Magomed Tolboyev, a renowned test pilot who celebrated his 70th birthday on January 20, said that the Russian Su-57 would have the advantage were it to face an F-35 in a one-on-one dogfight.
Maneuverability would be the Sukhoi-built aircraft’s greatest advantage, according to Tolkoyev, who boasted that it would not be a close fight either.
Sure. I'll grant that. In a swirling dog fight bet on the Su-57 over the F-35.
But the F-35 is designed to fight with the tray table down. And the (former?) pilot actually understands that despite the misleading title:
“Today, you no longer fight one on one,” Tolkoyev added. “Everything depends on your support. There is electronic warfare today. This is no longer a sparring tatami, but a complex approach to tactical issues.”
As Strategypage explains in this post:
What the F-35 flight management software and situational awareness demonstrate is that the usual measures of a superior fighter aircraft (speed, maneuverability) no longer matter as much. An F-35 is more likely to see the other aircraft first, fire first and be more aware of the changing battle situation than enemy pilots in, on paper, faster and more maneuverable aircraft.
And who really thinks Russia's air force will actually field many Su-57s? I don't:
Russia is always promising working weapons so I don't have major worries of Russian promises of having 76 Su-57 stealth fighters by 2028. And the plane (formerly known as the T-50) isn't 360-degree stealthy, recall.
In that light, Russian future ambitions are kind of cute. Can Russia's industry possibly deliver a fifth generation Mig-41 air defense fighter in a decade? Doubts are rightly expressed. When the Su-57 crashes and burns--perhaps literally and figuratively--Russia will have the dreaded Mig-41 to hype.
I'm sure Russia can develop a fifth generation fighter. But it will be after America has fielded sixth generation aircraft.
So good luck with those Russian planes. On the bright side, either may be good enough to take on Chinese planes--where the real threat to Russia lies.
