In 2020, Moscow presented its most modern, fifth-generation supersonic fighter, the SZU-57. The vehicles entered the service of the Russian Air Force a year later, and about three dozen of the stealth aircraft, worth approximately $35 million, are currently available to pilots in the country. In the future, this number will continue to increase, as roughly two dozen have been ordered by the Air Force.
The SZU-57s were held in high esteem by the Russians until now, and it was not often heard that they carried out operations with the state-of-the-art machines during the war in Ukraine.
According to Kiev, this could be due to the fact that modern fighter jets were only used very carefully, taking pains to ensure that they were not accidentally pierced by Ukrainian air defense systems. The loss of a single fifth-generation fighter would be a huge embarrassment for Moscow, as they would like to export these weapons to their partners in the future.
However, the spokesperson of the Ukrainian Air Force said in a television interview that such an SZU-57 had already been detected, which was used in an attack on Krivij Rih. However, Jevlacs added that in this case too, they played a very safe game to avoid Ukrainian radars. Aircraft with gas turbine jet engines mostly fire Kh-59 or Kh-69 long-range missiles.
The Russians were able to use modern fighter jets in the war against Ukraine before, but even then they didn’t make a big deal of the event.
Cover image source: Getty Images
Tags: Rare report Russian supersonic fighter SZU57 appeared Ukrainian frontline
