Why Russian SU-57 SUCKS

🚨 Uncover the troubled journey of Russia's Su-57, Putin’s first stealth fighter, introduced in December 2020. 🛑 Despite bold claims of impressive tech, persistent development challenges cast doubt on its actual capabilities. 🤯 Join us for a critical examination of its prolonged and problematic path to completion, raising serious concerns about its touted stealthiness. 📉 Delve into the Su-57's questionable history, where uncertainties loom over its troubled past and bleak prospects for the future. 🌩️ #Su57 #MilitaryTechGoneWrong #AviationFailures #StealthFighterDoubt #themilitaryshow

[shawnnew]

Russian tank commanders spend more time in the air than SU pilots.

[TheFlyingDogFish]

SU-57 is so stealthy, nobody has ever seen it in action.

[NothingIsKnown]

The Su-57 is the first fighter developed by post-Soviet Russia. Like the T-14 is the first tank. Both have yet to see extensive use in war but have financed several top-of-the-line yachts.

[jessieg]

It's obvious where all the SU-57's are. They are guarding all the of T-14 Armata tanks. Duh.

[derek]

Russia can't afford the su57...or the armata...or a new carrier....

[captainchaoscow]

The 57 in SU-57 stands for the year 2057 when this jet will be put in active service.

[BehindThePringles]

Well, at least the ejector seat seems to work.

[brettclark]

In the southern tradition of finding something nice to say, the paint jobs on the SU-57 are very nice.

[BeYourselfMan]

We have never seen a live SU-57. It must be the stealthiest jet in the world.

[davidjernigan]

Doesn't seem like it could be that stealthy with great big chunks of the engines hanging out in the breeze.

[Mr.Dodo-]

Let's compare the Su57 and F-35

Part 1 of 2
Stealth Design:
- The Su57 is not a stealth jet, but a low observable aircraft. This is because it has numerous design flaws.
From the front the turbine blades substantialy relect radar waves, because of the lack of S shaped air ducts. Furthermore rather than using radar absobant material they painted the plane blue and white for airshows. Additionatly the horrendous build quality exaggerates this flaw. Large parts of the engines are exposed and a rounded infrared search and track system (IRST/thermal) is used harming stealth even further. All in all the radar cross section (RCS) comes to a 0, 5m².

• The F35 has a great design with a Y shaped air duct. The lack of 90 degree angles and accuratly designed rounded surfaces avoid the double bounce effect. The aircraft utilizes large amounts of radar absorbant materials and is practically covered in it. The F-135 engine also was specifically developed to reduce radar return and the heat signature. Combining everything the RCS come to 0, 001m².


Electronics:
- The Su57 uses a 1st gen aesa radar "N036 Byelka" with ~1530 Transmit-Receiver-Modules (TRM) of cheaper slot style antenas with limited bandwith. The predeccesor Iris-B had horrible performance being on the same level as the 2 decade old mechenical An/Pg-70 utilized on the F-15E. So it doesn't look promising for the N036 Byelka.
The Su57 also employes 2 N036B side X-band radars with ~380 TRMs each. In theory this would help keep a radar lock while your aircraft is turning away. In reality the small size of the radar gives it only ¼ the range of the already poor front radar. In terms of functionality the side radars are complety useless, because a missile will be closer to the target and therefore will have a better lock than what the tiny side radar can give you. The only real use is for spacial awarness in which the range is once again a hindrance. Side radars on the modern battelfield are completly obsolete.
The aircraft also employs 2 N036L L-band radars on the leading edge flaps that are primarly used friend-or-foe-identification (IFF) or for electronic warfare (EW) also called jamming.
Usually the front radar is used for EW, but because 1st gen radars are practically useless at it due to limited bandwidth, the russians use the L-Band radar. The N036L does not have the size nor the power utilization as a the front radar therfore the peformance is not even close to the competition. The russian EW system also includes the L402 Himalayas with its antennas between the 2 engines. The most modern russian EW systems have been captured by the ukranians and have been sent to the USA for reverse engineering to find its weaknesses and exploits. With the gathered knowledge the F35 will get a software and hardware update to better handle EW.
To detect stealth aircraft without giving away its own location the 101KS-V, a single infrared search and track (IRST/thermal) camera is present on the nose of the aircraft. In all likelihood the IRST has poor performace taking into account that the previous russian systems were technologically left behind.
The aircraft can also be equipped with a ground trageting pod called "101KS-N". It has a day and thermal camera plus a laser to range and designate targets. Because the targeting pod does not have a stealthy shape the RCS is harmed further when equipped.
The 101KS-U missile approach warning system (MAW) of the Su57 is based on detecting ultraviolet radiation. To detect the missile the rocket motors still need to be burning. Most anti-air missiles burn for a few seconds before gliding the remaining distance. Therefore this system has a very short range and is only effective within visiual range (WVR) and is useless for beyond visial range (BVR) combat.
The 101KS-O a directional infrared countermeasure (DIRCM) system is a laser that blinds missiles equipped with an infrared seeker. This system can be found below and behind the cockpit. Obviously this has no effect on radar guided missiles and it is questionable if this system has sufficient accuracy to track a missile.
An omnidirectional datalink is employed in the aircraft. This does not allow for transmitting large amounts of data and makes sensor fusion between different aircraft impossible. Stealth is also harmed, because the omnidirectional signal can be picked up by enemy aircraft. The pilots need to choose between operating with coordination or giving up their stealth. Regardless of what they choose they end up being killed if their advisery are real 5th gen aircraft.

• The F35 uses the 3rd gen An/Apg 81 aesa radar with 1676 TRMs utilizing the advanced notch antenna design which is needed for effective EW.
The jet also incorporates a system called An/Aaq-37 Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System (DAS). It consists of 6 fixed wide angle thermal cameras that can track air or ground targets in a 360° sphere. It is used for MAW and spatial awarness enabling the pilot to see through the airplane.
Another system called An/Aaq-40 electro optical targeting system (EOTS) contains a rotatable zoom thermal camera and a laser designator for independent targeting of air, ground targets and dropping of laser guided bombs. EOTS even allows for precision strikes in an war environment where GPS is jammed.
The An/Asq-239 system has 3 main tasks: radar warning, targeting support and self protection.
The An/Asq-239 system can detect incoming radar waves in a 360° sphere. It provides a radar warning and locates the position of the radar emitter for a trageting solution without even turning its own radar on. The small antennas of the An/Asq-239 have weak performance in comparsion to the front radar for EW. Thanks to the small RCS of the F35, exceptional performance in EW for self protection is possible without a large power requirement. This makes the aircraft indistinguishable from the background noise for targeting radars or incoming missiles in a 360° sphere. Even if an enemy radar is just scanning for the F35, the low power usage makes the use of EW unnoticable.
As the last defense the aircraft can deploy the ALE-70 countermeasure. It is a fiber optic towed decoy that emits radar signals to jam the missile. Because the decoy is directly connected to the aircraft computer, different patterns can be created.
The An/Asq-242 is an intergarated communications, navigations and identification (ICNI) system. These functions include IFF and a high speed narrow directional datalink called "multi functional advanced data link" (MADL). It allows the aircraft to send data while not compromising stealth.
97% of the electronic in the F35 are accessible without taking other componets apart. This makes the F35 easily repairable and cheaper to operate.


Sensor Fusion:
- For the Su57 there is a lack of information about its data fusion system, which is not a good sign. I will take an educated guess that some sort of data fusion is present, but it is in the same poor shape as the rest of the aircraft. So the extremly deficient implementation of the sensor fusion will be feed by the obsolete sensors and the slow datalink. The russian enginneers have bigger flaws to fix and with only a few aircraft operational I doubt that the fusion algorithms are anywhere close to being combat proven.
The aircraft information is presented through multiple LCD displays and a heads-up display (HUD).

• The F35 can command the DAS system to track a target after it leaves the FOV of the front radar and combines it with the data of the An/Asq-239. This increases range and precision of the track and avoids multiple duplicates, allowing the pilot to make faster and better decisions.
The high speed datalink fuses all information gathered by all sensors of other F-35s. This enables the F35 to piece together a precise image of the battelfield and exand its capabilities.
If the aircraft indetifies an object it is marked and geolocated for all NATO troops, infantery, tanks, ships, aircraft, ... This data can then be changed or updated in real time.
The pilot is being presented all this information by multiple touch screens and through an advanced helmet mounted display system with intergrated night vision, instead of an inferior HUD. The Pilot has also the option to interact with the plane through a speech recognition system.


Manoeuvrability:
- The Su57 has a maximum speed of mach 2 powered by its twin Saturn AL-41F1 engines. The combined thrust is 177kN dry and 284kN using its afterburner. The Saturn AL-41F1 has a 3D thrust vectoring nozzle.
Moreover the aircraft has an empty weight of 18t and a maximum takeoff weight of 35t giving it a thrust to weight with maximum fuel and no armament at 1, 02. The jet has a combat radius of 1655km on internal fuel tanks.
The russian air force has access to 15 Il-78 aerial refueling aircraft.

• The F35 "Fat Amy" has a maximum speed of mach 1, 6 powered by its single F135 engine putting out 125kN dry thrust and 191kN with its afterburner. Furthermore the jet has an empty weight of 13, 3t and a max takeoff weight of 29, 9t giving it a thrust to weight with maximum fuel and no armanment at 0, 9.
The jet has a combat radius of 1324km on internal fuel tanks.
The american airforce has access to 398 KC-135, 58 KC-10 and 72 KC-46 aerial refueling aircraft. Moreover the F35 B and C variants are aircraft carrier capable.

[RdShift]

Those two, exposed, unoccluded massive twin engines doesn't look very stealthy to me, looks like you could pick up their thermal signature from space.

[hair]

It is a truly beautiful plane, 40 years late to the fight. 500 of those 40 years ago would have been a terrifying prospect.

[Outrigger]

The top aces of WWII did not dog fight. They saw dogfighting as a dangerous and low yielding endeavor. Instead they developed ambush tactics. From top German Ace Erich Hartmann;

"I never cared much for dogfight. I would never dogfight with the Russians Get the highest altitude and if possible come out of the sun….

Ninety percent of my attacks were surprise

The pilot who sees the other first has already half of the victory."

And from some fighter pilot; "If you enter into a dogfight in an equal position with your opponent, your tactics suck"

The F-35 will always enter into a dogfight in an advantageous position with it's opponent, and will ambush with it's stealth and superior sensor system, like Hartmann did with his In Red Flag 17-1, the F-35 often entered into a visual fight, but despite being outnumbered, it still kicked derriere with it's ambushes. The F-35 will always see first. Incredible advantage.

[KenJames]

Just like the T-14 Armata Tank, and the S-400 missile system, Russian technology is usually "Smoke & Mirrors"... They all look good, but performance is always sub par.

[carlosmiguelteixeiraott]

"The SU-57 has been through a rollercoaster of development woes and scepticism."

Excuse you? How dare you say such a thing? that is patently untrue, after all, a rollercoaster has 'Ups' and this Plane has seen nothing but 'downs' the entire time.

[baahcusegamer]

“Joking aside” oh wait, that wasn’t a joke. Russia probably truly has only 3 working stealth fighters at any time.

[tormentorxl]

Is like to see the hilarity of a Russian built F1 car😂

[davidpalmer]

It is probably crap but let's be honest, It looks damn good.

[DeetexSeraphine]

The turbines are visible from the front.
The canopy shows no traditional signs of alloy doping.
The internal weapons bay can not be pressure-sealed.
Those 6 radars are mostly active scanning lateral sensors, yes this gives it very good high-offbore targetting, but in doing so its _Screaming_ its presence in your ear.

Im just gonna go ahead and imagine the implied airquotes around "Stealth", every time you mention the su-57 "Stealth" craft.