Sukhoi Su-57
The Felon
“Stealth by design, rare by the numbers.”
Sukhoi · military
The Su-57 is the first Russian aircraft designed from the outset with stealth shaping — the product of the PAK FA program, first flown in 2010. It supercruises at Mach 1.3 without afterburner and tops Mach 2. Catching one on an open feed is a genuine event: it happens when a demo or test jet flies with its transponder on, usually around airshows and test fields.
NATO's reporting name for the Su-57 is 'Felon' — and with roughly 44 built including prototypes, it is one of the rarest fast jets any tracking feed will ever paint.
Widely spaced engines under a wide, flat blended body. If one paints on your feed, it's a demo or test sortie with the transponder on — catch it.
One might be overhead right now.
Bogey turns the The Felon from a dot in the sky into a card in your logbook.
