New imagery of Russia's Su-57 fighter shows it with bays open, packing anti-radiation missiles and short-range air-to-air missiles. New footage of the Russian next-generation fighter reveals internal anti-radiation missiles, plus short-range air-to-air missiles.
✈️Звезда экспозиции в Дубае – экспортный Су-57Э – прилетел в ОАЭ. Скоро откроется 19-й международный авиасалон Dubai Airshow-2025. Первые участники уже начали прибывать на площадку. В том числе российский самолет пятого поколения Су-57Э, созданный ОКБ Сухого ОАК. Гости и участники мероприятия...
✈️Звезда экспозиции в Дубае – экспортный Су-57Э – прилетел в ОАЭ. Скоро откроется 19-й международный авиасалон Dubai Airshow-2025. Первые участники уже начали прибывать на площадку. В том числе российский самолет пятого поколения Су-57Э, созданный ОКБ Сухого ОАК. Гости и участники мероприятия...
The only Su-57Es in existence are either already in storage or under construction and will be shipped straight to Algeria.
The 8th flyable prototype (T-50-9 / Bort 509 Blue) will serve as a surrogate. The static prototype, T-50-7 / 057 Blue, could probably be shipped there as well, but I've seen no indication so far. Just going by the past instances where T-50-4 and T-50-7 were displayed together, with the former being a flight display and the latter a static display.
✈️Звезда экспозиции в Дубае – экспортный Су-57Э – прилетел в ОАЭ. Скоро откроется 19-й международный авиасалон Dubai Airshow-2025. Первые участники уже начали прибывать на площадку. В том числе российский самолет пятого поколения Су-57Э, созданный ОКБ Сухого ОАК. Гости и участники мероприятия...
Prototypes 058,509,510 and 511 have RAM ( paint) from the beginning of their flying/test career. Let us remind that prototypes 509 and 511 were in Syria on Feb 2018 .
''«Участок нанесения радиопоглощающих покрытий был передан цеху № 18 два года назад. До этого он был в составе ЛИС, специалисты которой многое сделали для отработки опытной технологии нанесения спецпокрытий», — пояснила корреспонденту газеты начальник цеха № 18 Светлана Латышова.
Процесс нанесения радиопоглощающего покрытия на Су-57 сложный, здесь применяются недавно разработанные и внедрённые в производственную цепочку РПП. Каждый слой специального покрытия имеет особое функциональное назначение и свою уникальную толщину, которая зависит от зоны нанесения. Компаунды — композиции на основе различных полимеров — в итоге образуют своего рода слоёный пирог, свойства которого дают возможность Су‑57 значительно снизить радиолокационную заметность.
По сегодняшним технологиям весь цикл поэтапного нанесения РПП занимает чуть более месяца. Как считают специалисты, технологические возможности и научные наработки позволяют сократить сроки выполнения этого этапа работ.''
Transl :
"The radar-absorbing coating application section was transferred to factory plant No. 18 two years ago. Prior to that, it was part of the fligth test station , whose specialists contributed significantly to the development of a pilot technology for applying special coatings," Svetlana Latyshova, head of factory plant No. 18, explained to the newspaper's correspondent.
The process of applying radar-absorbing coating to the Su-57 is complex, employing newly developed and integrated radar-absorbing coatings. Each layer of the special coating has a specific functional purpose and a unique thickness, depending on the application area.
Compounds—compositions based on various polymers—ultimately form a kind of layered cake, the properties of which enable the Su-57 to significantly reduce its radar signature.
With current technology, the entire process of applying RAM in stages takes just over a month. Experts believe that technological advances and scientific research can reduce the time required to complete this stage of the work.
Sources: article from 2021 :
В цехах КнААЗ идёт развертывание серийного производства истребителей Су-57
18 августа на Комсомольском-на-Амуре авиационном заводе им. Ю.А. Гагарина для обеспечения круглогодичного и бесперебойного производственного процесса введён в
The only Su-57Es in existence are either already in storage or under construction and will be shipped straight to Algeria.
The 8th flyable prototype (T-50-9 / Bort 509 Blue) will serve as a surrogate. The static prototype, T-50-7 / 057 Blue, could probably be shipped there as well, but I've seen no indication so far. Just going by the past instances where T-50-4 and T-50-7 were displayed together, with the former being a flight display and the latter a static display.
На 19-й международный авиасалон Dubai Airshow 2025, который пройдёт с 17 по 21 ноября, начали прибывать первые участники, среди них - истребитель пятого
When was the last time you've seen a Su-57S on regular deployment (like patrolling the border) where a luneburg lens would be necessary?
I for one have only seen them in strictly regulated photo ops, air shows represented through prototypes and from several kilometers away in footage of the type operating over Ukrainian air space with the S-70 UCAV.
so I ask because both the Chinese and the US use Lunemberg lens; I guess Russians don’t care if their aircraft radar signature is analyzed or recorded on the way to Dubai???
Prototypes 058,509,510 and 511 have RAM ( paint) from the beginning of their flying/test career. Let us remind that prototypes 509 and 511 were in Syria on Feb 2018 .
Given the nature of coatings, I'm also unsure if the prototypes, which at one point had it applied, still have it.
I'm unsure if it would even be viable for UAC to retain the coating on the test articles, given the maintenence cost which they have to bear. As, if I remember correctly, UAC owns the prototypes while the Russian government owns the serials.
After the necessary tests and combat deployments were completed there's not much reason in keeping the coatings in tact, so they were most likely at one stage removed.
It doesn't have to be intensive removal of large section of RAM or metamaterials. For examples, the seams around the aperture windows, the paint on/material of the windows that help control RCS themselves aren't there or if they remove the stealth treated fastener bolts and put regular bolts in I'd imagine the RCS return would be completely different given how surface waves work.
Yes but there is one detail to discuss.When 054 blue was in China (later in India) ,many sources immediately wrote about that crude skin surfaces with all of those bolts/screws etc ...
Video of Russia’s Sukhoi Su-57 (NATO reporting name: Felon) at Chinese Airshow debut shows off its poor build quality
theaviationgeekclub.com
054 blue was just the first stage prototype for the avionics testing ,nothing else.So w/o any RAM/paint,coating. Russian sources wrote that there was no need to send any prototype ( second stage) or serial aircraft to China/India with RAM/paint,coating as a precaution.
Btw ,057 blue or T-50-7 KNS was also in China ,here are its walkaround photos :
This particular f-22 was part of airshow demo team. their coating was not known to be upkept in perfect condition (since there's no need). Look at this horrid Frankenstein skin:
It's in the realm of possibility. Fact is however, the Russians aren't sending fully coated, combat ready, production spec jets anywhere and if they were to do, they'd take the necessary precautions (luneburg lense attached to the aircraft).
But given that UAC has a handful of prototypes laying around, there will never be a need to take one of the production aircraft of the VKS for demonstrations. The T-50-7 does well as a purely static display and for flight displays all the others are suitable. It's an advantage of having such an extensive test program encompassing a dozen prototypes or various stages. And to most people these prototypes are the same as the production models, so the marketing effect stays in plays. And the people who need to know more and are potential customers, they get to see material of the production spec models in private, or perhaps even an invitation to Russia to tour the facilities.
Maybe ''Bort number 511 blue'' known as 'The President' was/is only prototype with the RA-coating ?
''Called "The President", because it's a last prototype of second stage with strengthened airframe, equipped with avionics, and should be a pattern for serial production.''
They were made during S.Shoygu visit to KnAAZ on Aug. 2022, and on the photo is T-50S-2 ,second serial Su-57.
Question is ,was that production hall No.18 where equipment for the RA-coating was installed during 2019?
It's a bit strange that the aircraft has so many exposed panels and fairings after RA-coating was done,hm. It doesn't seem it is. Maybe it was only the basic coating over the metallic and non-metallic/composite skin panels ?
As it was mentioned ,during 2022 they opened completelly new so called : '' refrigeration center- chambers for applying radio-absorbing coatings to Su-57 fighters.''
Ultimately we won't be able to tell based on the information available to us. What remains fact however is:
> that the serial models are coated in a facility specifically constructed for the purpose of coating the jets year round.
> that various prototypes lack the coating or had it removed at one point in history if they had it applied to them for testing purposes in the first place.
> that Russia/UAC is fairly happy to cart around the prototypes to public air shows and do their flying displays without any concerns, but not the serial models. Meaning there's a clear reason for that.
It is useful of course but can't prevent soiling of the fuselage skin. 055 blue was used for that test launch and for the gun shooting.Had more photos but can't find them right now.
Russia’s Su‑57 Jet Displays Internal Bay Carrying Two KH‑58 Missiles For Stealth Strike Role.
On the 9th of November, 2025, United Aircraft Corporation released promotional footage showing, for the first time, the Su-57’s forward internal bay opened with missiles inside. The clip arrives days before Dubai Airshow 2025 and follows months of messaging from Rostec about stepped-up deliveries and upgrades. It also lands amid leaked documents circulating online about potential export activity, keeping the Su-57 in the spotlight. The content is operationally relevant because it confirms a suppression-of-enemy-air-defenses loadout carried internally while the jet simultaneously shows short-range missiles externally, a notable mix for a low-observable design. The footage features the test airframe T-50-9 “509,” rehearsing dynamic passes with the bay doors cracked open.
What the footage shows matters more than the aerobatics. The forward main bay is populated by two Kh-58UShK anti-radiation missiles sized and adapted for internal carriage on the Su-57, long-body weapons with folding surfaces mated to the Vympel UVKU-50 family of ejectors. Test-stand imagery and prior technical notes have pointed to UVKU-50U/50L catapult units purpose-built to throw heavy stores cleanly into the airstream from the Felon’s deep, tandem bays; seeing two Kh-58s nested in the frontal compartment validates that architecture in flight configuration. This is the first public, unmistakable look into that bay, after years in which only the side “dog-tooth” bays were photographed clearly.
Strategically, the timing is no accident. The video dropped on November 9, just ahead of Dubai Airshow, where Moscow is seeking renewed foreign interest for the Su-57 amid sanctions and supply-chain stress. The leak set attributed to the “Black Mirror” group, unverified but widely circulated, has stoked talk of export dialogues with Iran, Algeria and Ethiopia; Russia’s showcase of internal carriage for an anti-radiation mission profile is thus aimed at air forces facing dense, modernized SAM environments. For Iran, it underlines a pathway to organic DEAD capacity beyond legacy Kh-58 employment on older airframes; for Algeria, it dovetails with longstanding desires to field a credible fifth-generation deterrent against layered North African IADS; for Ethiopia, it advertises political signaling as much as capability, an aspirational anchor around which Moscow can frame industrial offsets and training pipelines.
Technically, two Kh-58UShK in the forward bay tell us about volume, interfaces and sequencing. The UShK variant’s modular, folding geometry and UVKU-50 ejector integration indicate the bay can host heavy ARMs without fouling the doors at partial-open settings, a prerequisite for “peeking” releases during high-AoA or transient G. It also signals a maturing weapons-management logic for internal carriage of long-body stores, something earlier glimpses of the Su-57 never conclusively demonstrated. If the external R-74s were strictly a display artifact, a combat-optimized load on the same airframe would likely move those SRMs into the side bays, freeing the wings and restoring the aircraft’s low-observable contour while keeping the two-ARM frontal load ready to prosecute emitters cued by onboard and offboard sensors.
Russia’s narrative scaffolding around the Felon continues: Rostec and UAC talk of incremental weapons-system and engine updates, while using dramatic bay-open fly-bys as proof-of-life for internal-carriage maturity. Combined with the publicity bounce from the leak-driven export chatter, the open-bay Kh-58 imagery and external R-74s present a curated but telling snapshot of where the program wants to be seen, capable of internal SEAD loadouts and flexible enough to tailor signature for the mission or the market moment.
The operational and geopolitical subtext runs in parallel. By making the front-bay Kh-58 configuration explicit, UAC is advertising a core mission: first-wave SEAD against radar-equipped adversaries. In a world where Ukraine, the Middle East and North Africa all feature contested electromagnetic terrain, a stealth-shaped fighter that can internally lug heavy ARMs speaks to the next decade’s early-entry playbook. For NATO planners and regional rivals, the signal is that Russia is hard-selling a package that couples low-observability shaping with heavy internal strike stores and enough close-in AAM presence to dissuade opportunistic intercepts, a concept tailored to saturate defenses, tear open corridors and complicate IADS recovery cycles. The venue, Dubai, ensures that message reaches precisely the procurement audiences Moscow needs.
This first public confirmation of a twin-Kh-58 load in the Su-57’s forward bay shifts the conversation from speculation to capability signaling: the Felon is being positioned as a stealth-shaped SEAD/DEAD spear with export ambitions to match, and the decision to show it now, on 9 November, via UAC’s own channels, sets the tone for Dubai and beyond. Prospective buyers and adversaries alike should read the display as intent to operationalize heavy internal ARM carriage, with the external R-74s a theatrical flourish rather than doctrine; the real story is inside the bay.
As we know ,there is Kh-58UShK/-E ( inertial+passive radar guidance ) and Kh-58UShK-TP/-E ( inertial + combined passive radar and IR guidance).
In the relationship with those two FWC's ,we can say that there can be attached next missiles:
AAM's: Izdeliye 180 and 810 .
ASM's : ARM type Kh-58UShK/-TP, ASM type Kh-59M2A ( Izd 720), tactical cruise missiles type Kh-36 'Thunder' and Kh-69 ,than newer S-71M 'Monochrome'.
So the question is, are they going to export Su-57 with flat nozzles (since various official and unofficial foreign outlets kept moaning about Su-57 not having flat nozzles), and will VKS receive this configuration as well?
So the question is, are they going to export Su-57 with flat nozzles (since various official and unofficial foreign outlets kept moaning about Su-57 not having flat nozzles), and will VKS receive this configuration as well?
So the question is, are they going to export Su-57 with flat nozzles (since various official and unofficial foreign outlets kept moaning about Su-57 not having flat nozzles), and will VKS receive this configuration as well?
I don't know. It is pretty clear that the flat nozzles were a late requirement and added several years into development (after the first production examples had flown). It is unclear whether it is truly a VKS requirement, or meant to please export customers.
P.S. The Morane Saulnier L had all moving tail surface when Garros first took it into combat.
Development of the Su-57, or most Russian aircraft for that matter, is not frozen, it follows a continuous evolutive approach. Several other features will keep "adding years" to the development, all while the plane is perfectly operational.
BTW, 20% improvement over AL-41F1 is 180 kN, but ok. Any source for those words from Marchukov anyway?
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