What was expected to be hardly less than a miracle did not quite come to pass as of August 2025. When Russia introduced its Su-75 “Checkmate” stealth fighter, the world was waiting with bated breath. It was meant to open a new era in sky wars, the plane being designed to present those countries incapable of accessing Western stealth technologies with an easily accessible fifth-generation alternative to that of the U.S. F-35. But a long way from a spectacular breakthrough, the Su-75 remains largely a dream of aviation engineers rather than a victorious ace of aerial warfare.
Indeed, one can be tempted to see good qualities in a draft of Checkmate. Such an aircraft is a single-engine jet suitable for supersonic flight up to Mach 1.8; its range shall be approximately 3,000 km, and its load capacity would be 7 tons. Its systems are described as being modular and with AI capabilities, which would permit the aircraft to transport guided munitions as well as to change its function easily. It is said to be worth $30–40 million per aircraft, which makes it appear to be just an affordable option when put side by side with Western stealth fighters.
However, these flyers and exhibitions have not been able to hide the slow pace of the work. From its first unveiling in 2021 until now, the plane has mostly remained at the stage of a concept prototype. It continues to perform well in demonstrations and exhibitions. Nevertheless, there is little hope for performance in the actual operating deployment in the near future. Production was scheduled repeatedly but was postponed until no manufacturing on a large scale had started.
The absence of buyers who are certain to buy the product is one of the major factors causing the hindrance. Among the first markets were countries from the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa, and all of them could be willing buyers of stealth fighters if only they had sufficient funds and were free from political constraints, so they could safely choose the. Dubai and Abu Dhabi were thought to be interested at the end of the day. Still, there is no officially given order yet. Giving away dummies in the form of promotional gifts at airshows was a tactic used in attempts to obtain contracts, but it yielded no results in that aspect.
Sanctions additionally played a role in the matter. Apart from restrictions on the use of high-tech electronics and other essential items, which were imposed following the implementation of Russia’s policy in Eastern Ukraine, there have been questions raised about the LCH made jet parts’ readiness for mass production along with the putative answer that Japan found a significant hurdle and trouble in scuttling this whole project including greater ease even in the possibility of a manufacturing crisis.
Furthermore, expansion by way of advanced fabrication alone would pose a huge problem not only for large-scale manufacturing but also for the practical supply of parts if an intensive facility were to be chosen.
The war in Ukraine has further restructured Russian military priorities. Most of the money has been allocated for other than the drone missile systems, and artillery is the main beneficiary, whereas tough and expensive development of a stealth fighter is saluted with indifference. Simultaneously, the current warfare scenarios’ tendencies towards renewable forces of long-range engagements led to the gradual fading of the strategic appeal for the new generation of piloted aircraft.
As a result, the air force, like that in Checkmate, is in danger of becoming targets for low-cost, highly maneuverable drones; thus, prospective buyers are refraining from investing in it.
Russia has introduced possible ways for sharing the cost and increasing its power by joint production projects with the US, as well as the idea of the jets being unmanned. They intend to lure India with the transfer of technology. Nevertheless, India is very active with its fifth-generation program and has already been engaged in the past with the Russian Su-57, so that the impact that the offer of cooperation with Russia could make on the Indian choice of program would be rather discouraging than encouraging.
Moreover, U.S. sanctions pose another hurdle that complicates the potential deals. The situation in which Russia was considering giving espionage or support in assembly to Belarus, but the aerospace limitation and the economic crisis, made the country even further strained, is just recent history.
To conclude, the Su-75 Checkmate is the best example of the gap between design and reality. It is a visually attractive, otherworldly concept; however, it does not allow for a timely performance based on financial, supply, and military priority issues. Currently, the vehicle could be labeled as an example upon which the modern defense projects lessons of far more difficult barriers than those presented on the stage of airshow demonstrations. The production of a next-generation fighter nowadays involves navigating through a network of political, economic, and changing warfare strategies—Checkmate is still fighting to conquer these challenges.