MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. Russia’s Defense Ministry expects to sign a contract for a pilot batch of fifth-generation Su-57 fighter jets next year and troops should receive these cutting-edge aircraft in 2019, Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said on Wednesday.
The deputy defense minister made this statement at a press conference devoted to the results of the Army-2017 international military and technical forum.
"The forum’s visitors displayed great interest in the latest Russian aircraft, including Su-34 and Su-35 planes, and also the cutting-edge fifth-generation fighter jet which has been named as the Su-57," the deputy defense minister said.
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"We are now considering signing a contract for the delivery of a pilot batch of these fighter jets in 2018 with their dispatch to the troops in 2019," he said.
The Su-57 (PAK FA) took to the skies for the first time in 2010. As was reported earlier, the experimental design work on the cutting-edge fighter jet should be completed in 2019 and its deliveries to the troops should begin at that time. As United Aircraft Corporation CEO Yuri Slyusar said, the pre-production batch will consist of 12 such planes.
Russian Aerospace Force Commander-in-Chief Viktor Bondarev said earlier that the deliveries of fifth-generation fighter jets to aviation units would begin from 2018.
The Army-2017 international military and technical forum was held in Kubinka outside Moscow on August 22-27.