United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) is doing things well with its advertising campaign and is releasing some photos of the new Russian fighter nicknamed Checkmate to warm up the audience before the public presentation, which will take place during the MAKS 2021 show.
First was the trailer, just 3 days ago, in which UAC confirmed that it would be presenting a new single-engine combat aircraft on July 20 during the first day of the MAKS 2021 show.
The trailer and the little information available in this regard, can be seen in the note that Aviacionline made about it.
Yesterday, the first “unofficial” photos surfaced in which the model can be seen, hidden under black covers, being moved in one of the taxiways of Moscow’s Zhukovsky airport, where the show will take place.
And today, more «unofficial» photos were published and circulated on the social networks. Apparently these are photos from another angle, closer and of better quality of the same scene from yesterday.
(Original source of last photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CRX–8JM2dY/)
Speculation is at the order of the day, everyone wants to know what lines are hidden under the cover.
The air intake is located under the fuselage and is probably identical to the scale model seen on the desk of Sergei Chemezov, director of Rostec.
To save time and money in the development of the new Russian fighter, it is logical that all possible elements of the Su-57 and MiG-35 have been taken.
It will probably have an internal armament bay under the fuselage, identical to the Su-57, of which it will also use the same powertrain, the Izdeliye 30. With a maximum thrust expected around 18,000 kgs and thrust vectoring, it should give the Checkmate outstanding flight characteristics.
Another notable aspect is that it seems that the new aircraft does not have horizontal stabilizers, depending on the vectoring of the exhaust and its vertical stabilizers in the form of V for pitching maneuvers.
Finally, looking at the photos carefully, it seems that we do not find a mockup, but a prototype. If this is true, we are witnessing the revelation of one of the best-kept secrets of the Russian defense industry in recent decades.
There is no doubt that it will be the most important and anticipated event of Maks 2021, for which there are only 4 days left.
