Salute Academy

The German air force in late 2019 operates 141 surviving Typhoons plus 74 Tornado fighter-bombers and 30 Tornado ECRs, the latter equipped with special weapons and sensors for the dangerous suppression-of-enemy-air-defenses, or SEAD, mission.

The Su-57 is a new Russian fighter aircraft. It started life of the PAK FA (or Future Frontline Aircraft System). In 2017 this aircraft received a regular Su- designation. This new stealthy aircraft was designed intended to replace ageing MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters. It can be seen as a Russian answer to the US F-22 Raptor. Development of this aircraft commenced in 2001. A prototype was revealed and made its first flight in 2010. It was planned that in 2018 a first batch of 12 pre-production fighters will be delivered to the Russian Air Force. In fact in 2018 a couple of pre-production Su-57 fighters were deployed in Syria. Full-scale production was planned to begin in 2019. Though in 2019 there was a first known crash of the Su-57. This new stealth fighter crashed during a test flight after the control systems have failed. This could become a setback into mass production of this Russian stealthy fighter. In 2022 it was announced that only 2 Su-57 fighters to the Russian Air Force during the year. Russian Air Force has a requirement for up to 150-200 of these new multi-role fighters. Deliveries were planned to be completed by 2028, though it is unclear if the Russians will compete this goal on time due to sanctions imposed on Russia.