By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
Little is known about how much of a threat Russia’s 5th-generation Su-57 Felon poses to adversaries.
Russian media says many things about the airframe’s performance parameters, yet little seems to be known about its computing, weapons interfaces, sensing, and manned-unmanned teaming capabilities.
Certainly looking at the configuration, the Su-57 does look stealthy with its blended-wing body and rounded fuselage.
However, how might it compare with the F-35 in regard to sensing and high-speed, AI-enabled computing able to gather sensor input from disparate pools of data and perform immediate analysis and organization to present integrated information to a pilot?
Additional specs on the Su-57 suggest it can hit speeds of Mach 2 and travel ranges out to 2,200 miles.
This makes the jet slightly slower than an F-22, which can reportedly hit speeds of Mach 2.25. Also, the Su-57 may not have a thrust-to-weight ratio able to rival an F-22, meaning it may not be as competitive as a complete air-dominance platform such as the F-22.