Su-57 warplanes passed a new test test in real combat conditions, creating a “single information network”, which made it possible to effectively identify and hit targets, including air defense systems. This was reported to RIA Novosti by a source.
Four aircraft, equipped with automatic communication systems capable of transmitting data in real time, “hacked” the air defense system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, carried out attacks and gave accurate coordinates to ground-based weapons.
The Su-57, according to the NATO classification Felon (“Criminal”), is a fifth-generation multirole fighter created by OKB im. Sukhoi within the framework of the PAK FA comprehensive target program. This is the first and only Russian fifth generation fighter. The aircraft was designed to replace the Su-27 heavy fighter in the Russian Aerospace Forces. It made its maiden flight on January 29, 2010.
“The practice of using combat aviation often has a group character, with the exception of “free hunting”, where a fighter alone searches for the enemy. When a couple, a link, a squadron, fly on a combat mission, they act en masse, insuring each other and sharing the information received. In the Su-57, this principle has been made absolute. The aircraft not only receives information, but also analyzes it and transfers it to the place where it can be used most efficiently after analyzing it.
– told the newspaper. Ru” military expert, pilot, reserve colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky.
The expert recalled that a similar plan in the tandem of the Su-57 and S-70 Okhotnik unmanned aerial vehicle was already being worked out during the exercises in 2019.
“Then the drone flew in automatic mode. The interaction between the Okhotnik and the lead aircraft was made to expand the radar field of the fighter and, accordingly, to expand the target designation area for the use of long-range aviation weapons, without the Su-57 entering the zone of conditional opposition to the enemy. air defense, ”Drobyshevsky recalled.
According to Sergei Belousov, a member of the Collegium of Military Experts, the “network” tactics of using the Su-57, in particular, can result in the emergence of an “infinite missile arm”.
“A feature of the use of long-range weapons today is that there is no guarantee of an accurate hit. The aircraft does not enter the enemy air defense zone to avoid being hit, but therefore does not have the exact coordinates of the target. To get them, you need to approach the distance of the radar. Now imagine “Hunter” in front of the Su-57. And in front of him is another one. The chain can consist of three or four UAVs and as many UAVs as you want. And thanks to this endless chain, the Su-57 can receive all kinds of information,” he said.
In response, retired Major General Anatoly Kharchevsky said that not only UAVs, but also other aircraft could participate in this plan.
“The interaction of the Su-57 with the Su-35 was implemented in Syria. It was precisely about the possibility of creating a single information space for the entire air group in the performance of combat missions. Three Su-35 fighters and a Su-57 later joined the “pack”. They learned not to drop missiles and bombs, that is, they applied interaction, automatic exchange of information to get a general picture of both air and ground conditions. The general said that the Su-57 not only plays the role of an “information collector”, but also the role of relaying it to other aircraft, already in a generalized form.
Military experts interviewed by socialbites.ca say that, in fact, the Su-57 uses the “network-centric” principle embedded in the sixth-generation fighter envisioned here in the United States – NGAD, Next Generation Air Domination, whose main task is simply the constant exchange of information is called.
“The Su-57 has crossed the line of fifth-generation aircraft and in terms of its potential can already be considered a sixth-generation fighter. Of course we don’t know the details. However, according to official information, the Su-57 in Ukraine works exactly as a sixth-generation fighter, as it was presented in the United States. What is shown in the skies of Ukraine is a huge step in the development of domestic combat aviation and the tactics of its use, there have never been such analogues in the world, ”said the author.