Algeria Confirms First Su-57 Fighters Arriving in 2025: How Many Will It Procure?

Algerian state media on February 12 for the first time confirmed longstanding reports that the country has become the first client for the Su-57 fifth generation fighter, revealing that Algerian pilots were currently undergoing training in Russia and that deliveries of the aircraft are scheduled to begin later in the year. The report followed confirmation from the head of the Russian state defence conglomerate Rosoboronexport Alexander Mikheyev two days prior that the first foreign client for the Su-57 would receive and begin operating the aircraft before the end of 2025. Mikheyev previously confirmed in November that an unnamed foreign client had already signed a contract to procure the fighters, which has placed Russia in a stronger positionto now pitch the fighter to India and other clients. Algeria has since 2020 consistently been considered the leading potential client for the Su-57, with strong signs having emerged since that time that the country was planning to procure the fighters. Algerian military officials were seen holding models of the aircraft on state television that year while in talks with visiting Russian officials, with a collage of the fighter having been installed at the country’s defence ministry at around the same time.

The first Su-57 unit is reportedly intended to replace modernised MiG-25 Foxbat interceptors which were retired in June 2022, and had formed the elite of the Algerian fleet after the country became the first foreign client for them in 1978. Algeria is reported to be set to receive six Su-57s in 2025, with the remainder of the more than 20 fighters scheduled to be produced this year expected to be delivered to the Russian Aerospace Forces. Unconfirmed reports have indicated that 14 of the fighters are on order to replace the MiG-25s. Followup orders for further Su-57s, likely for superior future variants, are expected to be placed near the end of the decade or in the 2030s to replace the country’s older MiG-29 multirole fighters and Su-24 strike fighters. The Su-57 may also eventually begin to replace the Su-30MKA fighters that currently form the backbone of the fleet, of which 72 are currently in services after orders were placed between 2006 and 2020. The Algerian Air Force is already considered to have by far the greatest combat potential of the fleets African, Arab and Muslim-majority countries, with procurement of fifth generation fighters expected to cement its position in this regard. TheNATO assault against its neighbour Libya in 2011, which was considered by neighbouring countries to have been an act of unprovoked aggression, is thought to have been a major factor stimulating renewed investment in Algerian aerial warfare capabilities to deter and if necessary repel a similar assault.

In seeking to gain Algerian orders, the Su-57 fighter faces competition from the Chinese FC-31, a rival fifth generation fighter which utilises significantly more advanced stealth technologies and avionics, and which is reportedly scheduled to begin deliveries to Pakistan by 2029.China has gained a fast growing share of Algerian arms orders, with recent sales having included CH-4 and WJ-700 drones, WM-80 rocket artillery systems, PLZ-45 self-propelled howitzers, HJ-12 anti tank missile systems, CHL-906 electronic warfare systems, Adhafer Class stealth corvettes, and according to some sources HQ-9B long range air defence systems. China is reportedly also set to make unprecedented inroads into Algerian markets by supplying the country’s first non-Russian tank class, the VT-4, which will be Algeria’s first with an active protection system. There is a significant possibility that the FC-31 will undercut demand for the Su-57 in future, potentially relegating the Russian fighter to replacing MiG-25s and MiG-29s while the more advanced Chinese fighter comes to form the backbone of the fleet and replace the Su-30MKA.

The Su-57 benefits from an entirely unique level of combat testing among fighters of its generation, and after prototypes were deployed to Syria in 2018 to launch strikes on Islamist insurgent groups, operations in Ukraine from 2022 have included air defence suppression, air to air combat, and operations in heavily defended enemy airspace. The fighter has primarily been employed for precision strike missions. Significant increases to the Su-57’s production scale since 2020 have made large scale export orders appear increasingly viable, with the first contract for export confirmed in November 2024 to have already been signed, and Algeria widely speculated to be the most likely client. Unlike the American F-22 and F-35 which cost significantly more to operate and have far higher maintenance needs than their fourth generation predecessors, the Su-57’s design has prioritised low operational costs and ease of maintenance, which makes the fighter highly affordable for one-for-one replacements of preceding aircraft such as the Su-24 and Su-30. By contrast, fleets transitioning to the F-35 have consistently had to significantly contract the number of fighters operated to be able to accommodate its high operational costs. The Su-57’s operational costs are very significantly lower than those of the MiG-25s they are expected to replace.