AIN Online:
The Russian defense ministry has ordered 12 new production Sukhoi Su-57 fifth-generation fighters and confirmed next year as the target date for entry-into-service. First flown eight years ago, 10 prototypes of the Su-57 have flown to date, and two of these may also join the first squadron.
One of the prototypes has been flying with new “Item 30” engines since last December, but the initial production aircraft will retain the less advanced AL-41F-1 turbofans. Yuri Slyusar, president of United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), has said that if flight tests of the Item 30 engines go as planned, they will be installed on production Su-57s starting in 2023-2025.
Inspecting Sukhoi’s KnAAPO factory in Komsomolsk-upon-Amur in late June, deputy minister Aleksei Krivoruchko told journalists that the Su-57 prototypes had “demonstrated full compliance to the customer’s specification” during flight trials and the overseas deployment in Syria last February.
