MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/. Russia’s cutting-edge Sukhoi Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jet incorporates the functions of the US F-22 and F-35 fighter planes but outperforms them, Chief Designer - Director of the Sukhoi Design Bureau Mikhail Strelets said in a live broadcast of the Zvezda TV Channel on Friday.

The fighter jet is capable of effectively accomplishing missions to destroy both air and ground targets as compared to the US aircraft that are focused only on specific tasks, the Sukhoi chief designer said.

"The F-22 was initially developed as an aircraft to gain air superiority. But eventually the Americans realized that it was essentially wrong to design the aircraft only for carrying air-to-air missiles and made an attempt to fit air-to-surface weapons into the existing configuration of its compartments. But the configuration of the compartments did not allow placing larger cargoes," Strelets said.

The designers of the Su-57 (PAK FA, the Prospective Airborne Complex of Frontline Aviation) faced the task of developing a multi-functional aircraft, he said.

"Regarding the load the plane can carry to its weight, the greater this ratio, the higher the plane’s quality from the viewpoint of the carrier. The same relates to the volume and the weight of the arsenal of weapons placed in its internal holds. And it can be said that by this indicator the Su-57 has no rivals among fifth-generation planes," Strelets stressed, noting that the PAK FA was also unrivaled by its acceleration capabilities.

"It so turned out and we didn’t choose this specially but if you sum up 22 and 35, you get the figure 57," the Sukhoi chief designer said.

Su-57 fighter jet

The Russian fifth-generation Prospective Aviation Complex of Frontline Aviation (PAK FA) fighter jet took to the skies for the first time in 2010.

As was reported in August 2017, Russia’s PAK FA fifth-generation fighter jet received the serial index of Su-57. The cutting-edge fighter performed its first flight with a new engine on December 5, 2017.

The experimental design work on the most advanced fighter jet should be completed in 2019 and its deliveries to the troops should begin at that time. As Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko said earlier, the first batch for the Russian Armed Forces will comprise 15 fighter planes.

The Russian fifth-generation Su-57 fighter jet features stealth technology with the broad use of composite materials, is capable of maintaining supersonic cruising speed and is furnished with the most advanced onboard radio-electronic equipment, including a powerful onboard computer (the so-called electronic second pilot), the radar system spread across its body and some other innovations, in particular, armament placed inside its fuselage.