International

The Russian air force deployed Su-57 stealth fighters to Syria a second time since first deploying them to the war-torn country in February 2018. But that doesn’t mean the twin-engine Su-57 is any closer to being ready for mass production, to say nothing of its readiness for full-scale warfare against a high-tech foe.

The Russian military’s chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov announced the deployment in mid-December 2019, according to TASS.

"The fifth-generation Su-57 aircraft is being tested,” Gerasimov said. “They were re-tested in Syria, during which all the planned tasks were successfully completed."

But it’s unclear what those tasks might have been. The Su-57’s first deployment to Syria apparently did not involve any actual combat. It’s possible the 2019 deployment didn’t, either.

The two T-50s that took part in the 2018 deployment appeared in Syria along with a Russian air force A-50 radar plane, four Su-25 attack planes and four Su-35s fighters. The warplanes arrived in Syria following weeks of intensive airstrikes by Russian planes targeting areas controlled by anti-regime rebels in Idlib and East Ghouta.