On September 12, 2024, PJSC United Aircraft Corporation (UAC, part of Rostec State Corporation) announced that it had transferred a batch of new Su-57 and Su-35S aircraft to the Russian Aerospace Forces. The fifth-generation Su-57 fighters were accepted by the technical staff, passed a full cycle of factory tests, and were tested in various operating modes by pilots of the Russian Ministry of Defense. The planes flew to the home airfield.
One of the Su-57 fighters from among the first batch of aircraft of this type transferred to the Russian Aerospace Forces in 2024, built by the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aviation Plant named after Yuri Gagarin (KnAAZ) PJSC United Aircraft Corporation, September 2024 (c) PJSC United Aircraft Corporation
"The vehicles transferred to the troops are distinguished by high flight performance characteristics, which are appreciated by our pilots. The Su-57s of the following batches are in varying degrees of readiness. Su-35S aircraft are also in a high state of readiness," said Vladimir Artyakov, First Deputy General Director of Rostec State Corporation.
Today, the production is being updated at the UAC enterprise, where the fighters are manufactured. As part of the implementation of promising technical re-equipment projects, construction and installation work has been completed at new facilities of the flight test station. To expand the serial production of the Su-57, the construction of an additional building has begun, where the fifth-generation aircraft systems will be tested.
"The number of fifth-generation fighters entering the Russian Aerospace Forces is increasing annually. To date, the promising fifth-generation Su-57 aviation complex is the most modern front-line aviation aircraft in Russia," said Yuri Slyusar, General Director of the UAC.
From the bmpd side, we point out that, thus, the first batch of Su-57 fighters manufactured by the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aviation Plant named after Yu.A. Gagarin (KnAAZ) UAC was transferred to the Russian Aerospace Forces in 2024. This batch is a continuation of the implementation of the contract concluded in June 2019 by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation with PJSC Sukhoi Company for the supply to the Armed Forces of a total of 76 serial Su-57 fighters (including the first two aircraft separately contracted in 2018), with a contract term of 2027. As usual, in the KLA reports, starting in 2022, the number of delivered aircraft is not disclosed, and the side numbers of fighters on the official photo and video materials distributed are retouched.
Judging by the video, the Su-57 fighters of the first batch of 2024 have red tail numbers. According to unofficial reports, the transferred batch included three aircraft.
According to known information, by the beginning of 2024, 22 serial Su-57 fighters had been built under this contract, of which, after the loss of the main one on December 24, 2019 at the final stage of factory tests, the Russian Aerospace Forces received 21 aircraft. In 2020-2021, KnAAZ transferred four Su-57 aircraft to the Russian Aerospace Forces, and in 2022 - six more (two in May and four in December ), and in 2023 - 11 Su-57 aircraft (in two batches in September and December ).
As for the batch of Su-35S fighters indicated in the message (regarding the fact of delivery of which to the VKS in the UAC press release, however, there is obvious ambiguity), this should be the third batch of Su-35S in 2024, transferred by KnAAZ to the Ministry of Defense of Russia. Earlier it was reported about the transfer of two batches of these aircraft in April and May 2024.
Presumably, the Su-35S fighters that have now been transferred were manufactured within the framework of the fourth contract concluded in 2021 by the KLA for the supply of Su-35S aircraft to the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is possible that this contract includes 24 aircraft for delivery by 2024. Presumably, the first four fighters under this contract were delivered to the VKS in December 2022 and, apparently, had blue tail numbers "04", "05", "06" and "07". Also, presumably, in 2023, 12 Su-35S aircraft were delivered under this contract.
Prior to that, under three previous contracts in 2009, 2015 and 2020, the Russian Aerospace Forces received 104 serial Su-35S aircraft from 2012 to 2022, and taking into account the sides delivered under the new contract in 2022 and 2023, by the beginning of 2024, the Russian Aerospace Forces received 120 serial Su-35S.
One of the Su-57 fighters from among the first batch of aircraft of this type transferred to the Russian Aerospace Forces in 2024, built by the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aviation Plant named after Yuri Gagarin (KnAAZ) PJSC United Aircraft Corporation, September 2024 (c) PJSC United Aircraft Corporation
Video (from) UAC:
