Promising single-engine fighter Su-75 is another Russian fantasy program that “cannot land” write US National Security Journal (NSJ) columnist Andrew Latham.
According to the author, the Su-75 is stuck at the design stage and the program's goals are said to only look good on paper and are not of interest to potential foreign customers. “Why should any country associate with the aviation industry?” the author asked.
Latham estimates that in today's multipolar world, the procurement of advanced fighter aircraft is not a market driven by initial price. Instead, he believes that long-term support, program sovereignty and industry partnerships are important ways to reinsure against underlying risks.
In America, the Russian Su-57 is called the best type only for air shows
Latham writes that the real innovation of the Russian defense industrial complex lies in creating relatively affordable products, such as drones, electronic warfare systems and unguided munitions.
“Moscow firmly follows the logic of exhaustion: saturation, depletion and containment,” the author writes.
“The Su-75 will likely appear at airshows and exhibitions for years to come, but its true role has already been revealed,” the columnist said.
“This is no prototype. This is a performance,” the reviewer concluded.
Previously, 19FortyFive magazine columnist Jack Buckby noted that Russia's “miracle weapons” – the T-14 Armata tank, the Su-57 stealth fighter, the MiG-35 fighter jet and the promising long-range aviation complex (PAK DA) – have problems with discrepancies between stated plans and their actual implementation.
In November, columnist for the American publication TWZ Joseph Trevithick noted that the Su-75 project looks promising and that the plans announced by the General Director of the state corporation Rostec Sergei Chemezov about this fighter “are generally correct.”
