Just hours after a security report in Europe warned of an increasing risk of all-out war, Russia showed off its latest fearsome military toy.
Russia has revealed it is purchasing 12 Su-57 stealth fighter jets, which could enter service as soon as next year.
Ten are already in flight testing, Russia’s deputy defence minister Yuri Borisov said.
He revealed today: “We are buying Su-57 jets for combat trials. The first stage of state trials has been concluded.”
Mr Borisov said, during a visit to the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Plant where the remaining planes will be constructed, intensive trialling will take place.
He told Russian reporters: “There has only been one flight. Everything seems normal, but as you might imagine, this is a whole range of trials.
“Many test flights must be carried out. As a rule, such testing requires two-three years.”
The Su-57 is a specialist fighter jet with a new avionics system capable of rapid analysis of battle situations.
The jet also boasts an incredibly powerful radar which can locate ground and air forces at huge distances before neutralising any threats with long-range air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles.
The trial comes the day after a shock new report warned Russia is moving closer to war with Europe.
The annual Munich Security Report, this year entitled ‘To The Brink – And Back?’, said the erosion of arms control agreements, deployment of additional weapons and tensions over military exercises have increased the risk of an inadvertent armed clash.
The report warned: “In this dire state of affairs, miscalculations and misunderstandings could well lead to an inadvertent military clash.”
The conflict in Ukraine also posed a huge stumbling block to de-escalation of tensions between Russia and the West, the report said, noting that a US decision to provide lethal arms to Ukraine would probably cement the current stalemate.
It said countries in eastern Europe were struggling in “an environment of contested security,” caught between the European Union and NATO on one side and Russia on the other, at a time when the EU’s Eastern Partnership policy had “lost its steam” and there was little chance of NATO taking in more members in the near future.