Dancing with Cobra: Su-57 outperforms US F-35 at India's air forum

During a speech at the Aero India-2025 forum, the Su-57 fighter surpassed the American F-35. According to military experts interviewed by Izvestia, our machine turned out to be much better than the American one in terms of maneuverability. At the same time, the Su-57 will soon receive new engines that will significantly reduce the aircraft's visibility. Fifth-generation fighters' demonstrations are extremely rare - that is why their flights became the main decoration of the exhibition.

Unique opportunity

The Russian Su-57 fifth-generation fighter was presented for the first time in the flight program of Aero India 2025, the largest aviation forum held in Bangalore. India is Russia's traditional military-technical partner and the Su-57 was considered some time ago as one of the candidates for the role of India's fifth-generation fighter. For these reasons, the hosts of the exhibition paid special attention to the demonstration of Sukhoi's capabilities.

Besides, this time another fifth-generation fighter - the American F-35 - was also presented alongside it. This is a unique opportunity for military pilots and representatives of the aviation industry to see two competitors in the sky at once.

- The Su-57 demonstration performance lasted about 7 minutes and took place at ultra-low altitudes - from 100 meters. During this time the airplane performs more than 20 aerobatics figures. These are Pugachev's cobra, bell, corkscrew barrel roll and others. Some of them can only be performed by Russian fighters. The Su-57 is piloted by test pilot Hero of Russia Sergey Bogdan, and during the performance it experiences high overloads - up to 6G," Rostec State Corporation told Izvestia.

Different "invisibles"

The state corporation paid attention to the fact that the F-35 and Su-57 are multifunctional "stealth" airplanes, however, it is not quite correct to compare these machines. The F-35 is more of a light strike aircraft for ground operations. In turn, the Su-57 is a heavy multifunctional aircraft for gaining air supremacy, striking ground targets, and controlling other aircraft. Moreover, in a war with a technologically advanced enemy. Therefore, the airplane has a lot of non-trivial solutions that the domestic "school" of design is capable of. This is, in particular, an integral layout, perfect aerodynamics and engines with controlled thrust vector.

All this increases maneuverability. The better it is, the more chances to evade the enemy's missiles while suppressing its air defense system. In addition, the speed of reaction of the combat vehicle to the changing operational situation increases. At the same time, even today we cannot exclude the possibility of close combat in the so-called "dogfight", where maneuverability is of great importance.

- It is not surprising that against this background F-35 in the air looks faded, - emphasized in "Rostec"

According to specialists of the state corporation, it is much more interesting to compare the Su-57 with the American F-22 Raptor. They are machines of the same class, but the last "twenty-second" came off the assembly line in 2011 - 14 years ago.

- Since then, these aircraft have not been modernized - at least their onboard electronic equipment is outdated," Rostec noted. - "The Raptor is also inferior to the Su-57 in maneuverability. In addition, it is worth recalling that Russian combat aircraft, including the Su-57, today have the longest "arm," that is, long-range missiles, to hit air targets - and that's several hundred kilometers.

They came up trumps

Military expert Dmitry Kornev noted in a conversation with Izvestia that Western machines are still unable to surpass Sukhoi aircraft in terms of super maneuverability.

- The experts present at the forum could be convinced of this," he emphasized. - And the F-35s are inferior not only to the Su-57, but also to Russia's fourth-generation fighter, the Su-35S.

According to him, the flights in Bangalore once again showed that both airplanes are bright representatives of their design schools.

The American machine meets the requirements for reducing radar visibility and can be integrated into the digital communications of a modern combat operation, has a powerful modern engine and an internal weapons bay. The aircraft is mass-produced and delivered to a large number of countries, Dmitry Kornev recalled.

- The F-35 has disadvantages, of course, but apparently the main one is the high cost of this airplane," he said.

According to the expert, our Su-57 is still a heavier aircraft with two engines, which has a long range combined with reduced visibility and versatility of armament, which is also placed in internal compartments.

- "The Sukhoi is equipped with a unique complex of onboard electronics, which provides it with all-round visibility and integration with modern information systems of the Russian Air Force," Dmitry Kornev noted. - Traditionally, the aircraft has a high maximum flight speed and carries a wide range of weapons.

The airplane is successfully used in the course of the Strategic Air Defense Forces and is supplied to the units of the Russian Air Force, the expert specified.

- Today it is the Su-57 that can use the latest means of defeating ground targets adapted for the fifth-generation aircraft - these are X-69 cruise missiles with a range of up to 400 kilometers," the expert said. - In addition, we should not forget that work is underway to equip the Su-57 with a new engine with flat nozzles, which provides the airplane with a formless supersonic flight and will reduce the aircraft's conspicuity.

- On the sidelines of the Aero India 2025 exhibition there was information that the first Sukhoi export deliveries will take place this year," said Dmitry Kornev. - Traditional partners of the Russian defense-industrial complex are waiting to receive the newest Russian multirole fighter for their air forces.

Deliveries to the troops

At the end of last year, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC, part of Rostec State Corporation) handed over new batches of Su-57 fighters and Su-34 frontline bombers to the Russian Defense Ministry.

According to Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov, the Su-57 can be effectively used to work on a wide variety of targets with a wide range of precision weapons, while the low visibility of the new fighter makes it possible to destroy enemy targets even in the face of countermeasures from modern air defense systems.

In addition, UAC intends to build up its capabilities for serial production of the latest Su-57 multifunctional fighters of the fifth generation.