Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the purchase of 76 of the latest Su-57 fighters by the Ministry of Defense, which are to enter service with three aviation regiments by 2028.

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Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-57 Stealth Air Superiority Fighter. (Picture source: Russian Ministry of Defense)

The contract, according to Kommersant, is estimated at up to 170 billion rubles (approx. $2.4 billion), which makes it the largest in the history of Russian aviation and guarantees a full workload for the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aviation plant for at least a decade. The agreement may be signed in the presence of the President at the MAKS aerospace show.

Vladimir Putin announced the readiness of the military to purchase large quantities of new aircraft at a meeting on the development of military aviation held in Sochi. He recalled that in 2013-2018, the troops received more than a thousand new and modernized aircraft and helicopters; as a result, 65% of the Aerospace Force aircraft fleet was modernized.

There have been several successive announcements of Su-57 orders, but none has been followed by production deliveries, so it remains to be seen whether Putin’s announcement of a 170-billion ruble order for 76 of these fighters will be implemented. (Picture source: UAC)

Yesterday, Putin said that by 2028 another 100 Mi-28NM combat helicopters, a version of hundreds of Mi-28Ns already in service with the Russian Aerospace Forces, should be delivered to the army by 2028.

This contract, and the parallel signing of an agreement for 114 Ka-52 combat helicopters, will provide the main workload under the current state armament program for two enterprises belonging to the Russian Helicopters holding: Rostvertol (Rostov) and Progress (Arseniev). According to a Kommersant source in the aviation industry, the total cost of these agreements is estimated at 180-190 billion rubles.