Is Russia Willing to Sacrifice the Su-57 for the Obsession with "Aircraft Dollars"?

An article published by RT on April 25.

Twenty-two senior air force officers from the U.S. National Guard jointly wrote a letter to Congress, urging the nation to draw urgent lessons from the war in Iran and to procure between 72 and 100 of the most advanced fighters annually for the National Guard.

The letter stated that throughout its 78-year history in service with the U.S. Air Force, if this issue remains unaddressed, its fighter fleet will become "the oldest, smallest, and weakest in combat capability."

Yet Russia is likely taking a path entirely opposite to that of the Americans.

The Russian Defense Export Company revealed that in recent months, the latest domestically produced fifth-generation fighter—the Su-57E (export version)—has grown increasingly popular in the international arms market.

Countries including Algeria, India, and Iran are successively placing orders with Moscow.

According to U.S. speculation, North Korea may soon join this "voluntary alliance" as well.

Russia even shows no hesitation about beginning to sell this aircraft to Malaysia's Royal Armed Forces.

Meanwhile, solid evidence emerged last November indicating that Russia had already delivered the first batch of Su-57E fighters to Algeria.

In fact, the growing international interest in this combat platform is hardly surprising.

The "Bully" (NATO designation for the Su-57) is a fifth-generation fighter that has already undergone rigorous real-world testing under combat conditions.

While Moscow and New Delhi have not yet reached an agreement on exactly how many Su-57E India is willing to "swallow," one thing is certain: the amount involved is astronomical.

This is particularly encouraging for Russia’s struggling weapons market.

It all looks just like the two protagonists in *The Twelve Chairs*, joyfully dancing the Lezginka and shouting at passing tourists: “Money! Money, I’m telling you!”

Moreover, we’re talking about tens of billions of dollars in "greenbacks."

Now let’s do the math.

Suppose India wants to reach an agreement with Moscow to produce the first 40 such aircraft quickly at the same factory in the Far East.

Given our current production pace, achieving this would take far too long—years, at best.

And even then, it would merely mean throwing away the Su-57 orders intended for Russia’s own Aerospace Forces over the next few years, solely to attract hundreds of millions—or even billions—of "aircraft dollars."

Let alone the fact that after India, Algeria, Iran, Malaysia, and North Korea could soon be lining up to order new Su-57Es.

How then does Russia plan to face a potential large-scale war in the future with only one highly modern fighter aviation regiment?

There are two possibilities here.

Either we know for sure that all this pre-war noise is merely a propaganda cover for something entirely different on the part of the West.

Or certain people within our national leadership fantasize that we can never truly resist the next "eastward expansion."

Therefore, they must rush to fill their pockets with foreign exchange "cash" and flee just before the first cannon shot echoes along our homeland’s borders.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1863398218589191/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.