Russia says foreign countries have now ordered Su-57 Stealth Fighters

Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport has announced that it has secured new export contracts for the Su-57 fifth-generation fighter, as Moscow prepares to showcase the aircraft at the El Alamein International Airshow in Egypt.

As with previous contracts for the aircraft, the specific client and the number of aircraft were not disclosed. At least four foreign countries have now placed order for the Su-57, with Algeria having been the first client and having received its fighters in late 2025.

North Korea is considered the leading potential client, and with Russia having come to depend increasingly heavily on the country’s support for its ongoing war effort with Ukraine, raising the possibility that Pyongyang could leverage this to press Moscow to look for loopholes in the current UN arms embargo to supply new fighters.

The remaining clients have been widely speculated, with reports from multiple sources having provided indications as to which countries may have placed orders.

In February, speaking at the Innoprom exhibition in Saudi Arabia, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov announced that contracts have already been signed in the Middle East region for the export of the Su-57.

There is significant interest, and some contracts have been signed, though I cannot disclose the details, Alikhanov stated.

While Syria and Iraq were during the Cold War the primary regional clients for Russia armaments, both saw their governments toppled by Western-led military interventions, while Yemen, which was a more minor client, was deeply destabilized from 2011, leaving Iran as the only likely client for the aircraft.

In late August it was reported that the Kazakhstan Air Force was scheduled to receive its first fifth generation fighter aircraft within two years, with reports from multiple sources having indicated that the orders for the Su-57 were already placed.

Kazakhstan may thus be the country referred to by Rosoboronexport which recently ordered the aircraft. Algeria, a Middle Eastern state which is likely Iran, and Kazakhstan, are thus most likely to be the three confirmed clients for the aircraft.

The possibility of further orders having already been placed by other countries also remains significant.

In late January it was confirmed that Russian-Indian talks regarding a license production deal for the Su-57 had reached advanced technical stages, leading multiple Indian sources to comment on the significant possibility of the aircraft equipping front-line squadrons, and being heavily customized to meet local requirements.

In April the Vietnamese Defense Ministry was widely reported by local sources to have shown a continued interest in procuring Su-57’s, after multiple reports by local sources over nine years that orders were planned. North Korea is considered a further leading potential client.

The Su-57 is in many respects less advanced than the U.S. F-35 and Chinese J-20 and J-35 fifth generation fighters, although it’s standing against the older U.S. F-22 is much more favorable particularly in its avionics.

Primary advantages over foreign stealth fighter types include much earlier integration and access to a much wider range of air-to-ground missile types, much lower maintenance needs, and a far higher degree of high intensity combat testing.

Ukrainian sources reported by in May 2024, and again in September that year, that Su-57 units had intensified their strikes on the country, with reports in August 2025 indicating that these operations had expanded to include whole formations of the aircraft.

Military Watch Magazine / ABC Flash Point News 2026.