Russia Announces First Export Deliveries of Su-57 Fighter Jets

Russia has announced that it has delivered the first two of its newest Su-57 fighter jets to a foreign customer.

The Interfax news agency reported on this.

According to Vadim Badekha, Director General of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), the aircraft are already in service in the purchasing country.

He noted that the delivery was made under an export contract, but did not specify which country received the jets.

“Our foreign customer, our foreign partner, already received the first two aircraft. They have begun combat duty and are demonstrating their best capabilities. Our customer is satisfied,” Badekha said.

Last November, Rosoboronexport announced the signing of the first contract for the export of Su-57 fighter jets, although the buyers were not named.

Recently, internal documentation from the Rostec corporation, published by the hacker group Black Mirror, revealed that Algeria has become the customer for Russia’s Su-57s.

This country is a traditional purchaser of Russian combat aircraft and other weaponry.

Previously, Russian officials also claimed that foreign customers from the Middle East and Asia were allegedly showing interest in the newest Russian Su-57 fighter jet.

Su-57 Fighter Jet

The Su-57 was developed by the Sukhoi company (part of UAC) and is produced at the aircraft plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur (KnAAZ). It is a multirole fighter whose development started in the early 2000s, and it made its first flight on January 29, 2010. At the end of 2020, Russia received its first Su-57 fighter jet into service. The aircraft with tail number 01 entered service with one of the aviation regiments of Russia’s Southern Military District.

In December 2019, the first serially produced Su-57 fighter crashed in Khabarovsk Krai. The incident occurred 11 km from the Dzemgi airfield. This was the first crash involving a fighter of this type. At the time, the aircraft had not yet been handed over to the military.

In June 2024, Russia acknowledged that at the Akhtubinsk airfield in the Astrakhan region, Ukrainian drones had struck two of its newest Su-57 fighter jets.