Russia unveils new 'Checkmate' fighter jet

[Omaha Steve]

Source: CNN

By Anna Chernova and Zahra Ullah,

Moscow (CNN)Russian President Vladimir Putin got a sneak peek of a new fifth-generation lightweight single-engine fighter jet at an air show just outside of Moscow on Tuesday.

Russian aircraft makers unveiled a prototype of the stealth fighter dubbed "Checkmate" for the 68-year-old leader at the MAKS-2021 International Aviation and Space Salon in Zhukovsky, ahead of its official unveiling later in the day, according to a statement from Rostec, the state-owned military giant which is responsible for exporting Russian technology.

The head of Rostec, Sergey Chemezov, and the general director of United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Yury Slyusar, presented the warplane to Putin at the exhibition pavilion of the Sukhoi company.

The fighter prototype is unique and has not been developed before in Russia, according to a presentation by state-owned UAC.



A prototype of Russia's new Sukhoi "Checkmate" fighter is on display at the MAKS 2021 International Aviation and Space Salon, in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, on July 20.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/20/europe/russia-checkmate-fighter-jet-unveiling-intl/index.html

[NurseJackie]

1. ...

[GB_RN]

2. Some Fighter Planes Are Elegant In Design

That one is just…butt ugly. However, a lot of Russia’s stuff is…inelegant, to say the least. “[A] crowbar approach to design”, I once read about their hardware.

[Aristus]

4. I was a tank crewman in the Army.

We used to say that Russia's tanks were exceptionally ugly, but they got the job done.

[GB_RN]

5. Not Denying Their Stuff Works

Just saying it's ugly as hell. Design aesthetics are definitely not something they think about. Of course, I suppose in a war machine, one might say, why make it "look pretty"?

On the other hand, their T-34 tank from WWII wasn't bad looking as tanks go.

[Aristus]

8. Interesting viewpoint.

The agreement among tank enthusiasts is that the T-34, legendary reputation or not, is one of the ugliest tanks in existence.

This is all relative, however. Although tanks by and large are ugly because form follows function, every tanker or tank enthusiast agrees that tanks have a beauty all their own.

[Sherman A1]

10. Indeed

My favorite is the M4A1 Sherman which I consider to be the best tank ever built. But the Soviet T-35 was rather interesting in a zany sort of way.

[Aristus]

11. Obvious by your user name.

My personal favorite is the tank I crewed. (Most tankers feel the same about their own tanks). The M1A1 Abrams MBT. I prefer it to the original mark due to the larger 120mm gun over the original 105mm. I was on the test-bed for the M1A2, which introduced the Commander's Independent Thermal Viewer, and the integrated, internet-like computer communications network. I got to learn the electronics of the beast, but got out of the Army before I had a chance to crew it in the field.

My favorite non-Abrams tank is probably the old, ubiquitous Soviet T-55. It's the combat tank boiled down to its bare functional essence.

[Sherman A1]

31. We have a Sherman in a park nearby the house

it's an A3 model and I prefer the A1 turtleback version but it's still cool.

The M1A1 is certainly a great tank, no doubts about it and it would be the one I would choose for today's world, but the Sherman is just a classic in my opinion.

[GB_RN]

29. I Know We Could Churn Out the Sherman

But my limited understanding was that the armor couldn't stand up to the German tanks, especially the Panzers/Tigers with the built-in 88s on them; the 88mm shells would punch right through and turn them into a death trap. Same with the German Panzerfaust. I know that eventually the US tank crews came up with tactics to deal with the superior German tanks by swarming them with numbers and getting behind them, then hitting them in the thin, rear armor. But up until then, the Shermans took a pounding. At least, that's the history of the tank wars that I've read. Overall, it was our production ability that won the tank war. Well, I guess it was really our production ability (period) that won the war.

I'll caveat that with the statement that most of my WWII history is the US air war over Europe (my grandfather was a B25 bomber pilot), the D-day infantry drops following the 82nd and 101st divisions (next door neighbor was a Lt in the 82nd over Normandy, and gets a mention by name in the book Battling Buzzards: The Odyssey of the 517th Parachute Infantry Regimental Combat Team 1943-1945, and I knew another man who was in the 101st) and the war in the Pacific (great uncles were in the Navy and Marines, also had a patient a few years ago who was a survivor of Pearl Harbor). My readings on the US Army's tank divisions just aren't as extensive simply because I haven't had the interactions that led me there. Not that my curiosity won't get me around to it!

[Sherman A1]

32. One on one, you are correct

The Sherman was not a match for either the Panther or Tiger (if they were running, which often they were not). The 75L70 in the Panther or the 88L56 or L71 in the Tiger (depending upon the version) were excellent and deadly pieces. The Sherman's advantage was that it was mechanically reliable, had good speed, artillery support, air support and there were just lots of them there when they were needed. It wasn't designed to be a tank killer but an infantry support tank. Granted it probably should have been unarmored and up gunned earlier than happened, but that required changes in production and the logistical tail which had the potential to muck things up even worse than they were.

"Amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics."
- Gen. Robert H. Barrow, USMC (Commandant of the Marine Corps) noted in 1980

[GB_RN]

33. And I Just Learned Something New

I wasn't aware that the Sherman was designed as an infantry support tank.

From a few documentaries I've seen about the Eastern Front, I knew that the Tigers were technically brilliant, but logistical nightmares for the crews. Of course, the Eastern Front itself was a logistical nightmare, but that's a whole different subject. lol

[NullTuples]

17. Form follows function

In my opinion, airplanes started looking...less aesthetic, once radar reflectivity took precedence over all else. Engineers are able to hide it better now with compound curves and active stability systems, but it's still too often a battle between aerodynamics and RF reflection. And the aerodynamics don't matter if it shows up on radar.

[GB_RN]

25. The F-35 Looks Like Crap

The F-22 on the other hand, to me at least, is still a nice looking plane.

[NullTuples]

27. I kinda like the F-11

"the smallest airframe possible designed around a given engine"

"the only plane to shoot itself down with its own bullets"

Now THAT is a plane that fits my personal aesthetics.

[machoneman]

3. Our F-107, an old and stillborn design, put the intake on the correct side of the fuselage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_F-107

I think the radar signature from their bottom feed intake is a big mistake. Bad for them, good for us, I say!

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

6. I was thinking it's a knock off of the F-16...

... single engine and smallish looking. The F-16 was also an attempt to see how low cost they could go and make an effective fighter. Is that telling us something about the Russian ecomony?

[GB_RN]

9. Not What I'd Call Ugly...

But definitely...unique. The air intake on the bottom gives a more surface area facing the radar in order to bounce the signal off of?

[NullTuples]

18. Yikes! Good thing they have the "ugly" airplanes reputation or we'd be in trouble.

[Devil Child]

7. Light lighter with stealth capabilities at a budget price

If this is a checkmate, it is against export manufacturers hoping to corner this market. This could be this generations “MiG-21” that will be widely exported.

Much less a checkmate against F-22 or F-35.

[StClone]

12. Could well be

Russia has an economy smaller than Texas. The Lone Star State has 30 million residences and the Reds having 145 Million. But they got nukes and want to play tough guy with the big boys. More like North Korea than they are like Texas. As Malcolm Nance calls them, "a trailer park with nukes."

Checkmate, hmmm. Does NATO still give code names yet like Fishbed for the Mig-21?

[Devil Child]

13. NATO assigns reporting names to everything

The recent Su-57 was named Felon. It will start with the letter F that’s for certain.

[StClone]

23. How about Pawn

Or Fawn if an F is needed.

[eppur_se_muova]

20. "Upper Volta with missles" is how Russians described their own country after the collapse of USSR.nt

[spudspud]

14. Checkmate? LOL.

Looks like a juinor woodchuck, level one plane. Kinda looks like an F-22 crossbred with an F-16 only the scientists had a budge of $50 and some gum. Ugly. And a stealthfighter? With it's missiles being externally mounted? lol. This is definitely for export as someone said above.

[Mawspam2]

15. Fighter jets are so 20th century.

Conventional weapons are no match for internet cyber-ops, space lasers, and drones.

Fighter jets are no match for a bio-weapon like Covid-19.

[Devil Child]

24. But when you combine 5th and 6th gen fighters with everything you list

Then you get a whole new level of battlefield capability.

Check out this link describing whats to come.

[Snackshack]

16. Its a conglomeration...

Of an F35 (almost F23 given the angel of the vertical stabilizers) rear end. J20 mid section and an F16 front end.

[NullTuples]

19. I would remind everyone that this is a concept vehicle.

Sort of like what is seen for cars at the yearly Frankfurt, Paris or Detroit auto shows, or the Milan fashion shows.

I half expected there to be a so-called "booth babe". Oh, wait...pretty sure that's not Yuri.

[Evolve Dammit]

21. Back to arms race. Look at China's new nuke facilities. As Gorbachov said a year ago: "It seems

as if the world is preparing for war." He is correct in my humble estimation.

[Aviation Pro]

22. Single engine?

It is to laugh. Whattsa matter Comrade Putin? Your pilots too drunk to handle asymmetrical thrust?

Fucking third world nation with nukes.

[Devil Child]

26. Some data here for those interested

Russia's New Fighter Design Seen Uncovered For The First Time (Updated)

A new video from the presentation area of what will likely be a dramatic unveiling ceremony at Russia's big MAKS airshow outside of Moscow this coming week confirms a number of things about this new design and provide a few new details, as well. First off, we can confirm that the aircraft design has a single angular air inlet situated under its forward fuselage. Although we cannot definitively state it, it sure looks like a Diverterless Supersonic Inlet (DSI), which makes sense considering a couple of other clues that exist as to the existence of a Russian single-engine fighter concept in development that would leverage this technology. This configuration would help provide steady airflow to the engine across a wide operating envelope without complex mechanical systems and controls, but it would also work to help block the engine fan face from radar waves from most angles. You can read all about DSIs in this previous piece of ours.

We also see the aircraft has a slide-back bubble canopy like the Su-57 Felon, the advanced heavy fighter that this design likely shares a lot of subsystem architecture and other technology with. The staple infrared search and track system housing is mounted in front of the canopy as it is on all of Russia's modern fighters. We also see that the aircraft does indeed have a pair of tailerons splayed out at an angle instead of a traditional vertical and horizontal stabilizer arrangement. This configuration can offer high maneuverability, reduced radar signature, and helps in reducing infrared signature from many aspects. It's worth noting that a number of fighter concepts looked to leverage this configuration, including the Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) designs the United States explored in the 1990s that led to the Joint Strike Fighter. The YF-23 actually put it to use. You can read all about this configuration as it was employed on the YF-23 here.

snip

As I have stated in the past, this aircraft is likely an export product answer to light-to-medium weight advanced fighter designs coming out of China, South Korea, and Turkey, to name the primary players. These aircraft, which all feature some degree of low-observability, should they go into production and hit the export market, could erode Russia's share of the fighter market. Hence, the "Checkmate."

Article at TheDrive.

Russia's new Su-75 Fighter at MAKS 2021

No official designation has been given and advertised as being Stealthy, Scramble Magazine assesses that this new fighter will fill no gap in Russia's current inventory of fighter aircraft or other capacities. Probably the Su-75 model does not represent its final design. The cockpit, canopy as well as the landing gear are very similar to that of its big brother, the twin-engined Sukhoi Su-57/PAKFA.

Named "Checkmate" by the Russians, it is expected that the Su-75 will be largely promoted by Russia's Rostec State Corporation and United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) for export. In a recently released video representatives of various export customers are shown, namely United Arab Emirates, India, Vietnam and Argentina. These countries are likely to be interested in buying such new fourth (+) generation fighters in the future.

Some info from Scramble.

[NullTuples]

28. Until they actually fly they could be as much zugzwang as checkmate

This is like those car sites that publish "renderings" of what they think the new [insert car maker] [insert model name] is going to look like based on nothing but rumors.

For all we know the "checkmate" could be carved foam & cardboard.

[Devil Child]

30. Correct, what Russia promises on roll-out might not be the same as the end product

If nations place orders, then what-ever potential this platform has will be realized to its fullest. Right now its a fancy mock-up and a progression of an earlier project of MiG that Sukhoi now owns. I do not know if they have a fully flyable prototype at this point.

The much hyped Su-57 from almost 11 years back now stands at only 2 completed serial production models.

Russia is almost entirely co-dependent on foreign sales to advance their own aviation dreams. So sad. Many such cases.