--- title: "The Su-47 Berkut: Russia's Craziest Experimental Fighter Plane" description: "It's the waning years of the 20th century, over the skies of the Russian Federation, and a wicked and beautiful machine has just taken flight. It's a strange machine, a chimera of aircraft design, intended not to simply fill in for an outdated predecessor on some far-flung military base, but to push the limits of modern engineering. Relying on unproven theories of highly sophisticated flight, taking a long-imagined concept into the pinnacle years of the jet age, the aircraft is more than just a natural next step in military aviation. Flying high over the city of Moscow, it's recognizable as a lethal weapon of war—but just barely recognizable, alongside the fighter aircraft that Russia, and the world, had previously thought possible.\n\nIts name is the Su-47 Berkut, and it is an experiment in more ways than one. As the world crossed a generational gap between the thundering fighter jets of the late Cold War, and the hyper-advanced machines that rule today, the Berkut wasn't destined to become the new king of the skies—but it was among the boldest, and most fascinating aircraft in the history of human flight.\n\n## Designing a Chimera\n\nThe seed of the Su-47 was first planted all the way back in the 1980s, when Russia was not yet Russia, and was instead the largest and most powerful member of the Soviet Union. In those waning years of great-power competition, the Soviets were still intent on maintaining direct parity with the United States of America—and the Americans had a real beast on the way, with the potential to beat the Soviets in the air for good. Back then, not much was known about the designs that would later evolve into the highly advanced F-22 Raptor, an aircraft that's now going on twenty years as the best fighter jet in human history. All that the Soviets knew, back in the early eighties, was that the so-called Advanced Tactical Fighter program was supposed to build something that would replace the iconic F-15 and F-16. Those fighters had been challenge enough for the Soviets, whose Su-27s and MiG-29s were just barely getting into front-line service in order to face them down. But now, there was something even more formidable on the way, and though the Soviets had little way of knowing the fine details on America's vision, they could at least work out the basics.\n\nThe term itself, \"fifth-generation fighter\", was not yet a meaningful phrase by the 1980s; in fact, the 'generation' system wouldn't be proposed as a concept until 1990, and even then, the concept took some time to catch on. But America and Russia's most advanced fighter aircraft were at least roughly comparable, and it wasn't difficult to look at them, as they were, and figure out what sort of improvements would take precedence for a later aircraft. Any new-model planes would probably need to be highly maneuverable, while also capable of either keeping pace with those older aircraft or outrunning them. They would need to have advanced onboard technology and avionics, including significantly improved radar, and if at all possible, it would be fantastic if they could be stealthy. Some of the technology elements that would eventually feature in fifth-generation fighters like the F-22 and the later F-35, were still theoretical back in the eighties, but the general idea was straightforward: Build something that could compete with an American fighter that was going to be really good, but was going to be good in unpredictable ways.\n\nThe Soviets began work on two answers to that challenge, rather than one, with each possible answer spearheaded by one of the country's two premier fighter aircraft design bureaus: Mikoyan, and Sukhoi. The Mikoyan bureau would produce a design of their own, the MiG 1.44, which we've already done a prior episode on, if you'd like to check it out after we're done here. That design would, broadly speaking, look to compete directly with what the Soviets had imagined to be a better version of the F-15 and F-16, complete with a delta wing, a reduced radar cross-section for limited stealthy flight, and some advanced engines and onboard technology. For the purposes of today's episode, we can understand it as a safer option: something that, if put into main-line production, would have very predictably been a step above Russia's existing fighter aircraft, even if it didn't beat out the Americans' Advanced Tactical Fighter in the long run.\n\nBut the Sukhoi design bureau—well, they came at the challenge from a decidedly different angle, pun very much intended. Their design would be a testbed, packed with new and emerging technologies and design principles that, if they worked, could produce an aircraft unlike any other. It was a gamble, a high-risk, high-reward proposition—but for a Soviet Union that knew it was flagging in the grand marathon of the Cold War, it was a gamble Sukhoi was willing to take. It was named the Berkut, translating in English to 'golden eagle', and initially designated the Su-37. For the sake of clarity, we'll refer to the Berkut by the designation it would ultimately adopt: the Su-47.\n\nThe most distinctive element of the 1980s-era design, and, indeed, of the eventual Su-47, were its forward-swept wings, a feature that had never been successfully integrated to a production-line jet aircraft. The idea wasn't a new one; forward-swept wing designs were developed into prototypes by nearly every major power during World War II, both Ally and Axis, with products including the Junkers Ju 287 and a forward-swept version of the P-51 Mustang. In the Cold War years, America proposed the XB-53 bomber, also with its wings forward-swept, plus a different forward-swept fighter aircraft prototype, the unsuccessful X-29. But despite the fact that the forward sweep had never been done successfully with a fighter aircraft of this sheer power, Sukhoi still had reason to believe it could work. Forward-swept-wing aircraft are highly maneuverable, especially at subsonic speeds, and Sukhoi quickly worked out that by adding not just static canards on the forward section of the aircraft, but moveable ones, it would become capable of even more exceptional aerobatic feats. Such a design would also allow for takeoff and landing on far shorter runways, with the plane generating lift so quickly that it could get off the ground in the blink of an eye. It would grant the plane an inherently longer range, and the forward sweep of the wing made the aircraft significantly more difficult to accurately identify as a threat via radar, when looking at it head-on. And finally, Sukhoi understood that the aircraft could integrate technology that was only just reaching readiness for use in advanced fighter aircraft: Thrust vectoring. That's a process by which aircraft engines, rockets, and other high-powered vehicles can change the angle of the thrust they generate. In an aircraft already so maneuverable as the Su-47 was going to be, the addition of thrust vectoring meant that the Berkut would be able to blast itself into impossibly tight turns once that technology could be fully integrated to the aircraft.\n\nDesign on the Su-47 continued through the 1980s, but like so many other Soviet programs during that time, it was caught up in the collapse of the Soviet Union as a whole. By the late eighties, advanced weapons programs were no longer a priority in Moscow, and by 1991, Moscow had become the capital of the Russian Federation. Modern Russia didn't have the means to build two advanced fighter jets, and in fact, it couldn't even build one. The best it could do was to pick one of its two incubating designs and hold them for a later date, and in the early 1990s, the choice was clear. The MiG 1.44 had passed its critical design review at the very end of the Soviet era, and a technology demonstrator would almost certainly, at the very least, be able to fly. Again, this was an aircraft that represented the safe route, and with Russia trying to figure out how it would stumble through the next decade, opting for additional risk was simply not a good idea. Sukhoi got the news in the early days of the Russian Federation: all funds for the Su-47 would be frozen indefinitely, and Russia would no longer provide any support in developing a flyable aircraft.\n\nBut although the Sukhoi bureau had seen its funding pulled, that wouldn't be the end of the Su-47. Initially, the Soviets had planned for a maiden flight of a prototype in 1991, with the hope of producing a first production series by 1996; that is to say, it *was* intended, at one point, as a potential addition to the Soviet Air Force. Now, with the Soviet Union in the rearview, Sukhoi was behind that schedule—but not too far behind. The technology involved in the Su-47 was too promising to abandon, the Sukhoi bureau had all the aircraft components it needed, and although Russia was in dire financial straits at that time—it wouldn't always be. Seeing the potential for the Kremlin to eventually reconsider under different circumstances, Sukhoi decided to go ahead with their experimental prototype, in hopes that when the Berkut was finally ready, Moscow would be presented with an offer that it couldn't refuse.\n\n## Specs and Capabilities\n\nThe aircraft known as the Berkut would never be pushed to its true limits in testing, and so some of the specifications we'll present in this episode are purely hypothetical. These are what the Su-47 *should* have been able to do, not what it *could* do. But the aircraft did fly, more than once, and given what it showed with the opportunities it was provided, it stands to reason that this full range of projected capabilities would have ultimately been realized.\n\nThe Su-47 was a single-seat aircraft, measuring 22.6 meters from tip to tail, and 16.7 meters from wingtip to wingtip. That's about 74 feet long by about 55 feet wide. Sitting empty at a weight of a bit under 26 metric tons, the Su-47 could take off at weights up to 34 metric tons, powered by a pair of Soloviev D-30 turbofan engines, with afterburn capability. Those engines were built for future fitting with thrust-vectoring nozzles, capable of changing the angle of thrust in three dimensions, according to the demands of the pilot. Although it was rated only for flight at a speed limit of Mach 1.6—that's just shy of 2,000 kilometers per hour or 1,225 miles per hour—the Berkut was theoretically capable of flying far faster than that. Based on the capability of its engines and its overall mass, it would have been capable of hitting top speeds of 2,200 kilometers per hour or 1,400 miles per hour at altitude; that's Mach 2.21. At sea level, it was capable of supersonic flight at 1,400 kilometers per hour; that's Mach 1.12 or 870 miles per hour. Boasting a surface ceiling of 18,000 meters or just below sixty thousand feet, the Berkut could fly at a range of 3,300 kilometers or 2,100 miles, although its functional combat range was not established. It could reach its service ceiling in less than ninety seconds after takeoff at sea level, and it could pull nine g in a pinch, meaning that it could withstand nine times the usual forces of gravity without breaking apart under the strain.\n\nAlthough the aircraft never saw combat, it was capable of carrying weapons into the fight on a total of fourteen hardpoints, including up to six in an internal weapons bay. Those hardpoints were capable of mounting all manner of Russian and Soviet-era air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles. Although it was never fitted with an onboard gun, it likely would have received a 30mm autocannon—specifically the Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-30-1—if it had been built into a production-line model. After all, that's the same weapon featured onboard the Su-27, the Su-30, the Su-33, the Su-35, and the more recent Su-57, as well as the one planned for the MiG 1.44. The aircraft was fitted with a specialized seat, to help the pilot endure high g-load maneuvers that would usually be impossible to tolerate. That seat was inclined to a sixty-degree angle, used a specialized life-support system, and was eject-capable. Along with a planned mission radar and additional onboard radomes, the Su-47 integrated fly-by-wire technology, a process by which an electronic interface assists the pilot in making real-time micro-corrections during flight.\n\nThen, there were the wings. Built of light composite-fiber, the wings and the additional, moveable forward canards on the plane granted the Berkut extreme agility when operating at subsonic speeds. They enabled maneuver at high angle of attack, which basically means the angle formed by the direction of an aircraft's wing, on one side of the angle, and the direction of airflow against the aircraft, on the other side of the angle. That meant that the plane could perform impossibly tight turns, dodges, weaves, and other sophisticated maneuvers, while relying on the considerable thrust of its engines to practically blast out of trouble if it ever suffered too dramatic a loss in energy. These weren't the sort of changes that would simply let the Su-47 out-turn a competitor aircraft; they were the sort that would require both the Berkut's pilots, and adversary pilots, to re-learn the entire geometry of air-to-air engagements. Yet despite the intense focus on subsonic maneuverability, the wings didn't lose out on maneuverability at supersonic speeds either. The unique lift properties of the aircraft meant that it flew entirely differently than other planes, but the unique advantages of such an aircraft had incredible potential for its pilots, if they were able to master the physics involved.\n\nFinally, there's the question of stealth, for a prototype that took its first flight several months after the F-22 had been unveiled, at a Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta, Georgia. By then, any uncertainty on Russia's part about whether stealth would be part of the fifth generation of fighter aircraft, should have been entirely dashed—so was the Su-47 capable of keeping up in such an environment? Expert opinions on the matter are split, but it did have at least some things going for it. Because of the strange front-facing profile of the aircraft, radar trying to get a look at the thing from straight-on would have struggled to get a clear picture of what it was. It also featured an internal weapons bay, a critical element in reducing radar cross-section. But, on the other hand, the design itself didn't have many attributes that suggested that it would have been stealthy, while the protrusions and rough angles of its airframe, including its distinctive forward canards, would have made it far less likely to have a truly stealthy profile. Sources disagree on whether the Berkut might have been coated with radar-absorbent paint, and it's not clear whether the prototype would have been, even if such an element was slated for inclusion on a production-line aircraft. But as Russia has since found out with its Su-57, radar-absorbent paint by itself isn't quite enough to make something stealthy. Regardless, Russia's adversaries got a chance to find out; the Su-47 would eventually become a fixture of the air show circuit, at least for a short time, and while it's not known whether any other nations chose to point their radar at it while it was in midair, they certainly had the option to do so.\n\n## Death on the Drawing Board\n\nThe Berkut took its first flight on September the twenty-fifth, 1997, just twenty-two days after America's F-22 Raptor blasted into the air for the very first time. Despite the fall of an empire, despite having been cut off from funding and de-prioritized by the nation that built it, the Su-47 was, in that moment, still neck-and-neck with the end result of that same Advanced Tactical Fighter program that had seen the Berkut designed in the first place. The F-22 still wouldn't enter service for nearly another decade, although neither America nor Russia knew it at the time, and in an alternate history where Russia saw the Berkut, watched what it could do, and then slammed down on the gas pedal for main-line production, the Berkut could very well have beaten the Raptor to service. But any plans that Russia's most aspirational aerospace designers might have had, for a version of the Berkut that would one day rule the skies, ultimately died on the drawing board—and the process to kill that vision off, didn't take long.\n\nThe Su-47 was a genuinely impressive technology demonstrator, and it did prove, perhaps better than any other aircraft in history, that a forward-swept-wing jet fighter could deliver on the high hopes of those who had designed it. Yet alongside its potential, came its problems—and a whole lot of them. On the one hand, there were all the straightforward logistical bits: just by example, the prototype had used grafted-on bits of the Su-27, including the vertical tails, the canopy, the landing gear, and part of the fuselage. That meant that there would have been substantially more design and testing needed in order to build a fully unique aircraft, and deal with some of the issues inherent with just slapping on parts of another plane. The aircraft also would have likely had to undergo at least some level of redesign after the F-22 was unveiled, considering that it was intended as a direct counter to the Raptor, but lacked the clear stealth features that made the F-22 so formidable.\n\nBut there were also the fundamental issues stemming from the same feature that made the Berkut unique: its forward-swept wings. Although they gave the Berkut a significant maneuverability edge at subsonic speeds, including transonic speeds just at the edge of the sound barrier, they presented significant issues once the aircraft began to fly any faster. The design inherently placed the aircraft's wingtips under high strain, a problem that got far worse when dealing with the sort of air resistance a plane deals with at supersonic speeds. The wings were built to bend and twist, and that was all well and good at subsonic speeds, but with such force at supersonic speeds, the wings risked snapping off. Add to that the increased stress to the wings that would inevitably come, when they were loaded with weapons—and it was just too much. A traditional aft-swept wing has no such problems, and while the Berkut could beat an aft-swept adversary fighter in a subsonic dogfight, there's not much practical sense in bothering to claim that victory. In order to leverage a subsonic advantage, you've got to make an adversary aircraft agree to slow down to subsonic speeds—something that, on the one hand, they wouldn't voluntarily do for a dogfight in the first place, and that on the other hand, they *definitely* wouldn't do, as soon as they saw that the aircraft that they were facing was a Berkut. And even the basic presumption that high maneuverability would be such an asset in the 21st century, had also turned out to be false. The Berkut would be facing down aircraft that could target it with missiles from beyond visual range, and that might not even show up on the Berkut's radar, depending on the aircraft an enemy pilot was flying. Could the Berkut slow down to subsonic speeds, just in time to start doing complicated aerobatic dodges to avoid extremely tight-turning missiles? Probably not, and even if they could, what was the point? An adversary aircraft would just send more missiles, and when they ran out, they'd be so far away, and in some cases so hard to detect, that the Berkut would never catch them in time to dish out payback.\n\nAnd when it came to the idea of a true, head-to-head faceoff against the aircraft the Berkut was meant to counter—it would be no contest. The F-22 could pull nine gs too, it could fly higher and for just as long, it could outrun the Berkut at both altitude and sea level, and its supercruise was significantly faster than the Berkut was even allowed to fly. More important, the amount of redesign needed to make the Berkut stealthy meant that any large-scale production run of the aircraft, at least the version of it that Russia unveiled to the world, would just be producing a series of sitting ducks. On radar, the F-22 shows up no bigger than a bumblebee; it can engage targets from well beyond visual range; and if it ever did have to get close enough for a Berkut pilot to spot it with the naked eye, it could nullify all the Berkut's maneuverability advantages by simply continuing to fly at normal speeds, knowing that even though the pilot could see it, the Berkut's internal systems still couldn't get a lock. The race to develop a fifth-generation fighter was over, and Russia hadn't just come up short; with the Berkut, they'd tried to run the race by going entirely in the wrong direction.\n\nOf course, that's not to say the Berkut never did anything at all. It showed up several times at Russian and international airshows, generating well-deserved fascination and elevating the profile of Russian aeronautical design, especially amongst onlookers who weren't troubled by all the fine details. It became a much-needed symbol of national pride for the Russian Federation during the late 1990s and the early 2000s, a difficult time when heightened morale, from any source, was much needed. It would spawn a spiritual successor, also featuring forward-swept wings, in the form of the KB SAT SR-10, a single-copy jet trainer aircraft that another Russian design bureau is trying to get picked up by the Russian Air Force. No luck yet, on that front. It proved that forward-swept-wing designs were a reasonable way to design a jet aircraft, demonstrating characteristics that may not be ideal for an air superiority fighter, but line up well with other combat roles like, by example, a fast ground-attack aircraft; defense contractors, take notes. And finally, technical elements of the Su-47 would live on in its successor, the beleaguered, but verifiably flight-capable Su-57, as well as the purported next plane after that, the Su-75.\n\nBut the bold experiment that was the Su-47 Berkut, was an experiment that failed in the end. It entered a contest its home nation couldn't quite finish in one piece, it attempted to propose radical solutions to emerging problems but ultimately fell flat. The Su-47 was one-of-a-kind, truly unprecedented, perhaps never to be matched again—but sometimes, that's simply not enough.\n\n## Key Takeaways\n\n- The Su-47 Berkut was an experimental Soviet/Russian fighter jet designed in the 1980s to compete with the U.S. Advanced Tactical Fighter program.\n- The Su-47 featured forward-swept wings, which provided high maneuverability at subsonic speeds but faced structural issues at supersonic speeds.\n- Development was halted due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, but Sukhoi continued work, hoping for future support.\n- The Su-47 demonstrated impressive capabilities in testing but ultimately failed to meet the requirements of modern air combat, particularly in stealth and supersonic performance.\n- Despite its flaws, the Su-47 influenced future Russian aircraft designs and served as a symbol of national pride during a challenging period.\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n### What is the Su-47 Berkut?\n\nThe Su-47 Berkut is an experimental fighter plane developed by Russia, known for its distinctive forward-swept wings and advanced flight technologies.\n\n### When was the Su-47 Berkut first flown?\n\nThe Su-47 Berkut took its first flight on September 25, 1997.\n\n### What were the unique design features of the Su-47 Berkut?\n\nThe Su-47 Berkut featured forward-swept wings, moveable canards, and thrust-vectoring nozzles, which were intended to enhance its maneuverability and performance.\n\n### What were the intended capabilities of the Su-47 Berkut?\n\nThe Su-47 Berkut was designed to be highly maneuverable, capable of supersonic flight, and equipped with advanced avionics and weapons systems. It could theoretically reach speeds of Mach 2.21 at altitude and Mach 1.12 at sea level.\n\n### Why was the Su-47 Berkut not put into production?\n\nThe Su-47 Berkut faced numerous challenges, including structural issues with its forward-swept wings, lack of stealth features compared to the F-22 Raptor, and the financial difficulties of post-Soviet Russia.\n\n### What role did the Su-47 Berkut play in Russian aeronautical design?\n\nThe Su-47 Berkut served as a technology demonstrator, proving the feasibility of forward-swept wings in jet aircraft and inspiring future designs like the Su-57 and KB SAT SR-10.\n\n### How did the Su-47 Berkut compare to the F-22 Raptor?\n\nThe F-22 Raptor had superior stealth capabilities, speed, and range compared to the Su-47 Berkut. The Berkut's maneuverability advantages were outweighed by the Raptor's advanced technologies.\n\n### What was the significance of the Su-47 Berkut's forward-swept wings?\n\nThe forward-swept wings of the Su-47 Berkut were intended to provide exceptional maneuverability at subsonic speeds, but they also presented structural challenges at supersonic speeds.\n\n### What was the intended combat role of the Su-47 Berkut?\n\nThe Su-47 Berkut was designed to be an air superiority fighter, capable of engaging and defeating enemy aircraft in dogfights. However, its limitations in stealth and supersonic performance made it less effective in this role.\n\n### What was the impact of the Su-47 Berkut on Russian national pride?\n\nThe Su-47 Berkut became a symbol of national pride for Russia during the late 1990s and early 2000s, showcasing the country's aeronautical capabilities despite its financial struggles.\n\n## Sources\n\n- [Original MegaProjects video: The Su-47 Berkut: Russia’s Craziest Experimental Fighter Plane](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH-M0qaP1YU)\n- [https://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/s37/?cf-view](https://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/s37/?cf-view)\n- [https://premium.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/su-47.htm](https://premium.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/su-47.htm)\n- [https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/ASPJ/journals/Chronicles/rosario.pdf](https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/ASPJ/journals/Chronicles/rosario.pdf)\n- [https://www.ausairpower.net/TE-ATF-91.html](https://www.ausairpower.net/TE-ATF-91.html)\n- [https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA166724](https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA166724)\n- [https://web.archive.org/web/20161211062747/http://www.airpower.au.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj90/win90/1win90.htm](https://web.archive.org/web/20161211062747/http://www.airpower.au.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj90/win90/1win90.htm)\n- [https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/russias-mig-144-stealth-fighter-nightmare-ended-badly-211681](https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/russias-mig-144-stealth-fighter-nightmare-ended-badly-211681)\n- [https://www.airandspaceforces.com/PDF/MagazineArchive/Documents/1997/July%201997/0797raptor.pdf](https://www.airandspaceforces.com/PDF/MagazineArchive/Documents/1997/July%201997/0797raptor.pdf)\n- [https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/sukhoi-su-47-golden-eagle-russias-first-stealth-fighter-failure-207601#:~:text=The%20Su%2D47%20is%20thus,correction%20or%20a%20timely%20cancellation](https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/sukhoi-su-47-golden-eagle-russias-first-stealth-fighter-failure-207601#:~:text=The%20Su%2D47%20is%20thus,correction%20or%20a%20timely%20cancellation)\n- [https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/su-47-russias-forward-swept-wing-wonder-fighter-never-was-207996](https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/su-47-russias-forward-swept-wing-wonder-fighter-never-was-207996)\n- [https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/russias-su-47-berkut-fighter-had-backwards-wings-reason-210742](https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/russias-su-47-berkut-fighter-had-backwards-wings-reason-210742)\n- [https://warriormaven.com/history/su-47-fighter-jet](https://warriormaven.com/history/su-47-fighter-jet)\n- [https://www.19fortyfive.com/2023/05/su-47-the-stealth-fighter-russias-air-force-said-no-to/](https://www.19fortyfive.com/2023/05/su-47-the-stealth-fighter-russias-air-force-said-no-to/)\n- [https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a28834443/su-47-berkut/](https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a28834443/su-47-berkut/)\n- [Hero image source](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Berkute_%28cropped%29.jpg) by westanmese / openverse, by-sa.\n\n## Related Coverage" url: https://megaprojects.pub/article/su-47-berkut-russia-craziest-experimental-fighter-plane.md canonical: https://megaprojects.pub/article/su-47-berkut-russia-craziest-experimental-fighter-plane datePublished: 2026-07-02 dateModified: 2026-07-02 author: - name: Simon Whistler url: https://megaprojects.pub/author/simon-whistler publisher: MegaProjects image: "https://media.megaprojects.pub/cdn-cgi/image/width=600,height=338,fit=cover,quality=80,format=auto/articles/lH-M0qaP1YU/hero.jpg" type: NewsArticle contentHash: ae54b0bc0b56ea8fb0e3f934ae8a7fe5dd1acd50fb1712371a04fc2945a3543f tokens: 7092 summaryUrl: https://megaprojects.pub/article/su-47-berkut-russia-craziest-experimental-fighter-plane.md.summary.md --- It's the waning years of the 20th century, over the skies of the Russian Federation, and a wicked and beautiful machine has just taken flight. It's a strange machine, a chimera of aircraft design, intended not to simply fill in for an outdated predecessor on some far-flung military base, but to push the limits of modern engineering. Relying on unproven theories of highly sophisticated flight, taking a long-imagined concept into the pinnacle years of the jet age, the aircraft is more than just a natural next step in military aviation. Flying high over the city of Moscow, it's recognizable as a lethal weapon of war—but just barely recognizable, alongside the fighter aircraft that Russia, and the world, had previously thought possible. Its name is the Su-47 Berkut, and it is an experiment in more ways than one. As the world crossed a generational gap between the thundering fighter jets of the late Cold War, and the hyper-advanced machines that rule today, the Berkut wasn't destined to become the new king of the skies—but it was among the boldest, and most fascinating aircraft in the history of human flight. ## Designing a Chimera The seed of the Su-47 was first planted all the way back in the 1980s, when Russia was not yet Russia, and was instead the largest and most powerful member of the Soviet Union. In those waning years of great-power competition, the Soviets were still intent on maintaining direct parity with the United States of America—and the Americans had a real beast on the way, with the potential to beat the Soviets in the air for good. Back then, not much was known about the designs that would later evolve into the highly advanced F-22 Raptor, an aircraft that's now going on twenty years as the best fighter jet in human history. All that the Soviets knew, back in the early eighties, was that the so-called Advanced Tactical Fighter program was supposed to build something that would replace the iconic F-15 and F-16. Those fighters had been challenge enough for the Soviets, whose Su-27s and MiG-29s were just barely getting into front-line service in order to face them down. But now, there was something even more formidable on the way, and though the Soviets had little way of knowing the fine details on America's vision, they could at least work out the basics. The term itself, "fifth-generation fighter", was not yet a meaningful phrase by the 1980s; in fact, the 'generation' system wouldn't be proposed as a concept until 1990, and even then, the concept took some time to catch on. But America and Russia's most advanced fighter aircraft were at least roughly comparable, and it wasn't difficult to look at them, as they were, and figure out what sort of improvements would take precedence for a later aircraft. Any new-model planes would probably need to be highly maneuverable, while also capable of either keeping pace with those older aircraft or outrunning them. They would need to have advanced onboard technology and avionics, including significantly improved radar, and if at all possible, it would be fantastic if they could be stealthy. Some of the technology elements that would eventually feature in fifth-generation fighters like the F-22 and the later F-35, were still theoretical back in the eighties, but the general idea was straightforward: Build something that could compete with an American fighter that was going to be really good, but was going to be good in unpredictable ways. The Soviets began work on two answers to that challenge, rather than one, with each possible answer spearheaded by one of the country's two premier fighter aircraft design bureaus: Mikoyan, and Sukhoi. The Mikoyan bureau would produce a design of their own, the MiG 1.44, which we've already done a prior episode on, if you'd like to check it out after we're done here. That design would, broadly speaking, look to compete directly with what the Soviets had imagined to be a better version of the F-15 and F-16, complete with a delta wing, a reduced radar cross-section for limited stealthy flight, and some advanced engines and onboard technology. For the purposes of today's episode, we can understand it as a safer option: something that, if put into main-line production, would have very predictably been a step above Russia's existing fighter aircraft, even if it didn't beat out the Americans' Advanced Tactical Fighter in the long run. But the Sukhoi design bureau—well, they came at the challenge from a decidedly different angle, pun very much intended. Their design would be a testbed, packed with new and emerging technologies and design principles that, if they worked, could produce an aircraft unlike any other. It was a gamble, a high-risk, high-reward proposition—but for a Soviet Union that knew it was flagging in the grand marathon of the Cold War, it was a gamble Sukhoi was willing to take. It was named the Berkut, translating in English to 'golden eagle', and initially designated the Su-37. For the sake of clarity, we'll refer to the Berkut by the designation it would ultimately adopt: the Su-47. The most distinctive element of the 1980s-era design, and, indeed, of the eventual Su-47, were its forward-swept wings, a feature that had never been successfully integrated to a production-line jet aircraft. The idea wasn't a new one; forward-swept wing designs were developed into prototypes by nearly every major power during World War II, both Ally and Axis, with products including the Junkers Ju 287 and a forward-swept version of the P-51 Mustang. In the Cold War years, America proposed the XB-53 bomber, also with its wings forward-swept, plus a different forward-swept fighter aircraft prototype, the unsuccessful X-29. But despite the fact that the forward sweep had never been done successfully with a fighter aircraft of this sheer power, Sukhoi still had reason to believe it could work. Forward-swept-wing aircraft are highly maneuverable, especially at subsonic speeds, and Sukhoi quickly worked out that by adding not just static canards on the forward section of the aircraft, but moveable ones, it would become capable of even more exceptional aerobatic feats. Such a design would also allow for takeoff and landing on far shorter runways, with the plane generating lift so quickly that it could get off the ground in the blink of an eye. It would grant the plane an inherently longer range, and the forward sweep of the wing made the aircraft significantly more difficult to accurately identify as a threat via radar, when looking at it head-on. And finally, Sukhoi understood that the aircraft could integrate technology that was only just reaching readiness for use in advanced fighter aircraft: Thrust vectoring. That's a process by which aircraft engines, rockets, and other high-powered vehicles can change the angle of the thrust they generate. In an aircraft already so maneuverable as the Su-47 was going to be, the addition of thrust vectoring meant that the Berkut would be able to blast itself into impossibly tight turns once that technology could be fully integrated to the aircraft. Design on the Su-47 continued through the 1980s, but like so many other Soviet programs during that time, it was caught up in the collapse of the Soviet Union as a whole. By the late eighties, advanced weapons programs were no longer a priority in Moscow, and by 1991, Moscow had become the capital of the Russian Federation. Modern Russia didn't have the means to build two advanced fighter jets, and in fact, it couldn't even build one. The best it could do was to pick one of its two incubating designs and hold them for a later date, and in the early 1990s, the choice was clear. The MiG 1.44 had passed its critical design review at the very end of the Soviet era, and a technology demonstrator would almost certainly, at the very least, be able to fly. Again, this was an aircraft that represented the safe route, and with Russia trying to figure out how it would stumble through the next decade, opting for additional risk was simply not a good idea. Sukhoi got the news in the early days of the Russian Federation: all funds for the Su-47 would be frozen indefinitely, and Russia would no longer provide any support in developing a flyable aircraft. But although the Sukhoi bureau had seen its funding pulled, that wouldn't be the end of the Su-47. Initially, the Soviets had planned for a maiden flight of a prototype in 1991, with the hope of producing a first production series by 1996; that is to say, it *was* intended, at one point, as a potential addition to the Soviet Air Force. Now, with the Soviet Union in the rearview, Sukhoi was behind that schedule—but not too far behind. The technology involved in the Su-47 was too promising to abandon, the Sukhoi bureau had all the aircraft components it needed, and although Russia was in dire financial straits at that time—it wouldn't always be. Seeing the potential for the Kremlin to eventually reconsider under different circumstances, Sukhoi decided to go ahead with their experimental prototype, in hopes that when the Berkut was finally ready, Moscow would be presented with an offer that it couldn't refuse. ## Specs and Capabilities The aircraft known as the Berkut would never be pushed to its true limits in testing, and so some of the specifications we'll present in this episode are purely hypothetical. These are what the Su-47 *should* have been able to do, not what it *could* do. But the aircraft did fly, more than once, and given what it showed with the opportunities it was provided, it stands to reason that this full range of projected capabilities would have ultimately been realized. The Su-47 was a single-seat aircraft, measuring 22.6 meters from tip to tail, and 16.7 meters from wingtip to wingtip. That's about 74 feet long by about 55 feet wide. Sitting empty at a weight of a bit under 26 metric tons, the Su-47 could take off at weights up to 34 metric tons, powered by a pair of Soloviev D-30 turbofan engines, with afterburn capability. Those engines were built for future fitting with thrust-vectoring nozzles, capable of changing the angle of thrust in three dimensions, according to the demands of the pilot. Although it was rated only for flight at a speed limit of Mach 1.6—that's just shy of 2,000 kilometers per hour or 1,225 miles per hour—the Berkut was theoretically capable of flying far faster than that. Based on the capability of its engines and its overall mass, it would have been capable of hitting top speeds of 2,200 kilometers per hour or 1,400 miles per hour at altitude; that's Mach 2.21. At sea level, it was capable of supersonic flight at 1,400 kilometers per hour; that's Mach 1.12 or 870 miles per hour. Boasting a surface ceiling of 18,000 meters or just below sixty thousand feet, the Berkut could fly at a range of 3,300 kilometers or 2,100 miles, although its functional combat range was not established. It could reach its service ceiling in less than ninety seconds after takeoff at sea level, and it could pull nine g in a pinch, meaning that it could withstand nine times the usual forces of gravity without breaking apart under the strain. Although the aircraft never saw combat, it was capable of carrying weapons into the fight on a total of fourteen hardpoints, including up to six in an internal weapons bay. Those hardpoints were capable of mounting all manner of Russian and Soviet-era air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles. Although it was never fitted with an onboard gun, it likely would have received a 30mm autocannon—specifically the Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-30-1—if it had been built into a production-line model. After all, that's the same weapon featured onboard the Su-27, the Su-30, the Su-33, the Su-35, and the more recent Su-57, as well as the one planned for the MiG 1.44. The aircraft was fitted with a specialized seat, to help the pilot endure high g-load maneuvers that would usually be impossible to tolerate. That seat was inclined to a sixty-degree angle, used a specialized life-support system, and was eject-capable. Along with a planned mission radar and additional onboard radomes, the Su-47 integrated fly-by-wire technology, a process by which an electronic interface assists the pilot in making real-time micro-corrections during flight. Then, there were the wings. Built of light composite-fiber, the wings and the additional, moveable forward canards on the plane granted the Berkut extreme agility when operating at subsonic speeds. They enabled maneuver at high angle of attack, which basically means the angle formed by the direction of an aircraft's wing, on one side of the angle, and the direction of airflow against the aircraft, on the other side of the angle. That meant that the plane could perform impossibly tight turns, dodges, weaves, and other sophisticated maneuvers, while relying on the considerable thrust of its engines to practically blast out of trouble if it ever suffered too dramatic a loss in energy. These weren't the sort of changes that would simply let the Su-47 out-turn a competitor aircraft; they were the sort that would require both the Berkut's pilots, and adversary pilots, to re-learn the entire geometry of air-to-air engagements. Yet despite the intense focus on subsonic maneuverability, the wings didn't lose out on maneuverability at supersonic speeds either. The unique lift properties of the aircraft meant that it flew entirely differently than other planes, but the unique advantages of such an aircraft had incredible potential for its pilots, if they were able to master the physics involved. Finally, there's the question of stealth, for a prototype that took its first flight several months after the F-22 had been unveiled, at a Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta, Georgia. By then, any uncertainty on Russia's part about whether stealth would be part of the fifth generation of fighter aircraft, should have been entirely dashed—so was the Su-47 capable of keeping up in such an environment? Expert opinions on the matter are split, but it did have at least some things going for it. Because of the strange front-facing profile of the aircraft, radar trying to get a look at the thing from straight-on would have struggled to get a clear picture of what it was. It also featured an internal weapons bay, a critical element in reducing radar cross-section. But, on the other hand, the design itself didn't have many attributes that suggested that it would have been stealthy, while the protrusions and rough angles of its airframe, including its distinctive forward canards, would have made it far less likely to have a truly stealthy profile. Sources disagree on whether the Berkut might have been coated with radar-absorbent paint, and it's not clear whether the prototype would have been, even if such an element was slated for inclusion on a production-line aircraft. But as Russia has since found out with its Su-57, radar-absorbent paint by itself isn't quite enough to make something stealthy. Regardless, Russia's adversaries got a chance to find out; the Su-47 would eventually become a fixture of the air show circuit, at least for a short time, and while it's not known whether any other nations chose to point their radar at it while it was in midair, they certainly had the option to do so. ## Death on the Drawing Board The Berkut took its first flight on September the twenty-fifth, 1997, just twenty-two days after America's F-22 Raptor blasted into the air for the very first time. Despite the fall of an empire, despite having been cut off from funding and de-prioritized by the nation that built it, the Su-47 was, in that moment, still neck-and-neck with the end result of that same Advanced Tactical Fighter program that had seen the Berkut designed in the first place. The F-22 still wouldn't enter service for nearly another decade, although neither America nor Russia knew it at the time, and in an alternate history where Russia saw the Berkut, watched what it could do, and then slammed down on the gas pedal for main-line production, the Berkut could very well have beaten the Raptor to service. But any plans that Russia's most aspirational aerospace designers might have had, for a version of the Berkut that would one day rule the skies, ultimately died on the drawing board—and the process to kill that vision off, didn't take long. The Su-47 was a genuinely impressive technology demonstrator, and it did prove, perhaps better than any other aircraft in history, that a forward-swept-wing jet fighter could deliver on the high hopes of those who had designed it. Yet alongside its potential, came its problems—and a whole lot of them. On the one hand, there were all the straightforward logistical bits: just by example, the prototype had used grafted-on bits of the Su-27, including the vertical tails, the canopy, the landing gear, and part of the fuselage. That meant that there would have been substantially more design and testing needed in order to build a fully unique aircraft, and deal with some of the issues inherent with just slapping on parts of another plane. The aircraft also would have likely had to undergo at least some level of redesign after the F-22 was unveiled, considering that it was intended as a direct counter to the Raptor, but lacked the clear stealth features that made the F-22 so formidable. But there were also the fundamental issues stemming from the same feature that made the Berkut unique: its forward-swept wings. Although they gave the Berkut a significant maneuverability edge at subsonic speeds, including transonic speeds just at the edge of the sound barrier, they presented significant issues once the aircraft began to fly any faster. The design inherently placed the aircraft's wingtips under high strain, a problem that got far worse when dealing with the sort of air resistance a plane deals with at supersonic speeds. The wings were built to bend and twist, and that was all well and good at subsonic speeds, but with such force at supersonic speeds, the wings risked snapping off. Add to that the increased stress to the wings that would inevitably come, when they were loaded with weapons—and it was just too much. A traditional aft-swept wing has no such problems, and while the Berkut could beat an aft-swept adversary fighter in a subsonic dogfight, there's not much practical sense in bothering to claim that victory. In order to leverage a subsonic advantage, you've got to make an adversary aircraft agree to slow down to subsonic speeds—something that, on the one hand, they wouldn't voluntarily do for a dogfight in the first place, and that on the other hand, they *definitely* wouldn't do, as soon as they saw that the aircraft that they were facing was a Berkut. And even the basic presumption that high maneuverability would be such an asset in the 21st century, had also turned out to be false. The Berkut would be facing down aircraft that could target it with missiles from beyond visual range, and that might not even show up on the Berkut's radar, depending on the aircraft an enemy pilot was flying. Could the Berkut slow down to subsonic speeds, just in time to start doing complicated aerobatic dodges to avoid extremely tight-turning missiles? Probably not, and even if they could, what was the point? An adversary aircraft would just send more missiles, and when they ran out, they'd be so far away, and in some cases so hard to detect, that the Berkut would never catch them in time to dish out payback. And when it came to the idea of a true, head-to-head faceoff against the aircraft the Berkut was meant to counter—it would be no contest. The F-22 could pull nine gs too, it could fly higher and for just as long, it could outrun the Berkut at both altitude and sea level, and its supercruise was significantly faster than the Berkut was even allowed to fly. More important, the amount of redesign needed to make the Berkut stealthy meant that any large-scale production run of the aircraft, at least the version of it that Russia unveiled to the world, would just be producing a series of sitting ducks. On radar, the F-22 shows up no bigger than a bumblebee; it can engage targets from well beyond visual range; and if it ever did have to get close enough for a Berkut pilot to spot it with the naked eye, it could nullify all the Berkut's maneuverability advantages by simply continuing to fly at normal speeds, knowing that even though the pilot could see it, the Berkut's internal systems still couldn't get a lock. The race to develop a fifth-generation fighter was over, and Russia hadn't just come up short; with the Berkut, they'd tried to run the race by going entirely in the wrong direction. Of course, that's not to say the Berkut never did anything at all. It showed up several times at Russian and international airshows, generating well-deserved fascination and elevating the profile of Russian aeronautical design, especially amongst onlookers who weren't troubled by all the fine details. It became a much-needed symbol of national pride for the Russian Federation during the late 1990s and the early 2000s, a difficult time when heightened morale, from any source, was much needed. It would spawn a spiritual successor, also featuring forward-swept wings, in the form of the KB SAT SR-10, a single-copy jet trainer aircraft that another Russian design bureau is trying to get picked up by the Russian Air Force. No luck yet, on that front. It proved that forward-swept-wing designs were a reasonable way to design a jet aircraft, demonstrating characteristics that may not be ideal for an air superiority fighter, but line up well with other combat roles like, by example, a fast ground-attack aircraft; defense contractors, take notes. And finally, technical elements of the Su-47 would live on in its successor, the beleaguered, but verifiably flight-capable Su-57, as well as the purported next plane after that, the Su-75. But the bold experiment that was the Su-47 Berkut, was an experiment that failed in the end. It entered a contest its home nation couldn't quite finish in one piece, it attempted to propose radical solutions to emerging problems but ultimately fell flat. The Su-47 was one-of-a-kind, truly unprecedented, perhaps never to be matched again—but sometimes, that's simply not enough. ## Key Takeaways - The Su-47 Berkut was an experimental Soviet/Russian fighter jet designed in the 1980s to compete with the U.S. Advanced Tactical Fighter program. - The Su-47 featured forward-swept wings, which provided high maneuverability at subsonic speeds but faced structural issues at supersonic speeds. - Development was halted due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, but Sukhoi continued work, hoping for future support. - The Su-47 demonstrated impressive capabilities in testing but ultimately failed to meet the requirements of modern air combat, particularly in stealth and supersonic performance. - Despite its flaws, the Su-47 influenced future Russian aircraft designs and served as a symbol of national pride during a challenging period. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is the Su-47 Berkut? The Su-47 Berkut is an experimental fighter plane developed by Russia, known for its distinctive forward-swept wings and advanced flight technologies. ### When was the Su-47 Berkut first flown? The Su-47 Berkut took its first flight on September 25, 1997. ### What were the unique design features of the Su-47 Berkut? The Su-47 Berkut featured forward-swept wings, moveable canards, and thrust-vectoring nozzles, which were intended to enhance its maneuverability and performance. ### What were the intended capabilities of the Su-47 Berkut? The Su-47 Berkut was designed to be highly maneuverable, capable of supersonic flight, and equipped with advanced avionics and weapons systems. It could theoretically reach speeds of Mach 2.21 at altitude and Mach 1.12 at sea level. ### Why was the Su-47 Berkut not put into production? The Su-47 Berkut faced numerous challenges, including structural issues with its forward-swept wings, lack of stealth features compared to the F-22 Raptor, and the financial difficulties of post-Soviet Russia. ### What role did the Su-47 Berkut play in Russian aeronautical design? The Su-47 Berkut served as a technology demonstrator, proving the feasibility of forward-swept wings in jet aircraft and inspiring future designs like the Su-57 and KB SAT SR-10. ### How did the Su-47 Berkut compare to the F-22 Raptor? The F-22 Raptor had superior stealth capabilities, speed, and range compared to the Su-47 Berkut. The Berkut's maneuverability advantages were outweighed by the Raptor's advanced technologies. ### What was the significance of the Su-47 Berkut's forward-swept wings? The forward-swept wings of the Su-47 Berkut were intended to provide exceptional maneuverability at subsonic speeds, but they also presented structural challenges at supersonic speeds. ### What was the intended combat role of the Su-47 Berkut? The Su-47 Berkut was designed to be an air superiority fighter, capable of engaging and defeating enemy aircraft in dogfights. However, its limitations in stealth and supersonic performance made it less effective in this role. ### What was the impact of the Su-47 Berkut on Russian national pride? The Su-47 Berkut became a symbol of national pride for Russia during the late 1990s and early 2000s, showcasing the country's aeronautical capabilities despite its financial struggles. ## Sources - [Original MegaProjects video: The Su-47 Berkut: Russia’s Craziest Experimental Fighter Plane](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH-M0qaP1YU) - [https://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/s37/?cf-view](https://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/s37/?cf-view) - [https://premium.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/su-47.htm](https://premium.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/su-47.htm) - [https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/ASPJ/journals/Chronicles/rosario.pdf](https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/ASPJ/journals/Chronicles/rosario.pdf) - [https://www.ausairpower.net/TE-ATF-91.html](https://www.ausairpower.net/TE-ATF-91.html) - [https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA166724](https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA166724) - [https://web.archive.org/web/20161211062747/http://www.airpower.au.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj90/win90/1win90.htm](https://web.archive.org/web/20161211062747/http://www.airpower.au.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj90/win90/1win90.htm) - [https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/russias-mig-144-stealth-fighter-nightmare-ended-badly-211681](https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/russias-mig-144-stealth-fighter-nightmare-ended-badly-211681) - [https://www.airandspaceforces.com/PDF/MagazineArchive/Documents/1997/July%201997/0797raptor.pdf](https://www.airandspaceforces.com/PDF/MagazineArchive/Documents/1997/July%201997/0797raptor.pdf) - [https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/sukhoi-su-47-golden-eagle-russias-first-stealth-fighter-failure-207601#:~:text=The%20Su%2D47%20is%20thus,correction%20or%20a%20timely%20cancellation](https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/sukhoi-su-47-golden-eagle-russias-first-stealth-fighter-failure-207601#:~:text=The%20Su%2D47%20is%20thus,correction%20or%20a%20timely%20cancellation) - [https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/su-47-russias-forward-swept-wing-wonder-fighter-never-was-207996](https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/su-47-russias-forward-swept-wing-wonder-fighter-never-was-207996) - [https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/russias-su-47-berkut-fighter-had-backwards-wings-reason-210742](https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/russias-su-47-berkut-fighter-had-backwards-wings-reason-210742) - [https://warriormaven.com/history/su-47-fighter-jet](https://warriormaven.com/history/su-47-fighter-jet) - [https://www.19fortyfive.com/2023/05/su-47-the-stealth-fighter-russias-air-force-said-no-to/](https://www.19fortyfive.com/2023/05/su-47-the-stealth-fighter-russias-air-force-said-no-to/) - [https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a28834443/su-47-berkut/](https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a28834443/su-47-berkut/) - [Hero image source](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Berkute_%28cropped%29.jpg) by westanmese / openverse, by-sa. ## Related Coverage