Russia Reveals Su-57E Fifth-Gen Jet’s Side Bay Air-to-Air Missile Deployment Sequence
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Russia has used Dubai Airshow 2025 to publicly show how the Su-57E export fighter deploys a short-range air-to-air missile from its side weapons bay. The new footage clarifies how the aircraft combines stealthy internal strike weapons with a fast reaction self-defense capability that is aimed at export customers as much as at Western analysts.
During Dubai Airshow 2025, Russia’s Su-57E prototype finally demonstrated in public how its side weapons bay operates, ending years of speculation about the fighter’s close-in air-to-air armament. The new sequence, released in a video published by UAC on 21 November 2025 and replayed during the flying display in Dubai, shows the export-configured T-50-9 opening a fuselage-side bay at the wing root, extending a missile on a launcher and then retracting it back into the airframe. This follows earlier UAC footage analyzed by Army Recognition ahead of the show, which focused on the forward internal bay loaded with two Kh-58UShK anti-radiation missiles, even though the same material already hinted that the side bays were also being exercised in flight. By shifting attention from the strike-optimised front bay to the quick-launch side bay and its short-range missile, the latest imagery offers a much clearer view of how the Su-57 is intended to combine stealth, suppression of enemy air defences and dogfight self-protection in a single load-out.
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At Dubai Airshow 2025, Russia’s Su-57E prototype publicly demonstrated its side weapons bay operation for the first time, showcasing the rapid deployment and retraction of a short-range air-to-air missile, confirming its advanced stealth and multi-role combat design (Picture Source: UAC)
The feature highlighted by UAC is less about aerobatics and more about the bay’s mechanical sequence. In the rehearsal video and airshow display, the Su-57E rolls past the cameras as one of its canoe-shaped fairings at the wing root swings open along a narrow hinge line. A launcher then drives a missile body, understood to be an inert mock-up corresponding in size and mass to the R-73/R-74 family, out into the airflow while it remains firmly held on the rail, before drawing it smoothly back inside and closing the doors. This confirms that the side compartment is not a conventional pylon hidden behind a panel, but a purpose-designed quick-launch bay that presents the missile to the slipstream only for the seconds needed to acquire a target and fire. For observers who had previously seen only still photos of empty side bays at earlier shows, or a brief cropped clip of a launch in a 2020 Russian MoD montage, the Dubai sequence provides the first clear, continuous view of the full open-extend-retract cycle under realistic manoeuvring loads. It also indicates that the export-market Su-57E retains this capability, suggesting that Moscow wants prospective customers to view the aircraft as a complete stealth weapons system rather than merely a demonstrator for long-range missiles.
Everything available in Russian documentation and recent analytical studies indicates a single primary occupant of this bay: the infrared‑guided R‑74M2, also designated K‑74M2 or izdeliye 760. Russian sources describe the Su‑57’s weapons architecture as four beyond‑visual‑range missiles in the tandem main internal bays and one short‑range missile in each side bay, explicitly identifying the R‑74M2 as the short‑range munition optimised for internal carriage. A deep upgrade of the R‑74/R‑73 family, the R‑74M2 reportedly employs a reduced‑cross‑section airframe and clipped fins to fit the Su‑57’s 320 × 320 mm bay, an improved rocket motor with extended burn time, and a new Karfagen‑760 imaging infrared seeker designed to match or exceed Western high off‑boresight missiles such as the AIM‑9X and ASRAAM. Published range estimates vary between roughly 30 and 50 km depending on launch conditions, placing it at the upper end of modern short‑range AAM performance. Missile airframes visible in UAC footage and rehearsal stills from Zhukovsky correspond to the proportions and nose geometry attributed to the R‑74M2, and Russian analysis consistently identifies the side‑bay load on T‑50‑9 as a pair of R‑74M2‑class short‑range air‑to‑air missiles. The bay layout, launcher design, and visual evidence therefore make the R‑74M2 the most probable operational weapon concealed in the Su‑57’s side bays, with inert R‑74‑type dummies used in some sequences to demonstrate the mechanism safely.
Beyond confirming the missile type, the Dubai demonstration sheds light on why Russia invested in this side weapons bay concept at all. By tucking its short-range missiles into the wing-root fairings and using VPU-50-series launch rails to push them briefly into the airstream, the Su-57 can keep its infrared dogfight missiles ready for immediate use without leaving them hanging on external pylons that would compromise stealth and add drag. The quick-extension mechanism allows the seeker head to see the target and achieve lock-on either before or just after launch, while the clamshell doors remain open for the minimum possible time, limiting radar cross-section spikes. In effect, the side bay gives the Felon a stealth-compatible equivalent of a traditional wingtip or under-wing rail, preserving instantaneous close-in engagement capability while the main bays are filled with heavy ordnance such as Kh-58UShK anti-radiation missiles, Kh-69 cruise missiles or R-77M and izdeliye 810 long-range air-to-air weapons. This is particularly relevant for a multirole platform marketed as being able to enter dense air-defence environments, prosecute ground emitters and still survive if engaged by fighters or surface-launched missiles at short notice. The side bay is therefore more than a technical curiosity; it is a key enabler of the Su-57’s advertised blend of stealth, multi-axis manoeuvrability and heavy internal payload.
The public unveiling of the Su-57’s side bay operating sequence at the Dubai Airshow 2025 carries notable strategic and tactical implications. It complements the earlier disclosure of the forward bay armed with two Kh-58UShK missiles, presenting a complete view of the fighter’s internal load-out that integrates a suppression-of-enemy-air-defenses module with short-range air-to-air missiles for self-protection. This configuration underscores Russia’s intent for the Su-57 to operate as a first-wave SEAD/DEAD platform capable of independent action, a capability attractive to air forces confronting advanced air defense networks across the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. By choosing the high-profile Dubai Airshow as the venue, Moscow signals its ambition to appeal to foreign procurement authorities beyond its domestic market, including nations previously linked to potential acquisitions such as Algeria, Iran, and Ethiopia. Moreover, the demonstration of live in-flight sequencing with functional hydraulics and realistic missile mass confirms the Su-57 program’s progression beyond static prototypes, while simultaneously conveying to NATO and regional observers that Russia is prepared to reveal intricate details of the aircraft’s internal systems to reinforce its export credibility.
The combination of pre‑show UAC footage showing the forward bay fitted with twin Kh‑58s and the Dubai Airshow 2025 demonstration of the side bay’s full operating cycle offers the most complete public view to date of the Su‑57’s intended combat employment. Earlier reporting documented the aircraft’s internal strike role and confirmed that the forward bay can accommodate substantial anti‑radiation missiles; the new side‑bay reveal demonstrates that the same airframe can keep a pair of R‑74M2‑class short‑range missiles concealed at the wing roots while remaining immediately available.
This rapid‑deploy side bay is not an airshow novelty but an operationally meaningful feature: it implies a concept of operations in which the Felon approaches contested airspace in a low‑observable configuration, opens a corridor against enemy radars using internally carried SEAD weapons, and retains a credible within‑visual‑range deterrent without resorting to external pylons. For prospective customers and competitors, the Dubai sequence matters less for spectacle than for confirmation that the export‑configured Su‑57E/T‑50‑9 possesses a functioning, stealth‑compatible close‑combat bay that almost certainly carries one of Russia’s most modern short‑range air‑to‑air missiles.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
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Russia has used Dubai Airshow 2025 to publicly show how the Su-57E export fighter deploys a short-range air-to-air missile from its side weapons bay. The new footage clarifies how the aircraft combines stealthy internal strike weapons with a fast reaction self-defense capability that is aimed at export customers as much as at Western analysts.
During Dubai Airshow 2025, Russia’s Su-57E prototype finally demonstrated in public how its side weapons bay operates, ending years of speculation about the fighter’s close-in air-to-air armament. The new sequence, released in a video published by UAC on 21 November 2025 and replayed during the flying display in Dubai, shows the export-configured T-50-9 opening a fuselage-side bay at the wing root, extending a missile on a launcher and then retracting it back into the airframe. This follows earlier UAC footage analyzed by Army Recognition ahead of the show, which focused on the forward internal bay loaded with two Kh-58UShK anti-radiation missiles, even though the same material already hinted that the side bays were also being exercised in flight. By shifting attention from the strike-optimised front bay to the quick-launch side bay and its short-range missile, the latest imagery offers a much clearer view of how the Su-57 is intended to combine stealth, suppression of enemy air defences and dogfight self-protection in a single load-out.
At Dubai Airshow 2025, Russia’s Su-57E prototype publicly demonstrated its side weapons bay operation for the first time, showcasing the rapid deployment and retraction of a short-range air-to-air missile, confirming its advanced stealth and multi-role combat design (Picture Source: UAC)
The feature highlighted by UAC is less about aerobatics and more about the bay’s mechanical sequence. In the rehearsal video and airshow display, the Su-57E rolls past the cameras as one of its canoe-shaped fairings at the wing root swings open along a narrow hinge line. A launcher then drives a missile body, understood to be an inert mock-up corresponding in size and mass to the R-73/R-74 family, out into the airflow while it remains firmly held on the rail, before drawing it smoothly back inside and closing the doors. This confirms that the side compartment is not a conventional pylon hidden behind a panel, but a purpose-designed quick-launch bay that presents the missile to the slipstream only for the seconds needed to acquire a target and fire. For observers who had previously seen only still photos of empty side bays at earlier shows, or a brief cropped clip of a launch in a 2020 Russian MoD montage, the Dubai sequence provides the first clear, continuous view of the full open-extend-retract cycle under realistic manoeuvring loads. It also indicates that the export-market Su-57E retains this capability, suggesting that Moscow wants prospective customers to view the aircraft as a complete stealth weapons system rather than merely a demonstrator for long-range missiles.
Everything available in Russian documentation and recent analytical studies indicates a single primary occupant of this bay: the infrared‑guided R‑74M2, also designated K‑74M2 or izdeliye 760. Russian sources describe the Su‑57’s weapons architecture as four beyond‑visual‑range missiles in the tandem main internal bays and one short‑range missile in each side bay, explicitly identifying the R‑74M2 as the short‑range munition optimised for internal carriage. A deep upgrade of the R‑74/R‑73 family, the R‑74M2 reportedly employs a reduced‑cross‑section airframe and clipped fins to fit the Su‑57’s 320 × 320 mm bay, an improved rocket motor with extended burn time, and a new Karfagen‑760 imaging infrared seeker designed to match or exceed Western high off‑boresight missiles such as the AIM‑9X and ASRAAM. Published range estimates vary between roughly 30 and 50 km depending on launch conditions, placing it at the upper end of modern short‑range AAM performance. Missile airframes visible in UAC footage and rehearsal stills from Zhukovsky correspond to the proportions and nose geometry attributed to the R‑74M2, and Russian analysis consistently identifies the side‑bay load on T‑50‑9 as a pair of R‑74M2‑class short‑range air‑to‑air missiles. The bay layout, launcher design, and visual evidence therefore make the R‑74M2 the most probable operational weapon concealed in the Su‑57’s side bays, with inert R‑74‑type dummies used in some sequences to demonstrate the mechanism safely.
Beyond confirming the missile type, the Dubai demonstration sheds light on why Russia invested in this side weapons bay concept at all. By tucking its short-range missiles into the wing-root fairings and using VPU-50-series launch rails to push them briefly into the airstream, the Su-57 can keep its infrared dogfight missiles ready for immediate use without leaving them hanging on external pylons that would compromise stealth and add drag. The quick-extension mechanism allows the seeker head to see the target and achieve lock-on either before or just after launch, while the clamshell doors remain open for the minimum possible time, limiting radar cross-section spikes. In effect, the side bay gives the Felon a stealth-compatible equivalent of a traditional wingtip or under-wing rail, preserving instantaneous close-in engagement capability while the main bays are filled with heavy ordnance such as Kh-58UShK anti-radiation missiles, Kh-69 cruise missiles or R-77M and izdeliye 810 long-range air-to-air weapons. This is particularly relevant for a multirole platform marketed as being able to enter dense air-defence environments, prosecute ground emitters and still survive if engaged by fighters or surface-launched missiles at short notice. The side bay is therefore more than a technical curiosity; it is a key enabler of the Su-57’s advertised blend of stealth, multi-axis manoeuvrability and heavy internal payload.
The public unveiling of the Su-57’s side bay operating sequence at the Dubai Airshow 2025 carries notable strategic and tactical implications. It complements the earlier disclosure of the forward bay armed with two Kh-58UShK missiles, presenting a complete view of the fighter’s internal load-out that integrates a suppression-of-enemy-air-defenses module with short-range air-to-air missiles for self-protection. This configuration underscores Russia’s intent for the Su-57 to operate as a first-wave SEAD/DEAD platform capable of independent action, a capability attractive to air forces confronting advanced air defense networks across the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. By choosing the high-profile Dubai Airshow as the venue, Moscow signals its ambition to appeal to foreign procurement authorities beyond its domestic market, including nations previously linked to potential acquisitions such as Algeria, Iran, and Ethiopia. Moreover, the demonstration of live in-flight sequencing with functional hydraulics and realistic missile mass confirms the Su-57 program’s progression beyond static prototypes, while simultaneously conveying to NATO and regional observers that Russia is prepared to reveal intricate details of the aircraft’s internal systems to reinforce its export credibility.
The combination of pre‑show UAC footage showing the forward bay fitted with twin Kh‑58s and the Dubai Airshow 2025 demonstration of the side bay’s full operating cycle offers the most complete public view to date of the Su‑57’s intended combat employment. Earlier reporting documented the aircraft’s internal strike role and confirmed that the forward bay can accommodate substantial anti‑radiation missiles; the new side‑bay reveal demonstrates that the same airframe can keep a pair of R‑74M2‑class short‑range missiles concealed at the wing roots while remaining immediately available.
This rapid‑deploy side bay is not an airshow novelty but an operationally meaningful feature: it implies a concept of operations in which the Felon approaches contested airspace in a low‑observable configuration, opens a corridor against enemy radars using internally carried SEAD weapons, and retains a credible within‑visual‑range deterrent without resorting to external pylons. For prospective customers and competitors, the Dubai sequence matters less for spectacle than for confirmation that the export‑configured Su‑57E/T‑50‑9 possesses a functioning, stealth‑compatible close‑combat bay that almost certainly carries one of Russia’s most modern short‑range air‑to‑air missiles.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
