December 12, 2020
Russia’s premier defense contractor Rostec is reportedly planning to build manned and unmanned variants of a single-engine lightweight fighter jet. However, analysts believe the project may not be successful in view of current market demands.
The development, however, signifies a major shift in the country’s fighter jet program, focussed mainly on two-engine jets unit now.
Russian news agency TASS reports that the Moscow-based Rostec State Corporation is currently “working on a concept” for the advanced “light and medium-class” advanced fighters to be built in both manned and unmanned versions.
The Rostec logo
While the current information on the project is considerably vague, it does indicate that the new fighters could be smaller than the present Flanker family, including the Sukhoi Su-27, Su-30, and even the Mikoyan MiG-29 and MiG-35 Fulcrum.