"Checkmate Fighter Unveiled at MAKS Airshow

Note the sawtooth engine nozzle


Flight Show Pr0n Vids




And some stills as well

Aircraft black covers are very tempting, but we'd like you to focus on the details 😉#uac #rostec #maks2021 #checkmate pic.twitter.com/32rjELw4KN

— Rostec Сorporation (@Rostec_Russia) July 17, 2021

And a reveal from the manufacturer


By comparison, the proposed Boeing F-32

The new Russian lightweight fighter has finally been unveiled, and UAC has dubbed it "Checkmate", probably with an eventual designation of Su-75.  (That is the Bort number on the aircraft)

My thoughts on this are as follows:

• It looks a lot like what the production version of Boeing JSF competitor was supposed to look like, only with a 2-post V-tail, as opposed to a 4-post tail. (Boeing considered the 2-post tail, but dropped it as being too risky).
• It's a lot more slender than the Boeing JSF proposal, probably because it doesn't have to accommodate a STO/VL system.
• It probably won't be as crippled in its air to air weapons load out as the F-35, because the Russians are not trying to save a disastrously over budget and over schedule program, as the USAF was with the F-22. 
• I wonder if there will be a retractable screen in the inlet, as the Mig-29 had, to deal with rough field conditions. (It might not be necessary with the front wheel well behind the inlet)
• The cockpit looks very similar to that of the Su-57, which makes sense, because it simplifies training and maintenance for any air force operating both aircraft.
• The fact that they are pushing the name "Checkmate" hard probably has to do with their dissatisfaction at the NATO designators used in the west. (The Su-57 is called the "Felon" by NATO)
• The side bays appear to be able to carry a single a long range AAM, or perhaps 2 short/median range AAMs each.  There may also be a ventral bay.
• It should be noted that the Boeing proposal was widely reported to have outperformed what became the F-35, with the exception of STO/VL performance, which is what drove the decision. 
• I have not spotted a cannon, but I would be shocked if there is not one.
• It appears that the design falls on the side of agility as opposed to absolutely maximizing stealth.
• It appears that it will use the same engine as the Su-57, in the 35 tonne class, as opposed to the 40 tonne class used by the F-35, implying that it is a bit smaller.
• It appears to have lower wing loading, and hence probably more agility, than the F-35.
  

Hopefully, we will get a few more details over the next few days:

The new Russian single-engine fighter in the F-35 class—a field that is getting crowded—echoes designs dating back to the Joint Strike Fighter competition of the 1990s; ironically, borrowing most from the two concepts that lost that contest.

The Checkmate fighter from Sukhoi is to be officially unveiled at the MAKS airshow near Moscow on July 20, but leaked photos of a mockup in the exhibit hall, and fast-edited clips from promotional videos released by Russia’s United Aircraft Corp., appeared on the internet in the last few days.

The images show an aircraft with a large angular chin inlet reminiscent of Boeing’s X-32 contender in the JSF contest ultimately won by Lockheed Martin’s F-35 and also on China’s J-10B.

Checkmate also seems to have a short, clipped delta wing, which does not extend to the tail; again, like the X-32. The jet has two canted elevons rather than a standard empennage of stabilizers and elevators, harkening to both the X-32 and McDonnell Douglas’s JSF entrant, as well as to the YF-23 on which McDonnell Douglas was partnered with Northrop. The YF-23 lost out to the Lockheed Martin F-22 in the Advanced Tactical Fighter competition, and McDonnell Douglas’s loss in the must-win JSF contest was a major factor in the company’s 1996 merger with Boeing.

The new fighter’s tail arrangement offers reduced radar cross section—with a lower profile and fewer tail surfaces to harmonize with other aircraft edges—as well as potentially high agility. A chine beginning on the jet’s nose and inlet becomes a shallow leading edge root extension (LERX).   

Like its larger Su-57 stablemate, the Checkmate has a bubble canopy that slides back, and its infrared search and track feature is mounted on the windscreen, as it is on all recent MiG and Sukhoi fighters. However, UAC has shown images online in recent weeks of a faceted electro-optical aperture like the F-35’s, seemingly mounted on the underside of an aircraft. Other images that have circulated on the internet showing portions of the Checkmate have revealed sawtooth edges on the otherwise round exhaust, very similar to those on the F-35’s F135 engine.

I'm not sure that I have much to add at this time, except that I am getting a serious jet fighter geek on right now.