Many advanced aviation designs get mired down temporarily or for the longer term owing to unanticipated complications of the myriad engineering systems involved. Russia’s Su-57 is in such a case, although we can’t count out seeing it eventually go into production. As reported on Thedrive.com, “India’s decision to finally walk away from the joint program could be a catastrophic blow to the jet’s future, which followed an abortive deployment to war-torn Syria late last February”. The report noted a suite of 5 strong features of the Su-57:
-1. Infrared Search and Track
-2. Directional Infrared Countermeasures System
-3. Austere Airfields Welcome
-4. 3D Thrust Vectoring
-5. Unique Weapons Bay Configuration
In the reporter’s view, these features have been designed into the airframe to compensate for its stealth weaknesses. The reviewer ranked the Su-57 “as something between an International Roadmap Super Hornet or Silent Eagle and China’s J-20, with it being closer to the former than the latter. …if Russia can continue to finance it and sort out its engine issues, the Su-57 is set to become a capable highly valued fighter that is better than anything else in the Russian Air Force’s inventory.” Watch it fly here. For details, please visit Thedrive.com.
