Meet the SU-57 and National Interest is wrong...our pilots should be very afraid!

Thanks to T Rob for the link!

via National Interest.

Initially, Moscow will only buy 12 Su-57 aircraft, which are expected to be delivered in 2019. Indeed, the Russian air force is not likely to buy more than 60 of the initial version of the Su-57 in total.

“In 2019, we should begin the delivery of a pre-production batch of [T-50] planes,” United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) chief Yuri Slyusar told the TASS news agency.

One of the reasons the Russians are less than enthused at buying the initial version of the Su-57 is because the stealth fighter is currently powered by interim Saturn AL-41F1 afterburning turbofans producing 32,500lbs thrust each. That is the same engine as the existing Su-35S Flanker-E, which uses many of the same systems that the Su-57 will.

Indeed, with exception of stealth, the new Flanker offers much of the same capabilities as the new fifth-generation fighter. Thus, the Russians are unwilling to spend money on a system that offers only a marginal increase in performance in their view.

“Su-35 fighters of the 4+ generation, according to military pilots, demonstrated very good characteristics,” Russian deputy defense minister Yuri Borisov said according to the Russian media.

The Russians intend to buy more of the second, improved version of the Su-57, which will feature a new engine and other enhancements. The Russians are continuing to develop the next-generation Saturn izdeliye 30 engines for the T-50. There are few details available about the izdeliye 30 engines, but the new powerplant is expected to deliver 24,054lbs dry thrust and 39,566lbs of afterburning thrust.

Story here.  

Yahoo's link to the story in which they posted the "Russian fighter might be a waste of time" meme is what caused my title is here.

I want the US military to be the undisputed greatest on the face of the earth.  I want our pilots to enter battle without a single doubt regarding the outcome.  My desire is that when enemy pilots face the US they know that their mothers will be mourning their deaths in a few minutes and that their country will lose air superiority...no matter where we're fighting them!

Having said that this SU-57 program should be concerning on a couple of levels.

First, it appears that the Russians have done an analysis on the F-35 and aren't worried one bit.  I'd take that even further and state that it appears that they believe the SU-35 will be more than a match for it.  From my chair it appears that they believe that the SU-35 will beat the F-35 in any conceivable match up and there is no rush to get an advanced airplane into the sky.

Only God knows what the Chinese are thinking but the J-31 is moving along at a leisurely pace, the J-20 is zooming ahead ( probably with the mission of destroying our Tankers, AWACs and hazarding our shipping) while the J-10 and J-11 are forming the backbone of their forces.

Second, the Russians are proceeding in an orderly fashion.  They aren't pushing ahead to rush the plane into service.  We're seeing a normal development pattern and not the idiocy that accompanies the F-35.  No concurrency, no buy of the planes too early, no declaration of an IOC that even an armchair commentator knows was bullshit and no outrageous prices will be tolerated.

Our pilots should be afraid.

They're gonna enter combat in an airplane that is optimized to be a midlevel bomber for wars against terrorist is somehow morphing into a do it all fighter that it was never meant to be.  If supporters can get past the general worship and off their knees pleasuring the pilots of the plane then they could see the truth.

Western air power is in jeopardy.