MOSCOW – Work on sixth-generation fighters is underway in Russia, with the possibility of pilot control expected to be optional, State Research Institute of Aviation Systems (GosNIIAS) Director General Sergey Khokhlov said in an interview with Sputnik.
“Work on the sixth generation is already underway. The main difference from the fifth generation will lie in the fact that the basic version of the sixth-generation fighter is expected to be unmanned. The possibility of pilot control will be optional.
All the other characteristics represent a further development of the already existing ones. [The sixth-generation fighters will be] even faster, even more manoeuvrable, even more imperceptible, and so on,” Khokhlov said.
Fifth-generation Su-57 fighters are currently being used in Russia. The country’s Aerospace Forces will receive a first series-produced Su-57 fighter by the end of the year, as a contract for 76 Su-57 fighters was signed at the ARMY-2019 International Military and Technical Forum, which Russia hosted in late June.
