By Elena Teslova
MOSCOW (AA) – The Russian Defense Ministry has received the final batch of fifth-generation Su-57 fighter jets for this year, the Industry and Trade Ministry said on Wednesday.
The planes were produced at a plant of the Russian United Aircraft Corporation, the ministry said in a statement without specifying how many of them were produced.
"Aircraft manufacturers manufactured and handed over to our armed forces all of the fifth-generation Su-57 aircraft planned for delivery this year. The fighters have successfully passed all the necessary factory tests," the ministry quoted its head Denis Manturov as saying.
The ministry also cited in the statement another Russian official, head of the Rostec Corporation Sergey Chemezov, who announced that more fifth-generation fighter jets are already in production and will be handed to the Russian armed forces in 2024.
According to the ministry, both Manturov and Chemezov stated that problems with deliveries of parts prohibited for export to Russia by the EU, US, and other Western countries have been successfully solved.
Separately, Chemezov told Russian media that the cutting-edge Coalition howitzers, which have a significant range advantage over NATO counterparts, are expected to be delivered soon to Russian armed forces fighting in the "special military operation" zone.
Chemezov also revealed that Russia's state defense order has increased tenfold since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
"Compared to January 2022, that is, before the operation, the state defense order increased, I think, about 10 times. It continues to grow," he noted.
Russia began its military operation in Ukraine in Feb. 2022.
Rostec State Corporation is a Russian state-owned defense conglomerate headquartered in Moscow.