In the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, as the war process continues to advance, the equipment of the two sides "at the bottom of the pressure box" has also appeared, such as the "Terminator" and "dagger" and other sophisticated weapons have been put into the battlefield, of which the Soviet-57, the ace fighter that the Russian army is proud of, is even more brilliant, in the Kiev War, the Su-57 ignored the Ukrainian air defense network, accurately hit the Arsenal of the Ukrainian Army, and staged a wave of "dimensionality reduction strikes". This is not only a "big show of muscle" to deter opponents, but also a real combat training to test the actual combat capability of the Su-57 as an air combat platform. So what exactly does the Su-57 perform?
Photo note: Su-57 fighter
dynamical system
The Su-57 fighter jets currently delivered to the Russian military are equipped with AL-41F1-117S engines produced by Saturn, the famous "117 products". This type of engine is an aerial turbojet double-bypass thrust vector engine with afterburner combustion chamber, which increases the diameter of the intake tract, improves the combustion chamber, and adopts a new all-digital engine control system with a maximum thrust of 2×107 kN and an afterburner thrust of 2×167 kN. Considering the weight of the fighter, the engine thrust-to-weight ratio exceeds 10. Relying on vector thrust technology, the Su-57 can achieve short take-off within 300-400 meters. However, the "117 product" has no obvious advantages over the "F119" engine of the Us F-22 fighter, and the performance of the two sides is not comparable.
Avionics systems
The backwardness of the avionics system has always been the "soft underbelly" of Russian-made aircraft, in order to catch up with and surpass the United States, the Su-57 is equipped with the N036 "squirrel" active phased array radar designed by the Tikhmilov Institute, which is superior to the AMERICAN AN/APG-77 in performance. The radar has five active electronically scanned array (AESA) antennas, and the system, combined with two airborne computers, can spot targets up to 400 kilometers away while tracking 30 air targets and launching attacks on eight of them. In addition, a unique active and passive radar and optical positioning system is integrated on the Su-57 to achieve a "smart skin" function. The SH121 radar system was also used, which included three X-band radars, placed directly in front of and on the left and right sides. The wings are also equipped with L-band radars to deal with low-RCS detection targets in the X-band, such as stealth fighters. In addition to advanced radar systems, new radio reconnaissance and countermeasure systems are also equipped, which can detect enemies and interfere without turning on the radar or exposing themselves. The Su-57's electronic warfare system and suppression of infrared missile heads better protect it from air defense systems, especially the U.S. military's radar system. The Su-57 also integrates IRST (Optical/Infrared Search and Tracking System), and the pilot's command and control of the aircraft is fully digitized, with all the information displayed on a large color LCD screen in the cockpit.
Photo note: Su-57 fighter
Stealth performance and weapon systems
The main reason why the two are combined is that for modern fighters, too many weapon mounting points can seriously affect stealth performance. The Su-57 was the first Russian fighter model with a built-in magazine and was equipped with four weapons compartments. The fuselage is equipped with two main weapon magazines, which can be used to transport and drop larger aviation lethal weapons, such as medium and long-range air-to-air missiles and large-caliber aviation ammunition; There are two smaller weapons compartments at the edge of the midwing of the aircraft, which can only accommodate one missile of limited size; The wings and fuselage have multiple detachable plug-in points that can increase the base of ammunition to be carried, but at the same time sacrifice stealth performance. According to open source intelligence, the Su-57 has a maximum combat payload of 14-16 tons, with existing Russian weapon systems and the mounting capacity of future advanced models. In addition, the Su-57 also built in the 9A1-407 type 30 mm automatic gun, mounted on the right wing protrusion, the ammunition base is 150 rounds. It can be said that the Su-57's weapon system is enough to support it to carry out diversified tasks such as air, air and ground, and attacking targets on the water. Moreover, by modifying the fuselage structure, optimizing the layout of the intake tract and using new material technology to solve the airframe void, the radar reflection area (RCS) of the Su-57 has been greatly reduced, and it is said that it can reach 0.1 square meters. Due to the absolute secrecy of the real data of the effective reflected area of the advanced fighter, the figures claimed by the report may differ greatly from the real information, but the relevant experts and scholars have assessed that the reflected area of the Su-57 is between the F-22 and the F-35.
The future of five generations of fighters
It has to be said that the current performance parameters of the Su-57 can compete with the F-35 and F-22, and even some of the performance is slightly better. However, the contest of the future air battlefield is also quietly changing.
With the interweaving and integration of information and intelligent technologies, future wars are gradually changing to an intelligent form. In order to take the lead in seizing the commanding heights of the future battlefield, the powerful air military forces represented by the United States are accelerating the construction of military intelligence. With the proposal of the "third offset strategy" with artificial intelligence technology as the core, the US military has proposed an "unmanned wingman" plan in the construction of air power, at the same time, Russia has accelerated the research and development and application of unmanned intelligent technology in response to the technological advantages of the United States. According to relevant reports, in June 2021, a Su-57 fighter jet commanded four Okhotnik UAVs to conduct manned-unmanned formation operations, the essence of which is to rely on the Powerful Airborne Computer of the Su-57 (also known as the "Electronic Co-pilot") to exchange information with the artificial intelligence core on the UAV to complete a specific task. The future Su-57 is not only a fighter, but also used as an air command and control platform, which can be carried by different airborne modules to fight with manned and unmanned fighters in formation, and the previous aerial combat that relies on the excellent performance of a single aircraft will not disappear and will certainly not disappear, but it is more replaced by "manned-unmanned aerial vehicle group".
Expert Profile: Weng Zongbo, an expert in the popularization of military equipment science, is mainly engaged in research on high-tech equipment at home and abroad, main battle equipment of various branches of the armed forces, and joint operations strategy and tactics, and has published more than 200 articles in military newspapers, periodicals, and magazines such as "People's Liberation Army Daily", "China National Defense Daily", "Weapons" magazine, and has been awarded the third class merit once.
Producer: Science popularization at the forefront of China's military science and technology
Author: Weng Zongbo
Curator: Kim Hyuk
Producer: Guangming Network Science Popularization Division
Source: Guangming Network - Popular Science China