Russia unveils new 'Checkmate' stealth fighter jet at air show

The Kremlin has made modernization of the country’s arsenals a key priority amid tensions with the West that followed Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula

Brie Stimson | Fox News

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin inspected the country’s newly unveiled "Checkmate" warplane on Tuesday.

The prototype of the Sukhoi fifth-generation stealth fighter was revealed at the MAKS-2021 International Aviation and Space Salon, Reuters reported. The show opened Tuesday in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow.

Fifth-generation refers to the jet’s stealth characteristics, a capability to cruise at supersonic speed as well as artificial intelligence to assist the pilots, among other advanced features.

"What we saw in Zhukovsky today demonstrates that the Russian aviation has a big potential for development and our aircraft making industries continue to create new competitive aircraft designs," Putin said in a speech at the show.

The jet was designed to reduce service costs. "Our aim is to make the cost per flight hour as low as possible, to make it economical not only to buy but also to operate," Yury Slyusar, Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation head, said, according to Reuters. 

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