The Russian Su-57 Felon has just ‘broken through’, armed with dangerous cruise missiles

What you need to know: Recent images show Russia’s Sukhoi Su-57 Felon stealth fighter operating near the front lines of the Russian-Ukrainian war with two externally mounted KH-59M2 cruise missiles. This is unusual because carrying outside weapons compromises the aircraft’s stealth capabilities by increasing the radar cross-section.

-Analysts like Steve Brown suggest this could reflect a shortage of internally carried, more expensive missiles, or that Russia believes it has achieved air superiority, reducing the need for stealth.

-Operating with external weapons increases the risk of detection, which is significant given the limited number of Su-57s Russia has produced due to sanctions and production issues.

The Su-57 Felon looks quite dangerous

New images posted online last week show the Sukhoi Su-57 Felon operating with two externally deployed KH-59M2 cruise missiles. The Su-57, which is located near the front lines of the Russian-Ukrainian war, raised eyebrows for transporting the missiles externally. Typically, fifth-generation stealth aircraft carry their weapons internally, to reduce the aircraft’s radar cross-section (RCS).

“Carrying missiles on external weapon pylons compromises the aircraft’s reduced radar reflectivity and therefore its ability to operate in a high threat environment,” said Steve Brown. reported.

Why the external masts on the Su-57?

What is especially strange about the Su-57 operating with external weapons is that the Su-57 does not have to operate with external weapons; the Su-57 has two internal bays that can accommodate a modified version of the KH-59 cruise missile. The modified version of the KH-59 was compromised to fit in an internal weapons bay, resulting in a smaller size, lower maximum range and a weaker warhead.

“It could be that Russian forces are simply short of internally carried, much more expensive missiles, but still want to deploy the Felon, for which external hardpoints are available,” Brown reported.

Or possibly Ukraine’s air defense systems have been so compromised that stealth capabilities are no longer necessary to operate successfully in theater. Russia may have achieved something like air superiority, at least to the point where their non-stealth fighters can survive, thanks to a significant reduction in the presence of Ukrainian radar, fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles (SAM).

Once air superiority is achieved, operating with the larger, more powerful (non-internal) KH-59M2 would be the logical choice.

Or “it could simply be a choice to combine a cheaper weapon with great lethality,” Brown wrote.

But regardless of the reasoning, operating the Zoe-57 with external missiles entails an increased risk; the chance that the aircraft will be detected increases. And given the difficulties Russia has had producing the Su-57, any increased risk to a single airframe is significant; So far, the Russians have only been able to build thirty-two of their fifth-generation fighters.

For a jet plane that first flew fourteen years ago, that’s a glacier production rate. And production figures are not improving; Western sanctions have hampered Russia’s ability to build more Su-57s.

However, Russia has managed to circumvent some of the sanctions. Recently, Russia “acquired equipment for automated workstations to assist in the calibration and laboratory testing of specialized devices such as the MPPU-50,” Bokyo Nikolov reported. The Russians are also believed to have acquired a German-made Siemens KLE 360 CNC, a tool used for precision manufacturing.

So possibly the Russian efforts to do that continue production the Su-57 are ongoing and successful despite the sanctions, making the airframe’s deployment in the front lines more acceptable.

About the Author: Harrison Kass

Harrison Kass is a defense and national security writer with a total of more than 1,000 articles on issues relating to global affairs. Harrison, a lawyer, pilot, guitarist and minor professional hockey player, joined the United States Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.

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