#supersons withdrawal making me crazy

[perplexedjokist]

it's cold and raining softly in gotham, around nine in the afternoon now - past most children's bedtimes and until a few weeks ago it would've been past jon's too.

being a hero meant having no more bedtime, at first it was great! like a dream come true

until jon realized, it really isn't all it's cut out to be, he gets tired near seven still!

he and robin - who has warmed up to him a bit now are on a rooftop, watching for crime and all. having a school trip to gotham this whole week gives more opportunity to work with robin! but boy is he tired.

"Robin" he whispers "see anything yet?" he gets a shake of the head as a reply.

being a kid hero isn't all it's cut out to be when the only other kid hero your age doesn't really wanna be friends. let alone people back at school, he thinks briefly - at least robin doesn't tease him for his glasses.

it's about forty degrees out he thinks? of course thanks to his kryptonian genes he isn't cold, however...

"aren't you cold?" this time he gets shushed.

he frowns, really wishing he just flew home to play with krypto by now, maybe kon would've bought him a soda and played tag with him on his way home.

as bored children do, he resorts to whining. "I'm tired.. I'm hungry, I'm bored, I'm tired, I want a fish, I miss my dad I -"

"will you be quiet?!" finally! some talking! why is it he has to annoy people so they'll talk to him? people are so complicated. gosh.

"nope." he says with a pout, popping the p sound. and robin frowns at him, he seems to do that a lot.

"aren't you cold?" he tries again, and robin moves from crouching on the ledge to sitting, seeming to have given up in a way. score! progress!

"kind of. if you're so bored you should go home." he sounds really annoyed now, but to be fair robin always kind sounds like that. "I don't wanna do that." robin makes a frustrated noise "you just said you did!??"

again, children are peculiar.

for a while they sit and keep watch, occasionally switching rooftops and stopping by two small convenience stores to get a snack and juice.

the next rooftop they sit on has a surprisingly nice view and is the tallest they've hopped this night.

jon thinks, mainly because robin doesn't like to talk much, jon thinks a lot.

he doesn't think robin dislikes him, just that he doesn't know how to make friends - and that's okay, jon had a hard time making friends before.. maybe he can help.

and if robin doesn't want to that's fine he thinks, he's happy enough to just sit with him, he's keeping someone company after all and that always makes him feel like he's doing some good. some people just want presence and no words, he can do that.

[santiagoswagger]

please write something for “You look pretty hot in plaid.” also congrats on 1.5k 💕💕

Thanks, Sara, you’re a gem! 

Jake and Amy’s relationship, according to Gina Linetti. 

Prompt: “You look pretty hot in plaid. 

When Gina first returned to the nine-nine after her short-lived stint in PR, she assumed she would once again rule the office like an iron-fisted queen and life would resume as normal.  

However, in the three days she’s been back, she’s observed a new normal.

Her desk in front of the captain’s office has always been the perfect spot to survey the entire bullpen, a fact she used to relish. She knew where everyone was at all times and she could eavesdrop to her heart’s content. Now, unfortunately for Gina, her makeshift throne’s incredible vantage point now forces her to watch Jake and Amy attempt to flirt.

She’s not an idiot, she called this relationship years ago on her first day on the job. Even back then, you could’ve cut Jake and Amy’s sexual tension with one of Rosa’s secret desk swords. In the last couple of years, she’d noticed that dejection would wash over Jake’s eyes whenever Amy mentioned another guy. Gina remembered those same eyes from as far back as his crush on Jenny Gildenhorn in seventh grade, so she knew it was just a matter of time before he made a move on his partner. In all honesty, she wasn’t sure Amy was cool enough for Jake, but she trusted his gut instincts more than her own – and that spoke volumes.

Believing it possible is one thing, but seeing their relationship in action is something else entirely.

The first thing that’s changed, she’s noticed, is their morning routine. B.R. (Before Relationship), Amy would get to the precinct and settle in at her desk before anyone else had stepped off the elevator, including Gina. Jake, on the other hand, would stumble in a few minutes late with his daily bodega coffee and egg sandwich in hand. Nowadays, they arrived together more often than not at exactly nine, which Gina’s sure is Amy’s doing. The Jake she grew up with wouldn’t be caught dead showing up on time anywhere; she taught him better than that.

The second thing that’s changed is the way they fight. Back B.R., Gina loved listening to them bicker – it was like having two Real Housewives at her beck and call every day. The fights were always over something incredibly stupid, yet they battled as if their lives depended on the outcome. Their fights are still stupid but they seem to be much more careful with their words now. Unfortunately for Gina, the arguments end pretty quickly and are sealed with an exchange of soft smiles from both. Vomit.

The third thing, and perhaps the worst thing of all, is that she knows they’re having sex now. She assumed it would happen one day but nothing could have prepared her for the harsh reality, much like Scott and Kourtney’s devastating break-up. She prefers to think of Amy as a celibate nun and Jake is as close to a little brother as she’ll ever have, so the idea of the two of them in a sexual relationship makes her want to leave the planet and never return. It doesn’t help that they’re both about as transparent as air. She’s caught them winking at each other multiple times, and when Four Drink Amy makes an appearance at Shaw’s nowadays, Jake is always quick to make an excuse for the two of them to leave the party early.

Today, though, they’re doing this new annoying thing where they keep periodically glancing up from their paperwork to grin at each other. When they catch each other’s eye, Jake whispers something to Amy, presumably thinking no one can hear him. He forgot about Gina’s supersonic hearing, honed by many years of eavesdropping.  

“Hey, should I wear that green button-down to dinner tonight?”

Gina is floored. Since when does Jacob Peralta care about his appearance?

“I do love you in that shirt.” Gina can’t see her face but she’s sure Amy’s blushing by the tone of her voice. “But it’s just a casual dinner with my idiot brother at my apartment. Wear what makes you comfortable,” she whispers delicately.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to show up in my gross flannel and have him hate me forever for not making more of an effort.” Gina’s not sure she’s ever heard Jake’s voice this soft before.  

“I’m sure. My 22-year-old brother won’t care what you’re wearing, I promise. He’s just excited to get a free dinner and have something to gossip about at the next family dinner,” Amy laughs quietly. “Besides, you look pretty hot in plaid.”

Gina’s about to hurl into her trashcan when she sees Amy reach out across her desk and grab Jake’s hand, stroking his knuckles in soothing circles with her thumb. The tips of Jake’s ears turn a shocking pink, but Gina can tell he’s pleased by this surprise workplace PDA from the way he leans toward her, as if pulled by an invisible force. Gina can’t believe that Amy, of all people, is being so affectionate in the office; she’s a little impressed, though she’ll deny it if anyone asks.

“He’ll love you,” Amy whispers. It’s so quiet that Gina almost has to strain to hear it from across the room, but she knows Jake heard it loud and clear. He’s smiling now, all the worry that occupied his eyes just a second ago has been replaced by something like awe.  

“Thanks, Ames,” he says quietly, putting his hand on top of hers and squeezing gently.

Terry gets up from his desk, and they immediately withdraw from each other like they’ve been burned. They both turn back to their computers, biding their time until their boss is gone. Gina pretends to look at her phone as she watches them out of her periphery.

“So, you’re into the plaid, Santiago?” Jake whispers, grinning like he’s up to no good, just the way Gina remembers from their childhood. “It must have driven you crazy all these years, sitting across from all of this.” He gestures at himself dramatically.

“Shut up, Peralta,” Amy responds, forgetting to whisper as she chucks a pen at him.

Well, at least some things haven’t changed. Gina sighs and goes back to scrolling through Twitter. 

[zerogate]

Talking apparently never ceases to be a problem for the Swedes: a lean across an abyss. Every time a conversation starts, you can feel the physical tension mount between the speakers. (Oddly enough, though, the Swedes are very gifted at languages. English is not only mandatory throughout the school years but so well taught that almost everyone here under thirty-five is virtually bilingual.) What to talk about is a problem. Favored topics are: the weather (Swedes never stop suffering from the cold, the lack of sun); money (they are shameless about telling or asking how much something costs); liquor (more about that later); and plans of action (from saying “I’m going to pee” when leaving the room for a minute to announcing a vacation)…   In this taboo-ridden country, perhaps the most notable taboo is raised against the signs of aggressiveness. Policemen on the street are invariably polite; though most (but not all) carry guns, the police are respected and often trusted, at least as much as in England, but they are also more feared, because the level of guilt about infractions of the social code, such as being drunk in public, is much higher than in England. But the cops only deal with gross matters; the most severe policing of aggression is done by each Swede himself. Their marked avoidance of aggression, even in its minimal forms, comes through in the Swedes’ mild voices, and in the low noise level in public places, the inhibition of crowds even at euphoria-provoking or outrageous spectacles and entertainments. (Judith Malina and Julian Beck say that Stockholm is the only city the Living Theatre has played in Europe and the United States where at least some members of the audience didn’t respond, with insults and catcalls, and by walking out, to such deliberate provocations as the “empty” opening twenty minutes of Mysteries. The entire Stockholm audience just sat politely, and waited.) One hardly ever hears people quarreling, and there is a strong aversion to disagreement as such.   The Swedish avoidance of antagonism sometimes goes to really supersonic extremes. I remember one evening last autumn after a day’s shooting out in the suburbs returning to town with my assistant, production manager, and script girl; we were heading for a new restaurant to have dinner, but nobody was sure exactly where it was. Someone said, “I think you continue two more blocks and turn right.” The driver of the car said, “No, we go three blocks and turn left.” In an entirely pleasant tone the first person said, “No, go two blocks and turn right.” After which the third Swede in the car intervened quickly with “Now, now, let’s not quarrel.”   Do you understand what I found sad in this ludicrous moment, and in many similar micro-dramas? There are few qualities I admire more than reasonableness; and I’m far from admonishing the Swedes for not embodying some lush standard of Mediterranean temperament and volatility which is not my own either. Still I’m convinced that the Swedish reasonableness is deeply defective, owing far too much to inhibition and anxiety and emotional dissociation. To repress anger as extensively as people do here greatly exceeds the demands of justice and rational self-control; I find it little short of pathological. The demand for repression seems to arise from some naive misunderstanding or simplification of what goes on between human beings: it’s simply not true that strong feelings escalate so inevitably into violence. And to avoid confrontation and to repress disapproval to the extent the Swedes do shades, rather often, into passivity and indifferentism….   Sweden is the only country I know of where misanthropy is a respectable attitude, one people at least avow often (how deeply they mean it is another matter) and express sympathy for. One Swedish acquaintance, a diplomat, told me I would never understand Sweden until I grasped the concept of being människotrött, tired of people. Swedes easily tire of other human beings, he said. They need to get away. I replied that I found what he was saying psychologically implausible. Don’t you ever get tired of people, he asked. I said I often craved privacy, but that wasn’t the same thing. The need for privacy carries no implication of being tired of people; it just means you want some more space for yourself. People are OK, I concluded lamely. (I’d already had versions of this dispiriting conversation with several other Swedes.) He looked at me as if I were crazy, and muttered something about the childish Rousseauistic optimism of Americans. That time I gave up. I think, though, I do understand. Who wouldn’t be misanthropic, if one’s personal relations were habitually stifled, loaded with anxiety, experienced as coercive. For most Swedes, human “contact” is always, at least initially, a problem —though in many cases, the problem can be solved, the distance bridged. Being with people feels like work for them, far more than it does like nourishment. If it felt like that to you and me, I’m sure we’d have the need to get away and rest up as often as possible, just as the Swedes do….   The counter-force to this misanthropy is the celebrated Swedish love of nature. Though I’d heard about this before I came here, still I’ve been amazed by the ardor with which they talk about being alone in the remote countryside. (“Nature” seems to be the only thoroughly respectable object of passion in Swedish culture.) … Large numbers of Swedes really do have an extraordinary romance with nature. Many people on all income levels in Stockholm and the other cities own a small boat or a tiny house in the country or both. These are as much a part of normal expectations in Sweden as a TV and a car in the United States. …Their rhythm demands the withdrawal into nature, which house and boat make more feasible. Nature means being as far from people as possible, ideally far enough to be free of all traces of man—an easily managed vacation goal in a nation so drastically underpopulated.

Susan Sontag, A Letter from Sweden

[weeklyhumorist]

The Tremendous Space Force Planning Meeting

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On my supersonic rocket ship, Nobody has to be hip, Nobody needs to be out of sight, Nobody’s gonna travel second class, They’re be equality, and no suppression of minorities, We’ll take this planet, shake it round, And turn it upside down, My supersonic rocket ship~ The Kinks, “Supersonic Rocket Ship”

Meanwhile, in Donald Trump’s White House…

“There’s this movie. Big movie, huge box office, Independence Day. With the black guy that can talk like a white guy. That’s a real talent, I have to tell you, most of them can’t do that. The President in the movie, good looking guy, right out of Central Casting, looks a lot like me, gives this speech. Something like, ‘We won’t go  softly into the space! We’ll have a great, terrific Independence Day!’ Something like that. I want to recreate that exact speech when we premiere the Space Force, Michael, can you handle that?”

President Donald J. Trump, sitting at a raised podium in the Presidential Ballroom at the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., has just asked summer tentpole film director Michael Bay a direct question.

“It needs smoke and wind machines, shit like that, you can do it, Michael?” Trump asks.

“No problem, Mr. President. Maybe we can add some explosions in the background. My team will get working on the storyboards right away,” Bay says, then goes back to his iPhone Googling if any young starlets he wants to cast have nude photos leaked on the Internet from The Fappening.

The gaudy ballroom in the hotel is filled to capacity. Gathered are representatives from the White House, the Pentagon, NASA, various Senators and representatives from Congress, as well as movie directors, producers, costume designers, prop makers, and special effects experts, Madison Avenue branding and marketing pros, Fox News personalities, science and astronomy experts, representatives from McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Nike, Gatorade and other large companies looking to score merchandising tie-ins, all of the adult Trump children minus Tiffany, and actor Gary Sinise who has signed on to be the Space Force’s official spokesperson.

Trump bellows, “We got Lieutenant Dan! The great Lieutenant Dan, folks! Lieutenant Dan is going to be presenting an hour special on the Space Force on all four networks soon. We already bought the time, really expensive. The tremendous Mark Burnett is producing it – we made a lot of money with The Apprentice, that I can tell you, a lot of money, the number one show for like twenty-three years, right, Mark? – and the Space Force, it’s going to be as great a success as The Apprentice, that I can tell you.”

Trying her best to not let the planning meeting to take a harsh turn and veer off into Trump-esque rambling tangents of gibberish and non-sequiturs is First Daughter Ivanka. Printed agenda in hand, Ivanka suggests, “Daddy, let’s talk about the ideas you have for the uniforms.” She knows Space Force uniforms is a big deal to her father. It’s about “branding.”

Binks. That Jar Jar is “hilarious” and “really smart humor.” The next twenty-five minutes consists of President Trump going into great detail about what the Space Force line of toys needs to be. Action figures, shuttles, rockets, even a home base control room. Of course, the showcase of the toys is a super fit Donald Trump action figure in a glittering stars and stripes Mylar jumpsuit. The little guy is surprisingly pulling off those knee-high boots.

Representatives from both the Kenner and Hasbro toy level have broken into a shoving match after a contentious bidding war to manufacture the toys. Trump loves this, smirking as he teases each company with a deal, then jacks up the price again. Kenner’s CFO just sucker-punched a Hasbro designer. I, your intrepid White House correspondent watching covertly from the back of the ballroom, has never seen Donald Trump look happier.

A NASA advisor has just made the mistake of using the phrase “malevolent or benevolent alien species.” The next 17 minutes are consumed by trying to explain the difference between malevolent and benevolent to President Trump. He still hasn’t grasped the concept, even when broken down to “good and bad.” “Regardless, the Space Force needs to fuck those aliens up,” he says.

I take a lap around the ballroom, listening to the muted conversations as much as I can. Some officials are even covering their mouths as they speak like a catcher talking to a struggling closing pitcher. The mood is disbelief, shock, and embarrassment.

In the men’s room, there’s chatter amongst the suits such as;

“What are we doing? This is nuts.”

“Is he crazy? This makes no sense. We don’t own space. And Eric isn’t right in the head. Is there, you know, a medical issue? I can’t say the word I’m thinking of out loud.”

And, “I’m going to make a silly amount of money here, but will I be able to live with myself?”

Back in the ballroom, Trump is getting cable news withdrawal and needs to wrap the planning meeting up. It’s been three hours since he knew what the talking hairdos are saying about him and he’s getting ornery.

He says, “Look, folks, I’m going to leave you to it, you should be here all night in this great hotel, the best in Washington. There’s a lot of really great things you can do, I’ve given all the ideas. Everything. And nobody has done what we’ve done, this administration, you all know that. It’s been record breaking. In every way. We need another record. Another branch of our great military, who love me a lot, the Space Force!”

With that directive, President Donald J. Trump leaves his hotel and takes the motorcade back to the White House. Thrilled to watch the news channels talk about the major meeting he just led, to laud him for his leadership and vision, Trump is furious as he watches leaked cell phone video of Neil deGrasse Tyson heckling him on a loop. The real salt in the wound, is the anchors laughing loudly at the physicist’s jokes.

Three cheeseburgers deep, a pajama-wearing Trump slumps, pouts, and in true Citizen Kane fashion, mutters, “SPACE FORCE…”

Illustration by Mikey B. Martinez

  The Tremendous Space Force Planning Meeting was originally published on Weekly Humorist

[newsnigeria]

Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/world-news/russian-5th-generation-fighters/

Making sense of the Russian 5th generation fighters in Syria

[This article was written for the Unz Review]

When I got an email from a friend telling me that a pair of Su-57s was seen landing at the Russian Aerospace Forces base in Kheimim, Syria, I immediately dismissed it as a fake. The list of reasons why this could not be true would run for pages. I knew that, so I simply replied: “that’s a fake” and forgot about it. Over the next couple of days, however, this story was picked up by various websites and bloggers, but it still made no sense. Still, what kept me feeling really puzzled was that the Russian official sources did not dismiss the story, but chose to remain silent. Then another two Su-57s were reported. And then, suddenly, the Russian media was flooded with stories about how the Su-57s were sent to Syria as an act of “revenge” for the killing of Russian PMCs by the US; that the Su-57s had basically flattened eastern Ghouta while killing about “2000 Americans“. This was truly some crazy nonsense so I decided to find out what really happened and, so far, here is what I found out.

First, amazingly enough, the reports of the Su-57 in Syria are true. Some say 2 aircraft, some say 4 (out of a current total of 13). It doesn’t really matter, what matters is that the deployment of a few Su-57s in Syria is a fact and that this represents a dramatic departure from normal Russian (and Soviet) practice.

Introducing the Sukhoi 57 5th generation multi-role fighter

The Su-57 (aka “PAK-FA” aka “T-50”) is the first real 5th generation multi-role aircraft produced by Russia. All the other Russian multi-role and air superiority aircraft previously deployed in Syria (such as the Su-30SM and the Su-35S) are 4++ aircraft, not true 5th generation. One might be forgiven for thinking that 4++ is awfully close to 5, but it really is not. 4++ generation aircraft are really 4th generation aircraft upgraded with a number of systems and capabilities typically associated with a 5th generation, but they all lack several key components of a true 5th generation aircraft such as:

a low radar cross-section (“stealth”),

the capability to fly at supersonic speeds without using afterburners,

the ability to carry weapons inside a special weapons bay (as opposed to outside, under its wings or body)

an advanced “situational awareness” (network-centric) capability (sensor and external data fusion).

To make a long story short, the difference between 4th and 5th generation aircraft is really huge and requires not one, but several very complex “technological jumps” especially in the integrations of numerous complex systems.

The only country which currently has a deployed real 5th generation fighter is the USA with its F-22. In theory, the USA also has another 5th generation fighter, the F-35, but the latter is such a terrible design and has such immense problems that for our purposes we can pretty much dismiss it. As for now, the F-22 is the only “real deal”: thoroughly tested and fully deployed in substantial numbers. The Russian Su-57 is still years away from being able to make such a claim as it has not been thoroughly tested or deployed in substantial numbers. That is not to say that the Russians are not catching up really fast, they are, but as of right now, the Su-57 has only completed the first phase of testing. The normal Soviet/Russian procedure should have been at this time to send a few aircraft to the Russian Aerospace Forces (RAF) base in Lipetsk to familiarize the military crews with the aircraft and continue the testing while getting the feedback, not from test pilots but from actual air combat instructors. This second phase of testing could easily last 6 months or more and reveal a very large number of “minor” problems many of which could actually have very severe consequences in an actual combat deployment. In other words, the Su-57 is still very “raw” and probably needs a lot of tuning before it can be deployed in combat. How “raw”? Just one example: as of today, only one of the currently existing Su-57 flies with the new supercruise-capable engines, all the others use a 4th generation type engine. This is no big deal, but it goes to show that a lot of work still needs to be done on this aircraft before it becomes fully operational.

The notion that the Russians sent the Su-57 to Syria to somehow compete with the F-22s or otherwise participate in actual combat is ludicrous. While, on paper, the Su-57 is even more advanced and capable than the F-22, in reality, the Su-57 presents no credible threat to the US forces in Syria (if the Russians really wanted to freak out the Americans, they could have, for example, decided to keep a pair of MiG-31BMs on 24/7 combat air patrol over Syria). The Russian reports about these aircraft flattening Ghouta or killing thousands of Americans are nothing more than cheap and inflammatory propaganda from ignorant Russian nationalists who don’t seem to realize that flattening urban centers is not even the theoretical mission of the Su-57. In fact, as soon as these crazy reports surfaced, Russians analysts immediately dismissed them as nonsense.

Utter nonsense is hardly the monopoly of Russian nationalists, however. The folks at the National Interest reposted an article (initially posted on the blog The War is Boring) which basically dismissed the Su-57 as a failed and dead project and its deployment in Syria as a “farce” (I should tip my hat off to the commentators at the National Interest who immediately saw through the total ridiculous nature of this article and wondered if Lockheed had paid for it). On the other hand, in the western insanity spectrum, we have the UK’s Daily Express which wrote about Vladimir Putin sending his “fearsome new state-of-the-art Su-57” into the Syrian war zone. Just like with the Kuznetsov, the Ziomedia can’t decide if the Russian hardware is an antiquated, useless pile of scrap metal or a terrifying threat which ought to keep the entire world up at night. Maybe both at the same time? With paranoid narcissists, you can’t tell. Finally, the notion that Putin (personally?) sent these 4 aircraft to Syria to help him in his re-election campaign (peddled by the Russophobes at Ha’aretz) is also devoid of all truth and makes me wonder if those who write that kind of crap are even aware of Putin’s popularity numbers.

So what is really going on?

Well, frankly, that is hard to say, and Russian officials are being tight-lipped about it. Still, various well informed Russian analysts have offered some educated guesses as to what is taking place. The short version is this: the Su-57s were only sent to Syria to test their avionics in a rich combat-like electromagnetic environment. The more detailed version would be something like this:

The Su-57 features an extremely complex and fully integrated avionics suite which will include three X band active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar (one main, two side-looking), another two L band active electronically scanned array radars in the wing’s leading edge extensions, plus an integrated electro-optical system location system (working in infra-red, visible and ultra-violet frequencies). All these sensors are fused (5 radars, 2 bands, plus passive optics) and they are then combined with the data received by the Su-57’s advanced electronic warfare suite and a high-speed encrypted datalink, connecting the aircraft to other airborne, space, as well as ground-based sensors. This is not unlike what the USA is trying to achieve with the F-35, but on an even more complex level (even in theory, the F-35 is a comparatively simpler, and much less capable, aircraft). One could see how it would be interesting to test all this gear in a radiation-rich environment like the Syrian skies where the Russians have advanced systems (S-400, A-50U, etc.) and where the USA and Israel also provide a lot of very interesting signals (including US and Israeli AWACS, F-22s and F-35s, etc.). To re-create such a radiation-rich environment in Russia would be very hard and maybe even impossible. The question whether this is worth the risk?

The risks of this deployment in Syria are very real and very serious. As far as I know, there are still no bombproof shelters built (yet) and Russia recently lost a number of aircraft (some not totally, some totally) when the “good terrorists” used mortars against the Khmeimim base. So now we have FOUR Su-57s (out of how many total, maybe 12 or 13?!), each worth 50-100 million dollars under an open sky in a war zone?! What about operational security? What about base security?

There is also a political risk. It is well known that the USA has been putting an immense political pressure on India to withdraw from the joint development between Russia and India of the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) or Perspective Multi-role Fighter (PMF) program. To make things worse, India currently has too many parallel aircraft programs and there are, reportedly, disagreements between the Russians and the Indians on design features. With the apparently never-ending disaster of the F-35, the very last thing the USA needs is a successful Russian 5th generation competitor showing up anywhere on the planet (especially one which has the clear potential to far outclass both the successful F-22 and the disastrous F-35). One can easily imagine what the AngloZionist propaganda machine will do should even a minor problem happen to the Su-57 while in Syria (just read the National Interest article quoted above to see what the mindset is in the West)!

The Su-57 also has formidable competitors inside Russia: the 4++ generation aircraft mentioned above, especially the Su-35S. Here we have a similar dynamic as with the F-22: while on paper the Su-57 is clearly superior to the Su-35S, in the real world the Su-35S is a well tested and deployed system which, unlike the F-22, also happens to be much cheaper than the Su-57 (the F-22 being at least twice as expensive than the Su-57). This issue is especially relevant for the internal, Russian market. So the real question for the RAF is simple: does Russia really need the Su-57 and, if yes, in what numbers?

This is a very complex question, both technically and politically and to even attempt to answer it, a lot of very debatable assumptions have to be made about what kind of threats the RAF will face in the future and what kind of missions it will be given. The biggest problem for the Russians is that they already have an array of extremely successful combat aircraft, especially the Su-35S and the formidable Su-34. Should Russia deploy more of these or should she place huge resources into a new very complex and advanced aircraft? Most Russian analysts would probably agree that Russia needs to be able to deploy some minimal number of real 5th generation combat aircraft, but they would probably disagree on what exactly that minimal number ought to be. The current 4++ generation aircraft are very successful and more than a match for their western counterparts, with the possible exception of the F-22. But how likely is it that Russians and US Americans will really start a shooting war?

Furthermore, the real outcome from a theoretical Su-35S vs F-22 (which so many bloggers love to speculate about) would most likely depend much more on tactics and engagement scenarios than on the actual capabilities of these aircraft. Besides, should the Su-35s and F-22s even be used in anger against each other, a lot would also depend on what else is actually happening around them and where exactly this engagement would take place. Furthermore, to even look at this issue theoretically, we would need to compare not only the actual aircraft but also their weapons. I submit that the outcome of any Su-35S vs F-22 engagement would be impossible to predict (unless you are a flag-waving patriot, in which case you will, of course, be absolutely certain that “your” side will win). If I am correct, then this means that there is no compelling case to be made that Russia needs to deploy Su-57s in large numbers and that the Su-30SM+Su-35S air superiority combo is more than enough to deter the Americans.

[Sidebar: this is a recurrent problem for Russian weapons and weapon systems: being so good that there is little incentive to produce something new. The best example of that is the famous AK-47 Kalashnikov which was modernized a few times, such as the AKM-74, but which has yet to be replaced with a fundamentally new and truly different assault rifle. There are plenty of good candidates out there, but each time one has to wonder if the difference in price is worth the effort. The original Su-27 (introduced in 1985) was such an immense success that it served as a basis for a long series of immensely successful variants including the ones we now see in Syria, the Su-30SM, the Su-35S and even the amazing Su-34 (which still has no equivalent anywhere in the world). Sometimes a weapon, or weapon system, can be even “too successful” and create a problem for future modernization efforts.]

Whatever may be the case, the future of the Su-57 is far from being secured and this might also, in part, explain the decision to send a few of them to Syria: not only to test its avionics suite, but also to score a PR success by raising the visibility and, especially, the symbolical role of the aircraft. Russian officials admitted that the deployment to Syria was scheduled to coincide with the celebration of the “Defender of the Fatherland” day. This kind of move breaks with normal Soviet/Russian procedures and I have to admit that I am most uncomfortable with this development and while I would not go as far as to call it a “farce” (like the article in the National Interest did), it does look like a PR stunt to me. And I wonder: if the Russians are taking such a risk, what is it that drives such a sense of urgency? I don’t believe that anybody in Russia seriously thinks that the US will be deterred, or even be impressed by this, frankly, hasty deployment. So I suspect that this development is linked to the uncertainty of the future of the Su-57 procurement program. Hopefully, the risks will pay-off and the Su-57 will get all the avionics testing it requires and all the funding and export contracts it needs.

Addendum:

Just as I was writing these words, the Russians have announced (see here and here) that the Israeli satellite images were fakes, that the the Su-57 stayed only two days in Syria and that they have been flown back to Russia. Two days? Frankly, I don’t buy it. What this looks like to me is that what looks like a PR stunt has now backfired, including in the Russian social media, and that Russia decided to bring these aircraft back home. Now *that* sounds like a good idea to me.

The Saker