MWM: Russia is rapidly increasing production of the latest fighters

The Russian Air Force has received new batches of fifth-generation Su-57 fighters and Su-34 strike fighters. Experts of the American military magazine Military Watch Magazine (MWM) write about this, talking about the capabilities of these aircraft. The translation of the material publishes Pravda.Ru .

On December 23, it was announced the delivery of new batches of fifth-generation Su-57 fighters and Su-34 strike fighters to the Russian Air Force by the state-owned United Aircraft Corporation (UAC). It followed the delivery of previous batches of Su-57 fighters in mid-November and mid-September. Previous batches of Su-34 fighters were received in April, June, September, October and November. These two aircraft are produced at a higher rate than the other three serial fighters of Russia — Su-30, Su-35 and MiG-29M/35, while the order to increase the production of the Su-34 was given by the Russian Ministry of Defense in October 2023.

The Russian industry has also set itself a very ambitious goal to increase production of the Su-57 by 67% by 2024, while it is expected that 20 fighters will enter service this year, compared with only 12 fighters in 2023 and only six fighters in 2022. This will almost double the size of the fleet — from 22 to 42 fighters. The volume of the two confirmed batches of Su-57s has not been disclosed, and it remains unclear how close the Russian industry has come to achieving production goals.

To ensure the expanded production of the Su-57 at the aviation plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Russian Far East, new production facilities were opened in August, although it is believed that they are unlikely to contribute to the expansion of production in 2024. It remains unclear what scale the production of the fighter will reach, since it largely depends on both foreign orders and the success of the development of the competing fifth-generation light fighter C-75.

For example, in the previous issue of the Su-30, the vast majority of aircraft were built by order of foreign customers, and not for the Russian Armed Forces. Although the direct predecessor of the Su-57 of the fourth generation — the Su-27 was produced in In the Soviet Union in the amount of more than 100 units per year, this aircraft was not only much cheaper to produce, but was created when the USSR had a much larger defense budget and a much larger air Force to accommodate new aircraft.

However, since these production rates are maintained solely to meet domestic demand, the large orders that are expected for the Su-57 from customers such as India and Algeria may contribute to an increase in production of up to 40 aircraft per year in the early 2030s.