Russian SU-57 vs. F-35 Fighter Pilot Reacts

Fighter pilot reacts to the Russian SU-57 vs the USA F-35. Which fighter jet is faster?

[ogdocvato]

The F-35 is so numerous that it will almost always operate in groups. MADL + block 4 gives them a hive-mind where the sum of their lethality is greater than the number of jets.

[josephforrest]

The problem with making any assumptions bout the SU 57 is... It's still in development. Russia simply doesn't have the budget to crank out design ideas the way the west does. So upgradability over time, is baked into their strategy, long term.

The block 2 SU57, is going to be a completely different animal, to the block 1. They will likely upgrade both the main radar, and the cheek radars in the block 3. The back portion is going through changes, to reduce RCS from the engine. As you say, they are still playing around with the shape of the under carriage. The weapons bay opening mechanism, is still a work in progress. The engine inlets are going through changes to reduce RCS as well.

So it kinda comes down to a situation where you have to ask.. Which SU57 are you comparing it too... The model in production now... Has a LOT of issues. But they know this, they aren't ignorant of this at all. I believe they are looking at attempting to field an electro optical system. And this will be HUGE! I've herd rumours, that the US air force, have used the electro optical system on the F35, to kill a target 300 miles away. It may even be the key to defeating stealth! New computer systems are being developed, that can pick stealth aircraft from out of all that noise, and all that clutter, based in the movement patterns. AI machine learning, that sot of thing. So a lot of factors are up n the air. People make a lot of assumptions about the SU57, and it's kinda silly, TBH.

But the SU57 you will see in the next year/year and a half, with all it's upgraded systems... Won't be the SU57 you see now.

They are aiming at an RCS of 0.008. And that is a mean average. Not an ideal frontal aspect frame. America only takes the best angle, and touts that, as the stealth of the aircraft. Which is just not a fair way to compare the two. And honestly... Kinda dishonest!

The F35, is absolutely going to win in both ideal freeze frame, best angle tests, AND the mean average, But when you compare both of these factors, the upcoming SU57 will not be anywhere near as bad as what people spew on the internet.

The SU57 will be as stealthy as you can get, before you sacrifice aerodynamics, for manoeuvrability. That is their design ethos. Agree, or disagree, it's the asymmetry built into the system.

People wrongly assume, they tried to build an F22, and failed... It was never designed to BE the F22. It was designed to find weaknesses in it's overall makeup, and exploit it. It was essentially designed to beat it. Again, whether it can do this or not... Is besides my point. They were not designed to be analogues of each other. And that isn't a bad thing!

The F22, for all its strengths, is not perfect!. No aircraft is. ALL have weaknesses.

Another things people seem to talk a lot about, is exposed bolts and unsmooth surfaces... That is because it has never flown with radar absorbent materials. The F22 has those as well, when you strip the coating off. People keep saying these pictures are fake.. They aren't lol. That REALLY IS the way the F22 looks, without it's stealth coating! Russia simply can't afford to keep these coatings on all the time. And it makes no sense, when the aircraft is still in the development stage.

The latest coatings the Russians have, have a rating of -45 Db. If you work the way backwards assuming that the scale is linear, that means they are trying to design and develop a fuselage, that has an RCS of about 0.015. Again, mean average, Giving you about a mean average RCS of about 0.00825. Which is not bad at all! It puts you WELL within visual range. So your other targeting systems will have given you a firing solution, before that. And coatings can be designed to give you a rating of - 90 Db.

But it's not linear... It's logarithmic. I'm not doing the maths now, it's waaay too late.

But that means you can take an aircraft, with an RCS of about 0.01, and reduce it down to 0.008. And faaar lower!

We need to talk about payload...

The bays of the SU57 are HUGE!! I've seen configurations where they have 8 missiles in the main bays, and 2 in the cheeks. And there is honestly enough room, to double layer these. So you could potentially see a loadout of 18 missiles, all internally stored... That is FRIGGIN insane!

The US just currently doesn't have anything like that. The best they can do, is fly squadrons of F22's and F35s, with F15's hanging back. Which is fine. But really isn't really as effective, as having aircraft that can get right up to well within visual range, and then dog fight your ass off.

And this is before we get to drones of the loyal wingman type variety. Which will complete change everything! Seriously, combine machine learning, future electro optical targeting systems, and drones... And ALL bets are off! It's impossible to understand the impact these systems have! They wikl EACH be as revolutionary as stealth was!

The SU57 CREAMS the F35, in term of manoeuvrability! It's not even close. The F35 is simply not designed for that. BVR engagement... There is currently no plane in the skies, that beats the F35. It just has so many sensors, and they all work together in unison. It's about as perfect a system as you can imagine, given the state of current technology.

But get up close... And the F35, is going to be in real trouble!

Again, different air doctrines, different design philosophies. I'd love to see a theoretical match up. The SU57 even out classes the F22, for shear manoeuvrability.

I've herd there are 3 different variants of the product 30 engine. The current iteration. One that has 3D thrust vectoring nozzles, that are serrated, like the F35. And one that could cross the design barrier into 6'th generation territory. Meaning producing significantly more power for future weapons systems; like high power offensive lasers, microwave weapons, and even particle weapons and the like.

So, you could even start to see different variants of the SU57 being rolled out. Or have a degree of modularity, engine wise, where you chose which engine suits the mission best.

It's just all up in the air. Which is why these kinds of comparisons are so hard, and also why they are often so highly inaccurate.

But it's fun to do it, no doubt. We just have to admit that ultimately... It's almost impossible to say.

[Mav]

Last July I had the chance of receiving a tour of an Air National Guard F-35A Base. In said tour, a F-35A (previously F-16C) pilot said to imagine a basketball, the F-16 would fly around it where the F-35 could fly inside of it. He also said that the F-35A is great at PSM (not quite F-22 great but still great). So from what I understood is that the F-35 is not a turn fighter but the Post Stall Maneuvering (PSM) fighter. This gave me the love for the F-35 and it remains my favorite plane to this day.

Great vid as always Neo and thank you for your service! 🇺🇸

[kvarnerinfoTV]

So much wrong data in this video.
Su-57 is faster than F-22, let alone slow F-35. 57 max soeed is 1616, not 1400 to 1500. It was not meant to be used va 4 gen olanes but 5th gen. 57 is not 4++ gen, it is 5th gen..etc.

[gregtheegg]

I drew the same conclusion, but was not aware that ruz pilots start at bvr. Like you, it seems the pilot, their experience of flying while fighting, the situational awareness, the deep familiarity with the electronics, airframe, tactics, exploiting terrain features, and more, will likely be the deciding things. Great vid!

[johnpaulbacon]

Nice video. I would give the advantage to the F-35's most of the time. I would bet that both the F-35's and F-22's have thrust vectoring now. Yes Russia came out with it - but the US has had it for a while now.

[kosher]

Electronic warfare countermeasures, including active counteraction to IR-guided missiles, have no analogues

[zrav]

It makes much more sense to compare the Su-57 to the F-22. Both are designed with a strong emphasis on air superiority, have similar thrust to weight ratio, wing loading, size, thrust vectoring. The F-35 family on the other hand came from the Joint Strike Fighter program, which had very different design goals.

[Highbread]

I Love flipping the bird.... Be Jet Clean ppl

[MostHigh]

No it's not the closest match up because the su-57 does not possess stealth technology and so would be easily shot down by the f-35 long before it knew the f-35 was there. Let me say it again this is not a stealth technology fighter and consequently not a fifth generation fighter.

[EvellinDichev]

in simple words, Long range ( not in visual range) the winner is F-35 ( still depends of the place, as if its covered by Niobium f-35 will be visible as light house ). In dog fight situation due to higher maneuverability Su-57, but that 360 locking system gives a chance to f-35 to do some crazy shits. and over all, depends on the situation.

[vilyam]

I wish there was an unbiased video somewhere

[badwolftx]

Luckily, there's practically no place on the globe where these 2 planes could ever go head-to-head.

[Nanchon]

Great video as always. It would be nice if you coul duse DCS to get some B-roll for the scenarios (just a small Quality of life tweak)

[markoconnell]

Compare the f-22 to the tic tac pulled from sensor data.

[dennisarzubiaga]

Excellent presentation wish there were more people here watching live yay 🎉. Thankyou for your service at Nellis AFB. 💪

[jimm]

How many SU-57’s are in service presently?

[Justanotherconsumer]

Hard to really cut through the jingoistic puffery inherent to dealing with prestige military projects like fighters, but the US is pushing hard on getting a 6th Gen into service, so the J-20 or the Su-57 must be at least competitive in some way with the F-35.

Is dogfighting dead? People claimed that in the 1960’s with the advent of competent (ish) missiles.

The J-20 definitely seems like the opposite of the Su-57 when it comes to prioritizing of maneuvering.

Would love to see an F-35/J-20 comparison.

[Soccera]

The F135-PW-300 does have thrust vectoring.

[Ronifromearth]

I will not bet on BVR though, to f35
Until the Block 4 doesn't gets inducted into the airforce 😊
The block 4 will have the highest level of radar capabilities
GaN based radar will chew su57 apart