Russia’s fifth-generation Su-57 fighter jet crashed in the Khabarovsk Region in the Far East due to a technical failure of the aircraft control system. The aircraft’s emergency system responded in the normal mode and the pilot ejected to safety and found no injuries. A special commission will establish the causes of the crash. Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation reported earlier that a Su-57 fighter aircraft had crashed during a test flight in Komsomolsk-on-Amur 111 km from the home airfield.
This is the first crash of Russia’s fifth-generation Su-57 fighter jet. The aircraft had not yet been transferred to the military and still belonged to the manufacturer. Experimental flight test aircraft are produced at the aviation plant of Komsomolsk-on-Amur (KnAAZ, Sukhoi branch). The Su-57 made its first flight in January 2010 at Komsomolsk-on-Amur. In December 2017, it flew with new engines, and at the end of January 2018 it began flying with weapons
The Su-57, also known as the Advanced Frontline Aviation Complex (PAK FA), is a fifth-generation multirole fighter designed to destroy all types of air targets at long and short distances and hit enemy ground and naval targets, overcoming its air defense capabilities, developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau. Compared to its predecessors, the Su-57 combines the functions of an attack plane and a fighter jet while the use of composite materials and innovation technologies and the fighter’s aerodynamic configuration ensure the low level of radar and infrared signature.
In March 2018, the Russian Defense Minister said that the latest Su-57 fighters had been deployed to Syria. A few months later, Shoigu specified that the tests had been carried out in February during which test launches of promising cruise missiles were carried out from the aircraft. In June this year, the Russian Ministry of Defense ordered an initial batch of Su-57 fighters from United Aircraft Corporation. The contract was signed in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Army 2019 exhibition, and provides for the supply of 76 fighters.
