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Su-57 Felon » Future iterations of the
Su-57 are expected to field new Izdeliye 30
engines, but the current Felons’ less-powerful
AL-41F turbo fan engines are capable of speeds
in excess of Mach 2, with a service ceiling of
66 000 feet, and a rate of climb of 1 180 feet
per second. This power, combined with thrust
vector controls, makes the Su-57 a speedy
and acrobatic adversary. While exact range
figures vary, it is believed the Su-57 has a
supersonic range of more than 1 450 km, or
3 000 km at subsonic speeds and carrying
external fuel tanks.
The Su-57 also boasts directional infrared
countermeasure systems that use laserOVERALL PERFORMANCE
The Su-57 and J-20 represent their respective nations’ first effort to
field a tactical stealth aircraft, and as such, they’re meant for broad
mission sets with low specialisation. The NGAD might shine via the
opposite approach: It will likely be purpose-built for sky combat.
NGAD’s design can lean into specificity while its competitors are forced to balance
disparate capabilities.turrets to blind incoming infrared missiles,
and robust landing gear to utilise less-
developed airfields. It might not be the best
fifth-generation fighter on the block, but the
Su-57 appears well balanced and fierce.J-20 Mighty Dragon » The J-20 jettisoned
its Russian-designed AL-31 engines in favour
of a modified version of China’s Shenyang
WS-10 turbofan, which will offer a slight
increase in thrust until China’s more advanced
WS-15 engines – purpose-built for high-
performance stealth applications – come
online. Chinese officials claim the WS-15 will
bring the J-20’s overall performance to an evenfooting with America’s F-22 Raptor. Concerns
about the J-20’s agility and lack of on-board
cannons place it behind the Su-57 in terms of
close-range dogfighting capabilities, however.
But defence experts don’t agree on how
practical close-range dogfighting is in the 21st
century, so it’s difficult to say whether these
deficiencies will haunt the plane.NGAD » The US Air Force has taken pains
to present the NGAD programme as
anything but a traditional fighter
development effort. This is not the
production of a single platform, but rather
a family of systems, and that might be
the future plane’s greatest strength.
Advancements made under NGAD will likely
find their way into crewed and drone
platforms that work in concert with one
another, making the heightened capabilities
offered by these aircraft more than the sum
of their parts. The stated aim of NGAD is air
dominance, and with China’s J-20 now a
decade-old design, and Russia’s Su-57 even
older, that goal seems within reach.5
popularmechanics.co.za MAY / JUNE 2022 47