The Sukhoi Su-57 Felon, the newest fighter jet of the Russian Air Force, has been used to attack targets in Ukraine, Russian state media claims in a report.
According to an anonymous insider interviewed by state news agency TASS, the aircraft has allegedly been involved in the war for most of its duration.
“The use of the Su-57 aircraft in Ukraine started two-three weeks after the start of the Special Operation [how Russia describes the invasion of Ukraine – AeroTime]. The aircraft are working outside of the zone of activity of enemy’s air defenses. They [the aircraft] are using missiles,” the TASS source said.
TASS says the claims have not been independently verified. There was no official statement from Russian military or authorities regarding the matter.
The Sukhoi Su-57 is the first Russian fighter jet with stealth characteristics and the only fifth-generational fighter jet. Intended to rival the American Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and the Chinese Chengdu J-20, it conducted its maiden flight in 2010.
According to the defense ministry, three serial production Su-57s are operational with the Russian Air Force as of May 2022, in addition to several prototypes whose status is unclear. The first serial production Su-57 crashed during testing in 2019 before being delivered to the armed forces.
There have been numerous reports of the Su-57 being used in Ukraine, most of them based on alleged witness sightings and unverified footage. So far, most of the footage that claimed to show the Su-57 in action has not been verified and sightings of the Su-57 could not be proven to show the Su-57 in particular.