According to British aviation experts, the United States and Great Britain may derail the development of a promising next-generation Su-75 Russian fighter, Checkmate. The United Kingdom and Great Britain could pressure Germany and Italy to stop supplying dual-purpose technology and tooling for the new aircraft, which aims to use mostly composites –Russia lacks composite industries and depends on Germany to provide composites.
This month, Russia announced the development of a new generation fighter called Checkmate. The project was presented at the MAKS-2021 air show, and its presentation became a really high-profile event in the world of military aviation. According to British analysts, the new Russian aircraft is a very mysterious project. Its future is highly dependent on the dual-purpose technology of the United States, reported the AeroTime Hub.
British journalists stated that the very origin of this aircraft was founded in American X-32 aircraft. It is believed that its development was an initiative of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), but there are many questions to this wording.
Experts drew attention to the fact that shortly before the presentation of the new fighter, a mysterious video was published on the Web, which was supposed to stir up interest in the new product. The teaser trailer showed several pilots from a number of countries taking a keen interest in the jet.
The U.K. has successfully stopped the supply of South Korean FA-50 and Pakistani JF-17 aircraft to Argentina. Both the aircraft use British components such as Martin Baker ejection seats. In the Checkmate promotional video, the first character represents Argentina, a country that has been trying for decades to modernize its air force. The other was from India. The country’s air force is torn between developing domestic jet aircraft and buying any high-performance fighter on the market. The third pilot was from Vietnam, which is constantly credited with being interested in Russian weapons.
“The fourth character is the most peculiar. He first appears wearing a United Arab Emirates Air Force flight suit, watching the Dubai skyline from his dimly lit hotel room. Its inclusion in the video raises the question: is Russia going to sell Checkmate to the UAE? ” – the British newspaper commentators are asking a question.
The UAE Air Force is almost entirely made up of Western-made aircraft. The country is in talks with European and American manufacturers to upgrade its fleet of fighters, and most of all, it wants to buy a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. The U.S. approves the sale of the F-35 to the United Arab Emirates.
In February 2017, during the IDEX conference in Abu Dhabi, the Russian state conglomerate Rostec offered to transfer the technology of MiG-29 to the UAE. Still, the UAE Ministry of Defense turned down the proposal citing the MiG-29 as an obsolete fighter on the modern battlefield.
If American and Britain pressure Germany and Italy to stop supplying commercial-off-shelf dual-purpose tooling such as machining, malding and splicing technology, Sukhoi’s hope to develop Su-75 might be delayed, –but Russia fails to attract potential buyers, the development of the Russian fighter may be disrupted.
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