State tests of Russia’s advanced Su-57 fifth-generation fighters will be completed this year, while trials of MiG-35 fighters are planned to be finalized by the end of 2021, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces Lt. General Sergei Dronov recently said.

“State tests of MiG-35 are planned to be completed in late 2021, while those of Su-57 are due to be finalized as soon as this year,” Dronov said in an interview with the Armed Forces’ Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

 Dronov recalled that President Vladimir Putin, at the May meeting on defense industry development, set the task of re-equipping three aviation regiments with Su-57 fighters by 2028.

 He also noted that MiG-35 was more cost-effective than Su-30CM and Su-35S, which have been already in service with the Armed Forces, with the cost of its flight hour being about one and a half times lower than that of these fighters.