Russia’s new stealthy fighter concept, the Sukhoi “CheckMate”, is expected to be unveiled on July 20, the opening day of MAKS.
Russia’s new 5th generation aircraft concept, the “CheckMate”, believed to be developed by the Sukhoi bureau for the export market, will be officially unveiled tomorrow, on the opening day of MAKS 2021 airshow. Yesterday we published the first image of the uncovered mock up but as we approach the official unveiling some more images are starting to leak.
The latter is particularly interesting as it shows the “CheckMate” from a different angle.
The quarter view image is actually a screenshot coming from a video that was posted on Youtube on Jul. 19, 2021, by Rostec on the company channel, where it remained public for a few hours before it was made private. Why it was pulled, it’s not clear, but it seems likely that the video (the last in a series of clips used by the Russian arms industry conglomerate social media channels to tease the new fighter concept) was not meant to be issued today and it was spoiled by mistake.
The new image (on top of the article), along with a video officially released late on Jul 18, 2021, (that you can find here below) provide additional details about the new single engine aircraft (whose designation, based on the registration RF-00075/75 Blue, could be Su-75): besides the ventral inlet (whose shape and position reminds the one of the X-32 prototype), we get a better view of the IRST (Infra-Red Search and Track) sensor in front of the slide-back bubble canopy.
Interestingly, the “CheckMate” also features some mysterious bulges at the base of the twin canted tails, possibly housing the tail actuators or something else (sensors?).
The new video also shows the circular exhaust nozzles in a bit more details.
One last detail. It looks like the CheckMate promotional video produced by Rostec has at least one scene (the ultra low altitude head-on approach while flying over the desert) that seems to have been inspired by the first official “Top Gun: Maverick” trailer. Take a look by yourself.
Meanwhile, the Web is full of artworks featuring the CheckMate.
オーケイ分かった。正解はこうだな？(ヤケクソお絵描きマン) https://t.co/FxOsUI7FRe pic.twitter.com/RvRs8G8l8d
— Zephyr (@Zephyr164) July 18, 2021
