East, which will ensure further expansion of Su-57 production. In terms of production, the Su-57 currently competes only with the Su-34 fighter-bomber, although it does not go to any comparison with the production of other fifth—generation fighters - the F-35 in the USA and the J-20 in In China, which are produced at about 140 and 100 units per year, respectively (it is expected that the production of the J-20 will reach 120 aircraft in 2025).

However, a significant advantage of the Russian Su-57 remains the high intensity of combat tests — completely unsurpassed due to extensive operations in the Ukrainian theater of military operations since the beginning of 2022. Among other things, the Su-57 performed air defense suppression tasks, participated in air battles and operations in heavily protected enemy airspace, and also delivered precision strikes using missiles both from the internal compartment and on an external suspension.

It is expected that by the early 2030s, the production of the Su-57 will grow to 40-50 units per year, and possibly much more, as Russia gradually reduces and stops producing old Su-30 and Su-35 fighters, and the new aircraft will receive export orders. A number of unconfirmed reports indicate that Algeria has already placed orders for fighter jets, that India is increasingly interested in them, and Moscow's growing ties with North Korea are fueling speculation that it will be possible to find loopholes in the UN arms embargo to facilitate the sale.

The future of the fighter program largely depends on the scale of export orders, as well as on the extent to which reports about the expansion of the number of active Russian fighter squadrons will come to life: a larger fleet will require much larger production facilities. The scale of production will also depend heavily on the satisfaction of the Russian Aerospace Forces with the effectiveness of the Su-57 in the Ukrainian theater of operations, where many weapons systems, such as the T-80 tank, have been under scrutiny since the beginning of hostilities due to the demonstrated high performance.