What You Need to Know: The Russian Sukhoi Su-57 "Felon" stealth fighter has faced continual challenges, with the latest embarrassment occurring at China’s Zhuhai Airshow. Poor build quality was apparent, drawing ridicule on Chinese social media and raising further questions about the jet's production integrity.

-Russia’s Su-57 program, hampered by Western sanctions limiting critical parts, remains devoid of foreign military sales, adding pressure to Russian aerospace industries.

-With only ten Su-57s operational and a larger order now in potential limbo, the Felon’s path forward appears precarious as it struggles to find international buyers or meet domestic demand.

Russia's Su-57 Stealth Jet Embarrassed at China's Zhuhai Airshow

Pity the poor Sukhoi Su-57 "Felon". 

Sure, the Fifth Generation stealth fighter has gotten off the ground, both literally and figuratively, and been deployed operationally with the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS), albeit rather inauspiciously, which more than can be said for Russia’s other aspirational stealth fighter, the Su-75 (NATO “Checkmate”). 

However, the positives for the Su-57 pretty much end there. Much ado has been made (and rightfully so) about the alliance between revanchist Russia and China. However, it now looks as though even this budding buddy-buddy relationship between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping won’t be sufficient to boost the exonerate the reputation of the “Felon,” pardon the bad joke, even as China’s own Chengdu J-20 Weilong and Shenyang J-35 Gyrfalcon stealth fighter programs continue to progress.  

Su-57: The Latest and (Not-So) Greatest 

The latest bad news for the Su-57 comes from China’s Zhuhai Airshow, the ChiComs’ premier aerospace trade expo, wherein one of these much-hyped Russian fighters is scheduled to perform flight demonstrations while a second specimen will be exhibited as a static display. 

The embarrassing news is being reported on by multiple sources, including The National Interest as well as Greg Waldron of FlightGlobal. According to the former, “The Sukhoi Su-57 has had an inauspicious start to its Zhuhai air show appearance, with a close-up video revealing questionable build quality.” 

Since a subscriber paywall prevents me from delving further into Mr. Waldron’s piece, I hereby defer to my esteemed colleague Mr. Suciu, whose article has already been republished on MSN and Forbes, for further details: 

“As previously reported, this is the first time that the Sukhoi Su-57 has been presented at the biennial airshow. The Kremlin likely expected that its highly-touted fifth-generation fighter would turn heads. It didn't count on Chinese social media, where the fighter was highly scrutinized and ridiculed…‘The oversight on the Russian [sic] part was that they failed to organize a no-access zone for spectators, and the Chinese event visitors could freely come up unprecedentedly close to the Su-57 model demonstrated at the exhibition,’ Defense Express reported…’What especially catches the eye is the huge number of bolts holding together fuselage panels but this is no news, as previous models had the same look. A whole different matter is that the quality of joints fails to meet any reasonable expectations,’ the Daily Express added.” 

That comment about the bolts and joints is strikingly reminiscent of the Western observations into the construction of the once-feared MiG-25 “Foxbat” interceptor in the 1970s, observations made possible by the daring in-flight defection of Foxbat pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko in 1976.  

The Way Forward? 

Some assert that bad publicity is better than no publicity at all, but those folks aren’t familiar with building successful weapons systems! 

The Russian aerospace industry has already had enough trouble obtaining foreign military sales (FMS) customers for the Su-57, the current international customer count for the warbird is exactly zero, yes, zero. And news like this emanating from such a big-name airshow, and within the borders of Russia’s biggest-name new ally no less, isn’t going to help boost sales numbers. 

Moreover, assuming the recent reports from RBC-Ukraine are true, the production of the Su-57 has been suspended due to a dearth of key components thanks to Western sanctions. Among the specific affected parts are the WA36 attenuator, an electronic device that reduces signal amplitude or power without significantly distorting its shape, and the MPPU-50, a German-made device used to calibrate the fighter jet’s communication system.  

Meanwhile, according to the World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft (WDMMA), the Russian Air Force currently has 10 Felons in service, with an additional seventy-five airframes on order, which I reckon will have to go into “hurry up and wait” mode based upon the news reported in the preceding paragraph.    

About the Author: 

Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ). He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch , The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). 

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