Last May, Su-57 Felon stealth fighters were able to overwhelm Ukrainian air defense units in the first two to three weeks. This was revealed by Russia TASS news agency that verified using the 5th generation fighter, noted Aerotime.
Russian Military Used Su-57s in Ukraine
More claims by the news outlet later mentioned that on June 9, Ria Novosti confirmed from a source that four of the Felons synchronized an attack that tore up and blasted enemy air defenses.
But the allegations are contested by Kyiv, although a video captured the Su-57 zooming over the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine. Speculations that the Southern Military District of Russia sent the jets.
The stealth jets were supposed to be outside the range of air defense and attacked beyond the scope of the anti-aircraft battery. They hit targets and lessened the abilities of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Though it's not a major role for the Felon, Russia's military claims a capable platform better than the F-22 or the F-35, which is unsuitable for dogfights.
Western experts think the Felon's low observable profile is as good as US stealth jets. When questioned about it, Billie Flynn, a former senior experimental test pilot for the F-35 Lightning II, agreed with this recommendation.
He remarked the plane could not survive a high threat area with SAM (surface-to-air missile), its current development, and it would be best to avoid Ukrainian SAMS.
One more factor is there are not enough Su-57 Felon stealth fighters to affect the war in Ukraine, especially if the Russian military has no air superiority due to Ukrainian air defense.
Furthermore, Flynn discounts that the Russian military has enough to make any difference in the conflict.
Su-57 Fighter Deliveries
According to a report from the EurAsian Times, the Russian Su-57 fleet appeared to only consist of three aircraft as of March.
A total of four have been built, with the prototype crashing in 2019 while yet undelivered to the military. A second one was received in December 2020, and the third and fourth were brought to the Russian air force in 2021. One of the two units delivered in 2021 had a '52' painted on the blue airframe, implying that it was the fourth. Thus the third could have been written '51' as the designation.
These recent reports from May showed that two more are produced and are part of the VKS Su-57 fleet.
Reports in Russian news and social media that say two more airframes with 53 and 54 as the designation in red were seen in the Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport in Siberia, Russia, in later May. Based on the information, there a five Felons in service, with the prototypes that came before.
Flynn discounted the claims by a Russian outlet that four Su-57s are destroying Ukrainian air defense systems, it was farfetched and not verified.
Also, he claimed the 5th gen Russian jets could not survive over Ukrainian territory. However, this claim can be attributed to western experts pushing the F-35 as the better plane that S-400 missile systems have detected. The American thinks it's all posturing but not accurate and assumes a dismissive opinion concerning the Felon.
According to the Russian military, units of Su-57 stealth fighters have destroyed Ukrainian air defense systems; these mounting losses have prompted western experts to cover up for losses in Ukraine.
