The Su-75 has a
diverterless supersonic inlet (DSI), a
v-tail and internal
weapons bays—all features intended to reduce
radar signature. The shape of the inlet, called "U-shape" by its designers, is intended to reduce the aircraft's radar cross-section (RCS) compared to the company's preceding Su-57 design. The wing area appears large, which has been interpreted by correspondent
David Axe to imply that Sukhoi designed the fighter to fly and engage in combat at high altitudes— or higher. The angular ventral inlet, which wraps around the lower nose section, shares features with a DSI design concept first introduced in the
Boeing X-32 aircraft. A diverterless supersonic inlet (DSI) is mechanically simple; DSI can reduce cost compared to more intricate inlet designs such as the
McDonnell Douglas F-15 or
Sukhoi Su-27. Instead of a conventional
empennage, the Su-75 has a v-tail similar to that of
Northrop YF-23. The fighter will also feature an internal weapons bay with five missiles and an autocannon.
Patents published in 2023 indicate that the initial design had been modified with changes to the fuselage sides, strakes and the air intakes to reduce radar signature. Mainly, the new design appears to have increased the lifting surface area of the airframe.
Engine The powerplant appears to be a variant of the
Saturn AL-51F-1 engine (initially known by development designation
izdeliye 30) which will also power the Su-57M variant. The AL-51F-1 is designed to be 30% lower
specific weight than its
AL-41F1 predecessor, and up to 18% more effective, with an estimated thrust of 107.9 kN (24,300 lbf) dry and 161.9 kN (36,400 lbf) in afterburner. Once in series production, the AL-51F-1 will have a much longer life span than other Russian engines. Alternatively, the aircraft may also be powered by the
izdeliye 177, a hybrid engine that combines technology from both the AL-41F1 and AL-51F-1 with similar thrust as the latter.
Cockpit Due to restrictions preventing taking cockpit photos, NBC News Matt Bodner, the first Western journalist able to see the jet in person, provided a preview without a
point of view photo. According to Bodner, the cockpit layout is identical to the Su-57 with a
glass cockpit with two 38 cm (15 in) main multi-functional
LCD displays similar to the arrangement of the Su-35S. The cockpit has a wide-angle (30° by 22°)
head-up display (HUD).
Avionics The electronic infrastructure of the Checkmate is all
open-architecture and makes use of "Matryoska" diagnostics systems that are mostly on-board. == Potential operators ==