It is notable that several U.S.-friendly countries have acquired Russian-built weapons systems. Russia’s new fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, Checkmate, has been described as a domestic jet that would be sold internationally. This raises the question as to which countries might be potential Russian customers. Will Russia sell its Checkmate jets to the UAE, which has expressed interest in the F-35 fighter jet? Perhaps it might even offer its Checkmate jets to Iran, Turkey and other countries hoping to generate a fifth-generation capability. It would make sense for Russia to foster an F-35-like coalition of countries operating Checkmate jets to counter the kind of massive data-sharing attack network the multi-national F-35 aircraft presents. However, there simply may not be anywhere near as many countries that are willing to become a Checkmate customer sufficient to produce a counterbalance to the global allied reach of the F-35 program.