As it turned out, the Russian Checkmate fighter was originally developed for the United Arab Emirates. This follows from the information released by the head of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) Yuri Slyusar during the presentation of the aircraft at the Dubai Airshow-2021.
"Since 2017, we have had a certain pause in the implementation of the agreement, but now the international premiere of this aircraft here in Dubai is the development of this project for a fifth-generation aircraft in fulfillment of this agreement with the UAE," Slyusar said.
Su-57 fighters (left) and Checkmate (right)
Image source: twitter.com/onceggyyy
According to Slyusar, Checkmate is not a joint product yet, but the UAC hopes that bilateral work will continue. In February 2017, the head of Rostec, Sergey Chemezov, reported that Russia and the UAE would jointly develop a light fighter of the 5th generation. According to him, it turned out that the aircraft could be created on the basis of the MiG-29, and work would begin in 2018 and take about seven to eight years, but since then there has been no news about the joint project.
Amateur comparison of the dimensions of Su-57 and Checkmate fighters (dotted line)
Image source: twitter.com/clemente3000
The UAC indicated that they had started assembling several Checkmate prototypes at once at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur plant. Also disclosed is information about what kind of power plant will be used on a promising fighter - it will be "Product 117" (AL-41F1).
