DefenseRussia flies Su-57 with Product 177 engine for the first time
Russia has conducted the first flight of a Su-57 fighter fitted with the new Product 177 engine, after more than a decade of work on a dedicated powerplant for the aircraft.
Until this point, all Su-57 prototypes and production aircraft have flown with the AL-41F1 (Product 117), an engine derived from the Su-35’s propulsion system and adopted as an interim solution.
The AL-41F1 provides afterburning thrust in the 14.5-ton class and represented an improvement over earlier Russian fighter engines, but it was not designed to meet fifth-generation propulsion requirements. Its architecture predates the Su-57 program and lacks several characteristics expected of a purpose-built engine for a low-observable aircraft, including higher thrust margins, improved fuel efficiency and optimized thermal management.
Product 177 is intended to replace the AL-41F1 as the Su-57’s standard engine. Russian industry states that the new powerplant delivers 16,000 kgf of thrust with afterburner, placing it in the same thrust class as engines used on other fifth-generation fighters.
The engine is also presented as having lower fuel consumption and a longer service life than the AL-41F1, although detailed figures for dry thrust, specific fuel consumption and infrared signature have not been released.
The absence of a dedicated engine has been one of the main technical constraints of the Su-57 program. While the airframe was designed around internal weapons bays, advanced sensors and low-observable shaping, propulsion remained based on a modified fourth-generation engine for more than a decade.
This limited the aircraft’s ability to demonstrate features commonly associated with fifth-generation fighters, such as sustained supersonic flight without afterburner and higher performance margins when carrying internal payloads.
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PAK FA
The Sukhoi Su-57 is Russia’s first operational aircraft designed from the outset as a fifth-generation fighter. Developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau as part of the PAK FA program, the aircraft was conceived to replace older frontline fighters such as the Su-27 and, in part, the Su-30 and Su-35 in Russian Aerospace Forces service.
The fighter formally entered service in 2020, although early production aircraft were delivered in small numbers and equipped with interim engines and evolving avionics standards.
Russia has placed an initial order for 76 Su-57 fighters, with deliveries scheduled to continue through the second half of the decade. Open-source estimates indicate that fewer than 30 aircraft had been delivered by the end of 2025, most of them still powered by the AL-41F1 engine.
The introduction of Product 177 is intended to standardize the propulsion system originally specified for the program, aligning the aircraft’s engine with the design assumptions made during the Su-57’s development phase.
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