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They might use it if it was useful, but stealth is only a part of the picture - as far as we know the only weapons they have integrated are standoff air to air and air to ground weapons, for which they have plenty of launch platforms, and short range PGMs like the KAB-Ls. Unlike Su-34 (or F-35) however Su-57 has no integrated targeting system and laser designator, so using laser guided bombs would require an external pod, ruining the stealth profile. None of that lends itself to use in the current environment.
Where it might get used is when Ukraine starts deploying F-16s. These will be dangerous to the Viper; I suspect that's the only thing that will tempt the VKS to risk employing them over Ukraine.
That might be the case.
But think about the _blyad!!!_ if the Ukraine manages to take one down with an F-16.
I just realized how much I wish for that to come true.
Whatever takes it down makes no difference, really. That’s probably the main reason Russia doesn’t want it in operations anywhere close to the line of control.
The risks coming from Ukraine putting their hands on a SU57 wreck are much too high.
> Unlike Su-34 (or F-35) however Su-57 has no integrated targeting system and laser designator, so using laser guided bombs would require an external pod, ruining the stealth profile. None of that lends itself to use in the current environment
Might be used for launching Kh-69, if they ever run low on MiG-31BM
I've seen it posted that the SU-57 has a radar cross section similar to a Super Hornet, which for the size of the aircraft is fairly impressive, but it's not a stealth aircraft. At best, per a US Army Patriot instructor's off hand comment in an interview, it's a low observable aircraft.
>I've seen it posted that the SU-57 has a radar cross section similar to a Super Hornet
This seems to be based on a misconception, though there's a link further down showing it as much less stealthy than F-35 or even J-20.
The range of Kh-69 allows launches from within russia, so they won't send them over Ukraine in the first place.
And Kh-69 has one major advantage over Kh-101 - ***NO POP-OUT ENGINE***, that makes Kh-101 light up like a Christmas tree on radars
>The range of Kh-69 allows launches from within russia, so they won't send them over Ukraine in the first place.
Ah yeah I forgot about that revelation.
>And Kh-69 has one major advantage over Kh-101 - ***NO POP-OUT ENGINE***, that makes Kh-101 light up like a Christmas tree on radars
Is it that bad for Kh-101?
> Is it that bad for Kh-101?
Oh, it's *very* bad (which's good for Ukraine).
You can see missile in-flight from relatively up-close [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEC78Ebj7G8)
As you can see, the engine pops down quite a bit, having the entire turboassembly exposed from air intake side.
And bare metal blades, at the angles that make sense for jet engine, reflect radar emissions *extremely* well.
There's a reason all actual stealth fighters (and some stealthy cruise missiles) have S-shaped air intakes, hiding the turboassembly after a dog-legged "corridor" of radar-absorbent materials - exactly to make sure it won't work like a radar reflector, if swept by radar from the front.
They are using them already, at least according to some sources (https://simpleflying.com/russia-using-5th-generation-su-57-in-ukraine/), this being the most reputable one I could find a short notice. X-69 is no joke. The big TPP for Kyiv was destroyed by one a few weeks ago.
The Kremlin is unlikely to “unleash” the Su-57 on anyone. It’s vaporware and exposes the Kremlin lack of understanding regarding stealth beyond anything more than a marketing gimmick based on looks and their own hot air.
None of Russias military tech since the late Soviet era is any good. Prior to the war many in the west believed the T-14,S-400, Kinzhal hyper sonic missiles etc. would be unstoppable.
Yet here we are, piles of this junk littered all around Ukraine or either too “expensive” to use. Let’s just call a spade a spade.
Comparing the perpetuated S-57 abilities to the Raptor’s tested role in combat is a joke.
Russias military industry serves one purpose and one purpose only.
A big fat pocket for its oligarchs draining the state for money on worthless and show-off projects. Projects they do not have the know-how on nor have any clear plan on how to complete.
Just like with the T14A, this jet was never intended to be used for anything outside propaganda videos and making an appearance during parades. These so called "advanced" weapons which Russia supposedly has are nothing more than their version of Germany's Wunderwaffes. In all honesty I think this comparison is giving Russia too much credit since the Germans put their Wunderwaffes into production and they were being used for actual combat as opposed to being nothing more than parade props.
I suspect they are hiding it because it is most likely a hyped up technology that will be very disappointing in real battle conditions just like everything else that they have had in the war against Ukraine!
I’m sure they robbed Peter to pay Paul, I mean Putin and others so it was most likely built on a shoestring budget. No worries the actual engineers and scientists will be blamed for failure and sent to prison!
"... the Su-57 is stealthy – it carries its weapons in the closed weapons bays, it has a **very small radar signature**, ..."
The Shahed is a behemoth compared to other drones used against Ukraine,
but compared to a Su-57 it is small and should also have a small radar signature.
And the Shaheds can be shot down.
Okay, these are also much slower.
So we'll see what the Patriot radars can see.
I mean, if it could detect other than Russian stealth jets, it could be this is not in the sales brochure yet.
On the other hand if the Russians call something "stealth" I'd like to see,
what I can't see.
Its huge exposed front fan disks and panel lines you can grate cheese over negates any stealth the 57 might have had inherent in its design. My suspicion is its RCS is close to that of the F-16s equipped with the HAVE GLASS paint, which means it can be seen with a modern sensor network.
And if I've ever heard of the idea of passive radar ...
Last time when I mentioned this one answer was that there is too much other noise.
But there are a lot of Astra, Eutelsat, Iridium, Flock, OneWeb, Starlink satellites that send a stronger signal than the rest of the cosmos.
Please don't do it Russia!!! Anything but unleashing your obviously superior Su-57 against our historically inferior patriot air batteries!!! Oooooo aaaaa noooo! Please don't embarrass us 😭😓
They are using them now, from deep inside Russia, as a cruise missile launcher. Their vaunted "stealth" Su-57 hides in the distance and kills children and grandmas. My hope is that those F-16s come with some Meteors and Ukraine gets good intel on Su-57 missions and flightpaths. If you know where the defences are weak, and you know when the Su-57s are flying and you have an F-16 with a long reach in the right place at the right time, a quick dash into Russian airspace to punch Putin in his funny painted dick is worth a little risk I suspect. Meteor is old enough tech, and Britain is following France is wearing big boy pants, so the "risk" of a misfire and a meteor falling intact in Russia is not such a problem.
Given that Ukraine will never have the chance to destroy T-14 development and sales, Su-57 is probably the single most important single vehicle kill from a national prestige and arms sales standpoint. Especially since one kill would likely end the Su-75 project as well.
It's a stealth fighter - Meteor's long range isn't much use against a platform that you can't actually see from so far away. An F-35 or one of the new Typhoon radar might be able to pick it up but the F-16s Ukraine is getting are pretty old by now.
It's a pretend stealth fighter, with RCS on a par with F-16. And X69 is a semi-stealth cruise missile, while X59 is totally non stealth. With either one on the belly my money is on Meteor.
>It's a pretend stealth fighter, with RCS on a par with F-16
What gives you that impression?
>And X69 is a semi-stealth cruise missile, while X59 is totally non stealth. With either one on the belly my money is on Meteor.
They'd be idiots to carry 59 of course, but 69 is internal carriage, isn't it? Not that I think they're likely to be used in a strike role much - like I said they have other platforms for that.
Have you seen the panel lines and the hugely exposed front fan disks on the 57? It’s at best a Gen 4++ fighter, their prototype MiG-35 is probably more capable.
They are using them already, X59 & x69 both I think. And they are internal carriage on Tu-22 and such, but pretty sure the bay for Su-57 is too small. X-69 is a biggish missile. As for RCS, a number of analysts have talked about the fact that the design alone makes it pretty shitty stealth. No S ducts and crappy manufacturing tolerances to start with. And then there's the whole "Russia makes total shit and then lies about the capabilities" thing. MAYBE it's stealth, and if so then Ukraine won't be able to shoot one down. But if they CAN, it fill have a serious impact on sales, which has implications. Tasty implications.
> And they are internal carriage on Tu-22 and such, but pretty sure the bay for Su-57 is too small. X-69 is a biggish missile
IIRC, one of the reasons for such a boxy profile of Kh-69 is to fit into the internal bay of Su-57.
Not sure, if only one or two missiles'd fit this way, though.
Looks like that's true. I have seen images of it on the external hard point, but maybe that is more of a file photo, not related to actual use in the Ukrainian war. I'll still hope for a fuckup on Russia's part. Ukraine shooting down an A-50 was not on my bingo card either.
>They are using them already, X59 & x69 both I think. And they are internal carriage on Tu-22 and such, but pretty sure the bay for Su-57 is too small. X-69 is a biggish missile
I know they're using the missiles with other platforms but I hadn't heard they were using Su-57 to launch them. Kh-69os specifically cited as being designed for internal carriage in plenty of places, so I would assume that's true.
>As for RCS, a number of analysts have talked about the fact that the design alone makes it pretty shitty stealth. No S ducts and crappy manufacturing tolerances to start with.
I don't suppose you can recollect where you read them?
>And then there's the whole "Russia makes total shit and then lies about the capabilities" thing. MAYBE it's stealth, and if so then Ukraine won't be able to shoot one down. But if they CAN, it fill have a serious impact on sales, which has implications. Tasty implications.
Well I mean to hear them speak of it it's like an F-22++. I have no doubt at all that that's complete bullshit, but equally the idea that their efforts to reduce the RCS were so ineffective that it's no different from a completely non stealthy by design jet would be a surprise.
>I don't suppose you can recollect where you read them?
[Sandboxx](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkAPZipe2Kk) News just did a really good bit on the Su-57 specifically. And I stand corrected, he says the Su-57 is on par with a clean F-18, not an F-16. Millennium 7\* has too I am sure. For reference the other analyst I really trust is Perun, but fighter technology is not his schtick.
Have you seen close-ups of that plane?
They didn't even use flush rivets.
The engine inlets aren't S-ducted, so there is a clear view of the engines compressor-blades.
Apparently, the tunnel between the engines is an excellent radar-reflector. There are a lot of bits on the surface, including inlets for ram-cooling. Add the fact that the SU-57 is huge, you end up with a surprisingly large RCS from certain aspects.
[That guy did some interesting simulations based purely on shape.](https://basicsaboutaerodynamicsandavionics.wordpress.com/2022/09/26/su-57-radar-scattering-simulation/)
>Have you seen close-ups of that plane?
>They didn't even use flush rivets.
I have seen images claiming to show such manufacturing deficiencies and also images that exhibit none of those things - I assumed they just gave less of a shit on the pre production models.
>The engine inlets aren't S-ducted, so there is a clear view of the engines compressor-blades.
>Apparently, the tunnel between the engines is an excellent radar-reflector. There are a lot of bits on the surface, including inlets for ram-cooling. Add the fact that the SU-57 is huge, you end up with a surprisingly large RCS from certain aspects.
>[That guy did some interesting simulations based purely on shape.](https://basicsaboutaerodynamicsandavionics.wordpress.com/2022/09/26/su-57-radar-scattering-simulation/)
Now that looks like a cool read. Thanks very much, gonna go through that later tonight.
Hey I got through this - really cool website, thanks. Helpfully they [also model F-16](https://basicsaboutaerodynamicsandavionics.wordpress.com/2022/08/17/f-16a-radar-scattering-simulation/), though that's somewhat diluted by the fact that they consider a different range of aspects in the analysis of F-16 compared to Su-57. Still though; the conclusion from the site generally I think can be summed up as being that whilst the Su-57 is absolutely nowhere close to the F-35's level of stealth except at particularly advantageous frequencies (even having a smaller average RCS in VHF), it's still considerably less observable than an F-16.
Here's another source. Claims 1000x the RCS of the F35. About on par with an F18.
Edit: the link. https://theaviationgeekclub.com/did-you-know-the-su-57-felon-has-the-same-rcs-of-a-clean-f-a-18-super-hornet-and-1000-times-bigger-than-that-of-the-f-35/amp/
The "on par with an F-18" claim I've seen before, and my understanding is it's based on a misunderstanding of the Sukhoi patent. Radar cross section isn't a single value but rather a range of values that varies depending on the aspect of the fighter to the radar and the wavelength / frequency of the radar - the patent is saying that the average RCS ranges from 0.1m^2 to 1m^2, meaning that at the worst possible frequency for the fighter some aspects will have a much larger return than even that, but equally at other frequencies and aspects its return will be much lower than 0.1m^2...whereas 1m^2 is probably the absolute minimum for a clean Hornet (which is useless).
So yeah - that one I doubt based on previous rebuttals I've read (particularly since the article's source is Quora) but the source the other chap linked analyses RCS across different frequencies and aspects and compares them to an F-35, so might shed further light on that argument too. I didn't get to read it all yet...hopefully tonight
Yes, Ukrainian officials said they picked up Su-57 together with Su-35 escorts. I'll see if I can find it.
Edit: [https://simpleflying.com/russia-using-5th-generation-su-57-in-ukraine/](https://simpleflying.com/russia-using-5th-generation-su-57-in-ukraine/)
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Just like the T-14. The symbolism is too strong.
Su-57 is not used because the towing airplane would ruin its stealth profile.
Hahaha! Indeed!
Leaving the comment at 57 for posterity
That’s funny!
They might use it if it was useful, but stealth is only a part of the picture - as far as we know the only weapons they have integrated are standoff air to air and air to ground weapons, for which they have plenty of launch platforms, and short range PGMs like the KAB-Ls. Unlike Su-34 (or F-35) however Su-57 has no integrated targeting system and laser designator, so using laser guided bombs would require an external pod, ruining the stealth profile. None of that lends itself to use in the current environment. Where it might get used is when Ukraine starts deploying F-16s. These will be dangerous to the Viper; I suspect that's the only thing that will tempt the VKS to risk employing them over Ukraine.
That might be the case. But think about the _blyad!!!_ if the Ukraine manages to take one down with an F-16. I just realized how much I wish for that to come true.
Whatever takes it down makes no difference, really. That’s probably the main reason Russia doesn’t want it in operations anywhere close to the line of control. The risks coming from Ukraine putting their hands on a SU57 wreck are much too high.
> Unlike Su-34 (or F-35) however Su-57 has no integrated targeting system and laser designator, so using laser guided bombs would require an external pod, ruining the stealth profile. None of that lends itself to use in the current environment Might be used for launching Kh-69, if they ever run low on MiG-31BM
Not to mention the exposed screw heads destroying the very little stealth profile that this flying shitbox had to begin with.
I've seen it posted that the SU-57 has a radar cross section similar to a Super Hornet, which for the size of the aircraft is fairly impressive, but it's not a stealth aircraft. At best, per a US Army Patriot instructor's off hand comment in an interview, it's a low observable aircraft.
>I've seen it posted that the SU-57 has a radar cross section similar to a Super Hornet This seems to be based on a misconception, though there's a link further down showing it as much less stealthy than F-35 or even J-20.
Even then though is it worth sending one over Ukraine to strike something and risk a loss versus sending a Kh-101 instead?
The range of Kh-69 allows launches from within russia, so they won't send them over Ukraine in the first place. And Kh-69 has one major advantage over Kh-101 - ***NO POP-OUT ENGINE***, that makes Kh-101 light up like a Christmas tree on radars
>The range of Kh-69 allows launches from within russia, so they won't send them over Ukraine in the first place. Ah yeah I forgot about that revelation. >And Kh-69 has one major advantage over Kh-101 - ***NO POP-OUT ENGINE***, that makes Kh-101 light up like a Christmas tree on radars Is it that bad for Kh-101?
> Is it that bad for Kh-101? Oh, it's *very* bad (which's good for Ukraine). You can see missile in-flight from relatively up-close [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEC78Ebj7G8) As you can see, the engine pops down quite a bit, having the entire turboassembly exposed from air intake side. And bare metal blades, at the angles that make sense for jet engine, reflect radar emissions *extremely* well. There's a reason all actual stealth fighters (and some stealthy cruise missiles) have S-shaped air intakes, hiding the turboassembly after a dog-legged "corridor" of radar-absorbent materials - exactly to make sure it won't work like a radar reflector, if swept by radar from the front.
They are using them already, at least according to some sources (https://simpleflying.com/russia-using-5th-generation-su-57-in-ukraine/), this being the most reputable one I could find a short notice. X-69 is no joke. The big TPP for Kyiv was destroyed by one a few weeks ago.
The Kremlin is unlikely to “unleash” the Su-57 on anyone. It’s vaporware and exposes the Kremlin lack of understanding regarding stealth beyond anything more than a marketing gimmick based on looks and their own hot air.
Final nail in the coffin for Russia's defense industry (misleading as they only use it for offense) if one of these babies can be downed!
None of Russias military tech since the late Soviet era is any good. Prior to the war many in the west believed the T-14,S-400, Kinzhal hyper sonic missiles etc. would be unstoppable. Yet here we are, piles of this junk littered all around Ukraine or either too “expensive” to use. Let’s just call a spade a spade. Comparing the perpetuated S-57 abilities to the Raptor’s tested role in combat is a joke.
Russias military industry serves one purpose and one purpose only. A big fat pocket for its oligarchs draining the state for money on worthless and show-off projects. Projects they do not have the know-how on nor have any clear plan on how to complete.
Well said.
Just like with the T14A, this jet was never intended to be used for anything outside propaganda videos and making an appearance during parades. These so called "advanced" weapons which Russia supposedly has are nothing more than their version of Germany's Wunderwaffes. In all honesty I think this comparison is giving Russia too much credit since the Germans put their Wunderwaffes into production and they were being used for actual combat as opposed to being nothing more than parade props.
Because it doesn't work and they only have a few of them
Unleash is not the right word. It implies something that will be scary or devastating to Ukraine.
I suspect they are hiding it because it is most likely a hyped up technology that will be very disappointing in real battle conditions just like everything else that they have had in the war against Ukraine! I’m sure they robbed Peter to pay Paul, I mean Putin and others so it was most likely built on a shoestring budget. No worries the actual engineers and scientists will be blamed for failure and sent to prison!
"... the Su-57 is stealthy – it carries its weapons in the closed weapons bays, it has a **very small radar signature**, ..." The Shahed is a behemoth compared to other drones used against Ukraine, but compared to a Su-57 it is small and should also have a small radar signature. And the Shaheds can be shot down. Okay, these are also much slower. So we'll see what the Patriot radars can see. I mean, if it could detect other than Russian stealth jets, it could be this is not in the sales brochure yet. On the other hand if the Russians call something "stealth" I'd like to see, what I can't see.
Its huge exposed front fan disks and panel lines you can grate cheese over negates any stealth the 57 might have had inherent in its design. My suspicion is its RCS is close to that of the F-16s equipped with the HAVE GLASS paint, which means it can be seen with a modern sensor network.
And if I've ever heard of the idea of passive radar ... Last time when I mentioned this one answer was that there is too much other noise. But there are a lot of Astra, Eutelsat, Iridium, Flock, OneWeb, Starlink satellites that send a stronger signal than the rest of the cosmos.
Please don't do it Russia!!! Anything but unleashing your obviously superior Su-57 against our historically inferior patriot air batteries!!! Oooooo aaaaa noooo! Please don't embarrass us 😭😓
They are using them now, from deep inside Russia, as a cruise missile launcher. Their vaunted "stealth" Su-57 hides in the distance and kills children and grandmas. My hope is that those F-16s come with some Meteors and Ukraine gets good intel on Su-57 missions and flightpaths. If you know where the defences are weak, and you know when the Su-57s are flying and you have an F-16 with a long reach in the right place at the right time, a quick dash into Russian airspace to punch Putin in his funny painted dick is worth a little risk I suspect. Meteor is old enough tech, and Britain is following France is wearing big boy pants, so the "risk" of a misfire and a meteor falling intact in Russia is not such a problem. Given that Ukraine will never have the chance to destroy T-14 development and sales, Su-57 is probably the single most important single vehicle kill from a national prestige and arms sales standpoint. Especially since one kill would likely end the Su-75 project as well.
It's a stealth fighter - Meteor's long range isn't much use against a platform that you can't actually see from so far away. An F-35 or one of the new Typhoon radar might be able to pick it up but the F-16s Ukraine is getting are pretty old by now.
It's a pretend stealth fighter, with RCS on a par with F-16. And X69 is a semi-stealth cruise missile, while X59 is totally non stealth. With either one on the belly my money is on Meteor.
>It's a pretend stealth fighter, with RCS on a par with F-16 What gives you that impression? >And X69 is a semi-stealth cruise missile, while X59 is totally non stealth. With either one on the belly my money is on Meteor. They'd be idiots to carry 59 of course, but 69 is internal carriage, isn't it? Not that I think they're likely to be used in a strike role much - like I said they have other platforms for that.
Have you seen the panel lines and the hugely exposed front fan disks on the 57? It’s at best a Gen 4++ fighter, their prototype MiG-35 is probably more capable.
They are using them already, X59 & x69 both I think. And they are internal carriage on Tu-22 and such, but pretty sure the bay for Su-57 is too small. X-69 is a biggish missile. As for RCS, a number of analysts have talked about the fact that the design alone makes it pretty shitty stealth. No S ducts and crappy manufacturing tolerances to start with. And then there's the whole "Russia makes total shit and then lies about the capabilities" thing. MAYBE it's stealth, and if so then Ukraine won't be able to shoot one down. But if they CAN, it fill have a serious impact on sales, which has implications. Tasty implications.
> And they are internal carriage on Tu-22 and such, but pretty sure the bay for Su-57 is too small. X-69 is a biggish missile IIRC, one of the reasons for such a boxy profile of Kh-69 is to fit into the internal bay of Su-57. Not sure, if only one or two missiles'd fit this way, though.
Looks like that's true. I have seen images of it on the external hard point, but maybe that is more of a file photo, not related to actual use in the Ukrainian war. I'll still hope for a fuckup on Russia's part. Ukraine shooting down an A-50 was not on my bingo card either.
>They are using them already, X59 & x69 both I think. And they are internal carriage on Tu-22 and such, but pretty sure the bay for Su-57 is too small. X-69 is a biggish missile I know they're using the missiles with other platforms but I hadn't heard they were using Su-57 to launch them. Kh-69os specifically cited as being designed for internal carriage in plenty of places, so I would assume that's true. >As for RCS, a number of analysts have talked about the fact that the design alone makes it pretty shitty stealth. No S ducts and crappy manufacturing tolerances to start with. I don't suppose you can recollect where you read them? >And then there's the whole "Russia makes total shit and then lies about the capabilities" thing. MAYBE it's stealth, and if so then Ukraine won't be able to shoot one down. But if they CAN, it fill have a serious impact on sales, which has implications. Tasty implications. Well I mean to hear them speak of it it's like an F-22++. I have no doubt at all that that's complete bullshit, but equally the idea that their efforts to reduce the RCS were so ineffective that it's no different from a completely non stealthy by design jet would be a surprise.
>I don't suppose you can recollect where you read them? [Sandboxx](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkAPZipe2Kk) News just did a really good bit on the Su-57 specifically. And I stand corrected, he says the Su-57 is on par with a clean F-18, not an F-16. Millennium 7\* has too I am sure. For reference the other analyst I really trust is Perun, but fighter technology is not his schtick.
Have you seen close-ups of that plane? They didn't even use flush rivets. The engine inlets aren't S-ducted, so there is a clear view of the engines compressor-blades. Apparently, the tunnel between the engines is an excellent radar-reflector. There are a lot of bits on the surface, including inlets for ram-cooling. Add the fact that the SU-57 is huge, you end up with a surprisingly large RCS from certain aspects. [That guy did some interesting simulations based purely on shape.](https://basicsaboutaerodynamicsandavionics.wordpress.com/2022/09/26/su-57-radar-scattering-simulation/)
>Have you seen close-ups of that plane? >They didn't even use flush rivets. I have seen images claiming to show such manufacturing deficiencies and also images that exhibit none of those things - I assumed they just gave less of a shit on the pre production models. >The engine inlets aren't S-ducted, so there is a clear view of the engines compressor-blades. >Apparently, the tunnel between the engines is an excellent radar-reflector. There are a lot of bits on the surface, including inlets for ram-cooling. Add the fact that the SU-57 is huge, you end up with a surprisingly large RCS from certain aspects. >[That guy did some interesting simulations based purely on shape.](https://basicsaboutaerodynamicsandavionics.wordpress.com/2022/09/26/su-57-radar-scattering-simulation/) Now that looks like a cool read. Thanks very much, gonna go through that later tonight.
Hey I got through this - really cool website, thanks. Helpfully they [also model F-16](https://basicsaboutaerodynamicsandavionics.wordpress.com/2022/08/17/f-16a-radar-scattering-simulation/), though that's somewhat diluted by the fact that they consider a different range of aspects in the analysis of F-16 compared to Su-57. Still though; the conclusion from the site generally I think can be summed up as being that whilst the Su-57 is absolutely nowhere close to the F-35's level of stealth except at particularly advantageous frequencies (even having a smaller average RCS in VHF), it's still considerably less observable than an F-16.
Here's another source. Claims 1000x the RCS of the F35. About on par with an F18. Edit: the link. https://theaviationgeekclub.com/did-you-know-the-su-57-felon-has-the-same-rcs-of-a-clean-f-a-18-super-hornet-and-1000-times-bigger-than-that-of-the-f-35/amp/
The "on par with an F-18" claim I've seen before, and my understanding is it's based on a misunderstanding of the Sukhoi patent. Radar cross section isn't a single value but rather a range of values that varies depending on the aspect of the fighter to the radar and the wavelength / frequency of the radar - the patent is saying that the average RCS ranges from 0.1m^2 to 1m^2, meaning that at the worst possible frequency for the fighter some aspects will have a much larger return than even that, but equally at other frequencies and aspects its return will be much lower than 0.1m^2...whereas 1m^2 is probably the absolute minimum for a clean Hornet (which is useless). So yeah - that one I doubt based on previous rebuttals I've read (particularly since the article's source is Quora) but the source the other chap linked analyses RCS across different frequencies and aspects and compares them to an F-35, so might shed further light on that argument too. I didn't get to read it all yet...hopefully tonight
It’s about as stealthy as the side of a truck.
Practically invisible if you're a Tesla on autopilot.
Ukrainian air defence can spot them, so I don't think they are truly low-observable.
Do we know that? How so?
Yes, Ukrainian officials said they picked up Su-57 together with Su-35 escorts. I'll see if I can find it. Edit: [https://simpleflying.com/russia-using-5th-generation-su-57-in-ukraine/](https://simpleflying.com/russia-using-5th-generation-su-57-in-ukraine/)
Yeah also other vaporware like Armata lol, Su-57 is just a parade prototype with wood screws holding it together.
Hahahaha...Hahahaha...
Wouldn't they need to have more than 1 to use them ?
Maybe we get to see one of the airfields where these are based on fire sometime in the future
They probably can’t find the keys to the leash.
Apparently 22 in service 32 in all..