by Pepe Escobar with permission and first posted at Asia Times
The annual MAKS aerospace show kicked off its 2021 installment at Zhukovsky Airport outside Moscow – not with a bang, but with multiple bangs.
MAKS – whose name is an acronym for the Russian mouthful Mezhdunarodnyj aviatsionno-kosmiches, literally international aviation and space show – is famous for showing off the latest hits in aerospace and defense technology from major Russian and foreign companies.
The lands of Islam would not have failed to notice that President Vladimir Putin’s welcoming address fell exactly on Eid al-Adha – and the president made sure to note, in a nod to ethnic integration, that 20% of Russian aviation industry employees are Muslims.
The undisputed star of MAKS 2021 was Checkmate, concisely described by military analyst Oleg Panteleev as a single-engine, 5G light tactical fighter – and teased before the official presentation with a slick, Hollywood-style ad tailored for global customers (UAE, India, Vietnam, Argentina).
Checkmate is already being hailed across the Global South as the new epitome of lethal beauty – like the aerial equivalent of a pair of Louboutin pumps. It will probably be known by the less sexy denomination Su-75: after all, Checkmate belongs to the Sukhoi family.
The CEO of Rostec’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Yuri Slyusar, says that production of Checkmate will start in 2026, after a series of complex tests.
Here is Rostec’s full presentation (in Russian), where we learn that Checkmate “can carry up to five air-to-air missiles of various ranges in its top version,” including the entire spectrum of 5G missiles.
This means that Checkmate can carry all weapons deployed by the Su-57 jet fighter – another star of MAKS 2021. Slyusar explained that Checkmate’s design was based on the Su-57.
The Sukhoi Su-57 – which made an exhibition flight at MAKS – is a fifth-generation multi-role fighter conceived to raise hell against all types of air, ground and naval targets.
The Su-57 features stealth technology utilizing a vast array of composite materials; reaches supersonic cruising speed; and comes with a very powerful onboard computer – described as an “electronic second pilot” – and a radar system spread across its body.
Weapons export firm Rosoboronexport, via its CEO Alexander Mikheyev, says five nations are already interested in buying the Su-57.
No hangar queen
Yet the first day at MAKS was all about Checkmate. Military analyst Andrei Martyanov, in his inimitable style, summed it all up: “This Checkmate or, if you wish, Su-75 is not a hangar queen and is designed for battle and, in the end, it is Su-57 Lite and a platform (I stress it – platform) which gives birth to very many other variants of this aircraft. Do not also forget that Su-57 will also be offered for export.”
Checkmate, according to chief designer Mikhail Strelets, essentially has a single engine with a deflected thrust vector; goes supersonic for a long time; and has a shortened take-off and landing compared with the Su-57. The West will be uncomfortable when it comes to further comparisons between Checkmate’s efficiency and that of the not exactly brilliant F-35.
Some of Checkmate’s most important features, according to UAC, include: flying at high altitude in all kinds of weather; modularity; simplified maintenance and operations; post-sale support; “good transportation capability” (range and endurance); “AI support for combat missions”; “low flight hour cost and large payload”; and, most important of all for international clients, good value for money.
Oh yes: there will be an unmanned “variant.” UAC is already working on it.
In parallel to MAKS, the Russians also conducted another test of the S-500 “Prometheus” missile system, which for all practical purposes is beyond any competition in terms of intercepting the whole range of current – and even future – air and space attack at top altitudes and speeds.
For years, Martyanov has been writing in detail about the whole process in his books and articles.
Quantum Bird, a top physicist from the CERN in Geneva, tells me that “with Prometheus getting online, NATO gets the worst-case scenario vis-a-vis Russia: NATO attacking missiles getting intercepted even before leaving their territory, with Russia’s retaliatory response getting there before or together with the interceptors. Prometheus can also handle inconvenient low-orbit spy satellites NATO likes to fly over Russia.”
One day before the start of MAKS, Russia also test-fired the Tsirkon hypersonic missile, launched from the frigate Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov in the White Sea, at Mach 7, against a ground target 350 km away in the coast of the Barents Sea. The Russian Defense Ministry said the missile hit “a bullseye.” Tsirkon hypersonic missiles will be equipping Russian submarines and warships.
For denizens of America’s Thinktankland, already losing sleep over Su-35s, S-400 missile systems and silent submarines, what the future is bringing is extra insomnia over hypersonic missiles, the S-500 Prometheus and an array of early warning systems and radars.
Russia spends on its military industry roughly 12 cents for every dollar the US spends. The practical result is that the Beltway is consistently out-planned, out-designed and out-gunned.
Nice! Another nail in the coffin of the US MIC, and thus the AZN Empire. Cut off foreign arms sales – one of their few truly profitable industries left these days – and the hegemon moves one major step closer to insolvency, irrelevancy, and inevitably, dissolution.
”Cut off foreign arms sales – one of their few truly profitable industries left these days”
Well, the Pindos will always have a customer of infallible loyalty, motivated primarily by ideology: Gównopolska. There is considerable substance indeed to American Polish jokes.
LOL! There’s just no fixing stupid.
Disaffected
What is interesting here is that the Russian Military Budget is smaller than the American one, yet it can produce such advanced high tech. What this means is that Russia gets more for less money spent while the US gets less for more money spent. The corruption in the US Military Industrial Complex must be immense.
Leo,
Mind boggling, isn’t it? Just imagine what good all that money could have done had it just been invested honestly. Money for the military with $Billions left over for actual productive uses. Having been associated with the MIC at the grassroots level for most of my career, I can certainly attest to the truth of your statement. In the USAF we used to carp at the guys constantly about pinching pennies on personal protective equipment, tools, and the like, while the graft and waste at the systems procurement levels was literally off the charts and largely unauditable. As far as I know, the services have never been successfully audited since it was first attempted beck in the early 2000’s. Black Ops budgets alone pretty much ensure that will never happen.
The biggest part of US spending is for maintenance of dozens fleets and over 800 bases. The smaller part of cash left goes to R&D and it’s obliterated by the corruption you mentioned above… That’s why the results are near zero.
Checkmate SU-57!! Wow…this super techno DJ presentation is really on the ball..
Beautiful aircraft!!
Youtube translations in English at
https://downsub.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Du5T3Cxi7tTo%26t%3D4s..
Some proof reading needed here and/or AI translation systems!!! Marketing Jingoism is a headache!!
Sadly for VVP opening speech – the RT interpreter starts with *aviation* and then referred to** interesting aerobics** program is presented to the viewers!!!
Hope MAKS exhibitors get large and firm orders for all products..
Too bad that that some Ukranian aviation experts are crawling up Erdogan*s backside – I like to think that the best of them hopped over to Russia 6 years ago.
Chinese aviation is also making interesting breakthroughs – including new highly advanced fabrication techniques for high performance-speed interceptor/fighter engines.
Apparently, China plans a total of 7 aircraft carriers for 2025..interesting to see which jets, drones and helicopters will be on those flight decks..
Jolly good – that will keep HMS Queen Lizzie carrier in good company – providing she is not again being refitted and repaired!!
And the 2 Japanese helicopt…. whoops – aircraft carriers plus a Korean.
Those phantom wannabe French designed Australian submarines are going to be busy— in computer games!!
Terrific!
Sadly, no peace prize to be awarded to any members of the Russian government anytime soon. Can Russia live with that?
Nussiminen
A surprising comment from you. Russia is being surrounded by NATO and you talk about peace prizes. Perhaps you should ring up Washington DC and ask them if they deserve any peace prizes.
Thought the sarcasm was obvious. I had Obama and Kissinger in mind when I wrote the concluding remark.
Nussiminen
Apologies. My mistake.
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
Quite true. Too bad it was under old Ike that the MIC first began to thrive. He could see the problem clearly, but he was either unwilling or unable to curb it in the least. And the rest, as they say, is history. One hopes that the Russians and Chinese are wise enough to avoid such foolishness once they finally put paid to the AZN Empire, but that will be a decision for future generations to make. For now, we have what we have, which is a global arms race and a perpetual warfare nightmare of biblical proportions.
All the wars of this century have bankrupted the AngloZionist Empire both financially and morally, but that was all by design. Like Netanyahu bragged in 1990, “America is a golden calf, and we will suck it dry, chop it up, and sell it off piece by piece until there is nothing left but the world’s biggest welfare state that we will create and control.” How right he was.
I wonder if they made Ike the same “offer he couldn’t refuse” as they did JFK. That would seem to be the only logical explanation for his about face. In that sense, his final public MIC speech might have been a final public warning to Kennedy as well, who he probably knew by then wouldn’t listen anyway.
I always felt that speech was really just a disclaimer. Eisenhower knew full well that he was creating a monster but pretended he didn’t want it to behave like a monster. And he pretty much said that it was up to the people to prevent it from doing so. He was off to play golf.
As shown by Shabbos Biden getting down on his knees in the White House to pay homage to his visiting Zionist masters.
Well, creepy Joe Biden might have dropped down on his knees to kiss the Ashkenazi toes, but most of America couldn’t rise off the Fentanyl floor to even get on their knees. China spent 300 years laid out in British opium war dreams. The USA is likely to spend at least 30 or so in rehab before they work out what’s going on. The Palestinian occupation programme won’t have much to call on once the Yankee $$$ tanks and China completes the Syrian reconstruction linking up their new ‘Russian protected’ Golan Heights 99-year lease ‘gift’ with Jordan and Egypt (and on to Africa).
According to Haaretz (a somewhat neutral media), bidet kneeled out of respect to rivlin’s aide who has 12 kids, from one Catholic to one Jew (of a particular sect) each of whom traditionally support large families. Without evidence to the contrary or proper perspective your comment needlessly dumbs down this site by lending itself to an “anti-semite” narrative. And believe me, I’m no fan of Mordor, i.e., israel and don’t recognize it as a legitimate nation/state.
Got a link?
Welcome to reality. He is the human being sliding down the “Gaussian bell” over and over again. We are just animals, with a long arm to adapt to the environment (technology). Our spiritual evolution is the same as it was a hundred thousand years ago?
One can also say that every gun, warship and rocket produced protects a nation from slavery at the hands of some outside, vulgar power.
Like Louis Armstrong used to sing:
What a wonderful world!
The practical result is that the Beltway is consistently out-planned, out-designed and out-gunned.
Good!
US congressional research service itself just admitted that America was way behind Russia and China in hypersonics
https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/US-hypersonic-weapons-development-lags-CRS-report
Russia is going to sell the SU-57 and SU-75 to China’s current rivals – India and Vietnam. So somehow China must exceed the technology of both the SU-57 and SU-75.
Maybe China should sell some weaponry to the Ukis just to let Russia know what it feels like to have your professing friends arming your enemies/rivals.
Perhaps you should reframe your views and see it as a regional defence against the ‘sea’ peoples (read pirates) from the west. India and Vietnam are not China’s rivals – economic competitors perhaps. Russian SU-57 and SU-75 down the east Asian coastline through Indonesia and across to India should just about put ‘little britian’ back in its “Airstrip One” role off France, and push the north Americans back to Hawaii.
OK. But the reality is that both Vietnam and India have their guns including those supplied by Russia, pointing at China.
And after the clash with India in 2020, Russia suspended the delivery of the S-400 to China.
No wonder China could well be feeling like the Serbs, the Cubans and others.
When the chips were down, where is Russia?
Simon,
Russia hasn’t reneged any agreement with India, and the S-400 will be arriving shortly as agreed upon.
Why did China purchase S-400, Su-30- 35, Migs, a defunct Aircraft carrier etc. from Russia if they are so technologically advanced ?
Imitation is the sincerest form of Flattery !
I have not said that China is “technologically advanced”. It is always relative.
I am asking where the heck is Russia when the chips are down?
And Sudhi, Russia continued delivering the S-400 to India despite the June 2020 clash. Same as in 1962 when India warred with China at the behest of the Hegemon, Kruschev then President of Russia, openly sided with India despite China being Russia’s treaty ally.
There are more incidences of Russian unreliability but I shall leave it at that.
Simon,
Aren’t both India and China part of SCO, RIC as well as BRICS, so why wouldn’t Russia continue with the delivery of S-400 to India, when the Mobile surface-to-air missile/anti-ballistic missile system has already been delivered and deployed by China.
Is it wrong on Russia’ part to provide weapon systems to both China and India, just so that they do not engage in confrontation, but agree to a stable, productive and peaceful relationship.
And that is why each of us must learn to “stand on our own feet” or self-use, in collaboration with others to develop ourselves in freedom and justice. If we have the will to be, personally or as a nation, let’s not pretend that someone else will solve our problems.
Good point. But I would expect such words from the Hegemon when it is deserting the Afghans. Not from Russia.
Vietnam is not a Chinese rival, as China has gone out to cultivate a friendship with Hanoi for awhile now.
The fun fact here is, that even without single flight hour of the “Checkmate” ….
the potential customers will become distracted from buying the over prized and unbearable (in terms of maintainance costs) F-35.
Brillant!
But now that the Talk-Talk is done – Russia has to deliver!!
Walk-Walk please from now on, my dear Russian friends ;-)
I am confident that you will get that managed, btw.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating – good old Anglo-Saxon saying. We shall see whether the actual performance of both the SU-57 and SU-75 (numerals in reverse order) is even 80% as good as that ballyhooed by the usual (Russian) hubris and hype.
@Simon Chow
I wonder if China’s much hyped J-20 and J-31 would really be of use in a real-world combat situation. After all, they haven’t even taken part in any attacks yet. In contrast, the SU-57 has seen action in Syria and is battle-tested.
As I wrote, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. It applies regardless.
But I don’t think China hyped up the J20 and J31 except against India’s French-made Rafael with which India was hyping their advantage in the Himalayas.
The rest of the info were “hyped” by the western media.
And certainly China did not hype its warplanes against any Russian planes.
The SU-57 may had been tested against stone-age opponents. But not yet tested against peer or near-peer opponents.
So it is not-yet battle- tested.
But a Russian war plane was shot down by a Turkish F-16 in 2014 in a real battlefield.
@Simon Chow
I can’t accept your claim that J-20 and J-31 wasn’t hyped by China. There are many news reports as well as videos by CGTN that promote the two aircraft. Here’s a link:
(https://www.google.com/search?q=J20+CGTN&oq=J20+CGTN&aqs=chrome..69i57.6080j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)
As for the Russian fighter that was shot down, it was a SU-24 and the one which took it down was an F-16. The SU-24 is not as advanced as the latter and it’s designed mainly for low altitude bombing. In contrast, the F-16 is a master of dogfights and the SU-24 stands no chance against an F-16. There’s a good comparison below by an ex-pilot of both F-16 and F-18.
(https://sofrep.com/fightersweep/3388/)
Your point doesn’t make sense here. Besides, I was referring to the SU 57 and you’re talking about a decades-old aircraft.
At least SU-57 has taken out stone-age targets, but the J-20 and J-31 haven’t done anything at all. Flybys inside the Taiwan airspace doesn’t count as offensive operations:))))
Swordfish, I saw the CTGN video. There was no hype. China was just describing factually to the Chinese what the J20 can do. China did not compare negatively (and hubristically) or claim superiority over other countries’ warplanes.
But Russia did so by comparing its SU-75 with Chinese warplanes. That part of the comment by Martnyanov was redacted from the article posted on this site, but included in the same article posted in Asiatimes: “Chinese aircraft will not be able to compete with Su-75 in former Soviet markets…”.
– https://asiatimes.com/2021/07/checkmate-fighter-puts-russia-ahead-of-the-game/
This sort of hubris and arrogance is likely to prove a setback to Russia.
As for the shooting down of the SU-24 you are missing a more subtle and very critical point. It’s not just the weaponry but it’s the overall strategy. I was tempted to add in the Clintonian sting as in “it’s the economy stupid”.
Putin was not aware that he was upsetting Erdogan and that Erdogan is like a Hitlerian madman, quite likely to put the whole house on the table if provoked – a mistake that should not be made at Putin’s level. Russia did not see Erdogan coming.
Historically, Russia did not see some of the worst disasters coming: Stalin was so stunned by Operation Barbarossa that he was in a prolonged deep depression while the Wehrmacht kept rolling western Russia into the dust.
Russia did not foresee the collapse of the USSR although the signs of decay were palpable (even to me back in the 1970s and 1980s).
Putin did not foresee the HMS Defender’s gambit. Was he too busy dreaming about a Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok? Talking about inviting the (Western European) wolves into the sheep pen! I put it to all that a “Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok” will mean the demise of Russia west of the Urals!
And just in case that there are any more self-deceiving hubris about Russia winning against Napoleon and Hitler Let me remind you that it was General Winter as much as the mistakes of both Napolean and Hitler that won the war against both.
Russian armed forces were no match against both Napolean and Hitler both in terms of quality and quantity. Both were too arrogantly self-assured. They started their campaign too late – on June 24 1812 and June 22 1941 respectively. They should have started their campaign latest in March of the same years. Then they would not have to face General Winter.
In fact in WW2, Russia need not fight a two-front war because Japan was so badly bogged down in China that Japan signed a non-aggression pact with Russia in April 1941 – two months before Operation Barbarossa.
As a measure of how good Russia’s forces were, please remember that in the battle of Zhenbau Island on the Ussuri River in 1969, where both sides planned in advance, Russian forces, including its latest tanks, were wiped.
In fact, Russia survived to this day solely by the grace of God and only by His grace (so do all the nations of this world).
I write thus because it is proverbially and historically proven that to be deceived by one’s own hubris or propaganda is often fatal.
Nice post. Too much biased writing on this site as of late. Turkey seems to be trying to recreate a pan Muslim Ummah that seems like it will play to NATO’s favor in the future if it pans out. Russia is going to get outflanked for sure if the “Stans” go with the Turkish flow. It all boils down to the fact that Russia seems not able to produce their new hardware at a decent rate. The SU-75 looks cool, but when and how many will Russia crank out in 2 years. War is coming, and it is coming soon!
And Swordfish, recently in a clash with a near-peer (Turkey) opponent in Libya, Russan equipment was not up to the task. The side (General Haftar) supported by Russia with Russian armaments and air-defence system was whipped soundly. The side (the formal national government of Libya) supported by Turkish armaments was victorious.
This serves as a critical warning against overly believing in Russian hype about their armaments.
That was a setup at the border, a sneak attack, not a dogfight.
@Anonymous, please refer to my post in answer to Swordfish above.
@Simon Chow
//Swordfish, I saw the CTGN video. There was no hype. China was just describing factually to the Chinese what the J20 can do. China did not compare negatively (and hubristically) or claim superiority over other countries’ warplanes.//
That’s your opinion. In the same way the Russians have the right to talk about their products. Sure you can call it ‘hubris’
//Putin was not aware that he was upsetting Erdogan and that Erdogan is like a Hitlerian madman, quite likely to put the whole house on the table if provoked – a mistake that should not be made at Putin’s level. Russia did not see Erdogan coming.//
I’m sure that Putin and the Russian strategists are aware of what Erdogan is capable of. They’re focusing on the post-Erdogan period. Are you sure that this man is going to stay for more than another 10-15 years? I doubt it.
//Putin did not foresee the HMS Defender’s gambit. Was he too busy dreaming about a Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok? Talking about inviting the (Western European) wolves into the sheep pen! I put it to all that a “Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok” will mean the demise of Russia west of the Urals!//
LOL this is ridiculous. Didn’t you read Lavrov’s open letter to westerners before the drills began, which was posted on this blog? Russia knew that all of this are related to Nordstream 2 and Russian elecitons in September, and they well prepared for that. Besides, ‘Defender’ ran away like a dog with tails between its leg when few shots were fired by the Russian Coast Guard.
//And just in case that there are any more self-deceiving hubris about Russia winning against Napoleon and Hitler Let me remind you that it was General Winter as much as the mistakes of both Napolean and Hitler that won the war against both.//
I’m willing to follow military historians and the credits they’ve given to Russia on this matter than a Russia-hater/Putin-hater on the internet. Napoleon’s army was formidable and Russians withdrew because they knew that their enemy was stronger. They came back when Napoleon’s strength was diminishing. They nearly annihilated the Grande Armee at Berezina. That’s what a sane-minded military would do. Retreat when you’re weak and attack when your enemy is weak.
The same happened in 1941. The Soviet Armed Forces were far inferior to their opponents in terms of weaponry and tactics, but after Stalingrad, they started turning the tables. I haven’t seen anyone except you claiming that the Soviet Army was able to beat the Nazis because of snow,, or because of god’s grace. No one who has a modicum of knowledge about Russian inventions such as the Deep Battle doctrine, and operations such as Operation Bargration would try to belittle what the Russians achieved in WW2.
I’m going to stop here because I don’t see that this argument brings any useful knowledge. You can go on with your usual Russia bashing, but I’m sure that neither the Russians nor Putin and the readers of this blog to the least would give a rat’s ass about some random Chinese man’s hateful comments.
You have just shown your absolute igorance,Many of your comments have some merit , But this comment is so
far off the mark its ridiculous , The Russian jet was a older model SU 27 a fighter bomber that entered Turkish air space for 30 seconds as it was making its turn to the south after making a bombing run on a I.S.I.S terrorist target
in Northern Syria, It was bush wacked by a pair of F16 and both pilots were court marshaled , Just the fact that
did not knows this just proves a troll , Simon I would suggest you look for a new job as your piss poor at your present one, Over and Out
Hardly battle tested. Dropping some ordinances without interference is not “battle” tested. When the plane goes against a near equivalent foe in a dog fight or has to dodge ground/air to air incoming missiles then it’s battle tested. It’s a minimum prerequisite for a plane to fly to be called a plane
Yeah, like how the JF17 (a joint China-Pakistan production) whipped the F-16 on the Indian side in a real dogfight.
Simon
For your information there’s no F-16 in the Indian Air Force, in fact the F-16 are with Pakistan.
The dogfight you mentioned, was between a Mig-21 from the Indian Air Force and several F-16 and J-17 from the Pakistan Air Force, in which the Mig-21 shot down in Pakistani territory whilst bringing down a F-16, as claimed by the Indian Air Force. The Indian pilot survived and was later released by Pakistan.
Good old anglo-saxons got their behind beaten red and blue by dudes in flip – flops and with only copy cat AK47 rifles; The Americans had all the Micky mouse war toys and all the war planes, and my Taliban Dudes fought were literally bare handed but fought it out over 20 years and threw the American and their NATO criminals out of Afghanistan in shame and humiliation and the world is laughing.
There is some confusion in western peoples mind………Its never the machine that wins the war, Its men who win wars, for that you have to believe in your cause; I know for a fact that at one point time the Taliban used to take out a 50 million dollar tank/war vehicle with a pressure cooker and explosive contraption with total cost of 15 dollars, such asymmetry in war can defeat any lumbering frightened military that is scared to Die in a battle field.
For one thing, they are learning about in war in classrooms and universities.
Module NAUKA (Science) has been finaly successfully launched to ISS.
Congratulations Russia.
Massive sale of new and used F-35 Lemonjets. Special firesale price singly and additional fleet discounts available.
Everything must go to make way for next year’s… -oh! I am not sure what?
Can we discuss that discount for just the nukes, without the F-35 attached?
Can you ship via Fed-Ex?
This tweeter has a lot of threads on Putin being shown the new toy.
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1417513344928518144
And threads on the new toy capabilities.
Enjoy the snark. You know why.
https://twitter.com/krakek1/status/1417531439017570305
This for Russian speakers.Or those with a good online translator.
https://www.militarynews.ru/story.asp?rid=1&nid=553526&lang=RU
Very good. But it’s always good form not to be taken in by one’s own hype.
Precioso aparato militar que sorprendio a todo el mundo, a propios y extraños. Aqui en latinoamerica se le dio una positiva bienvenida. Conversando en canales militares con colegas mexicanos, peruanos, venezolanos, brasileros y argentinos. Todos hacen fila para anotarse en en dicho programa. Es un verdadero jaque y mate al f35 o kai fx y demas cazas en el mercado de 4 generacion ++
Google translation,MOD:
Beautiful military device that surprised everyone, locals and strangers. Here in Latin America it was given a positive welcome. Conversing on military channels with Mexican, Peruvian, Venezuelan, Brazilian and Argentine colleagues. Everyone queues to sign up for that program. It is a real check and mate to f35 or kai fx and other fighters in the 4th generation market ++
Come on Russia, kicking the Evil Empire in the nutsacks when it’s down, is not cricket. I love it ah!
22+35=57
Think about that. F-22 production was just ended and the F-35 can’t fly in thunderstorms and requires major maintenance after every flight.
Pepe,
America does not care about the citizen. America does not care about the soldier. America does not care about the efficacy of the weapon system. it only cares about the contract, i.e., how much cash do the executives, stock holders, principal owners, politicians, senior military officers and all other associated low lifes get to keep. In the case of the F35, Lockheed Martin Execs seek enough cash to pay off congressmen, generals, third homes in hawaii, a second homes in florida, top shelf hookers in Vegas and enough white powder to make the long weekend memorable. All apparent shortcomings will be addressed by the next aircraft.
It’s a disappointment. What they revealed is a ground testing prototype. The plane itself will fly in 2023. it’s a lot of vapourware so far. The head of Rostech said “there are potential clients in Africa, SE Asia, India, the Middle East” but he did not say anything about any existing orders. He did say the Russian airforce might be possibly, maybe interested in the fighter. The plane itself is nothing that special, aside from the usual 5G stuff like AESA, stealthiness and so on it even has lower specs than would be expected, 8 g maximum load and thrust:weight expected to be below 1:1. Of course all of this can change, but consider that in 10 years of development since the Su-57 prototype was revealed they managed to deliver six of them in 2020 and 2021 to the airforce. All with non-supercruising engines. It looks more like a cheapish competitor to maybe the Saab JAS-39 and F-35. Given that the F-35 is more of a “banana republic bomber” than a real fighter, the bar is set low.
There is a lot of progress and production in SAM and hypersonic missiles, yes, but the Su shop has been lagging as of lately. What many people don’t know is that towards the end of the ’90s the Su company ate the MiG design bureau. And MiG was developing the original 5th-gen fighter, the MiG MFI (1.44) prototype, which was ready in 2000/2001. The MFI was designed to counter the F-22. It had somewhat better performance (approaching Mach 3 maximum speed) and it was somewhat larger and heavier than the F-22. It was shelved and instead years later the T-50, AKA Su-57 developed. So it’s 20 years late on production target. Competition between MiG and Su was essential to making successful designs (MiG-29 and Su-27 were both competing designs for generation 4). So all of this does kind of make one wonder what’s going on there, especially as Su has been getting all the attention and most of the orders while the MiG shop has been remaking/upgrading the same MiG-29 and upgrading/servicing MiG-31s with no new designs since the last century.
12 cents to the dollar. Translation: Russia at least seven times more effective and definitely seven times smarter than USA. Also, a new expression has entered the lexicon “hangar queen” (codeword for the F-35?)
The term ‘Hangar Queen’ has been around for quite awhile. It’s an official status title in the USAF lexicon, among others I’m sure. One of the flightline maintainers’ major pains is reassembling the ‘Cann Jet’ (Cannabalization Jet, ‘K-Balled’ for spare parts while it was down for other maintenance) every month so as to avoid ‘Hangar Queen’ status, which is closely monitored and reported up the chain to the stat chasers at higher command levels. But it looks like it definitely applies to the F-35 as a program, for sure. Must be pretty embarrassing to the O-6’s who have to tap dance their way through status briefings, never mind the maintainers who almost certainly work 12 hour shifts to cover up its flaws.
While it is a bit embarrassing to be outgunned in the 20th century version of war the next war will be fought and is being fought via covert operations of all kinds, cyberearfare, sanctions, using the international financial system to fix markets and to outright steal money and, finally, propaganda in which the Empire excels above anything Russia could even imagine. And remember, the CIA because of its firm hold on the international drug trade and fake Pentagon budgets, has almost unlimited funds to bribe public officials anywhere. Still these weapons systems can definitely deter idiots from trying to attack Russia with a first strike.
Also the US is 7 times more corrupted than Russia.
Close Pepe, but not quite. MAKS is the acronym for “Mezhdunarodni Aviatsionno-Kosmicheski Salon”. “International Aero-Space Show”. For the rest, another great article. Thanks.
Perhaps the Beltway Thinktankland is not quite concerned with being out-gunned, but with being “out-moneyed”. Just remember Eugene Jarecki’s 2005 film “Why we fight”.
Great MilOps,;you perhaps neglected to mention at conclusion that unlike Russia the US Admirals and Generals receive ‘stealth’ dividends for their most inefficient production. Although the US is a pseudo capitalist nation it is in fact a Corptopracy significantly diluting the benefits of “capitalism”.
“The practical result is that the Beltway is consistently out-planned, out-designed and out-gunned.”
Absolut no wonbder. Because the MIC in the West is a corrupt greedy and bloated one. That only love money. And the Politicans in the west are the very same. Greedy, corrupt to the bone and a unhealty love for money.
All the defense sepndings in the last 20 to 30 Year are only to stuff the MIC with money, not to produce actual Weapon Systems.
Nice and dandy, but how many can they crank out in the next couple of years? War is coming and sooner than later. Over at anti- Bellum, the site that tracks NATO, it seems the Turks are doing all they can to create something akin to a caliphate that is pro NATO and might put a monkey wrench in the BRI. Things are brewing up in Ukraine, Georgia is hosting NATO exercises, Bulgarians are hosting Black Sea exercises, etc. Saker is great, but him and Pepe are really biased in their reporting. Everything they write is written with rose colored glasses and just tells us what we want to hear. It also makes me question Putin even more. How can the guy keep a cordial relationship with Erdogan, when Turkey seems to be aiming to be the monkey wrench with regards to BRI and trying to help NATO outflank Russia? People need to question things more. Russia has high quality aircraft coming out, but it still doesn’t have the $$$$ to produce them fast enough. A major war might be in the offing in the next few years. Putin should have invaded Ukraine during Maiden, now he will have NATO at his border in a couple years.
SOS GRANDE PEPE!!!!
If it is a Grippen killer, the designers have competed the task.