Russia unveils new fighter jet

Accompanied by hopes of new orders worth billions from abroad, Russia has unveiled a new fighter jet from the Sukhoi corporation.

The aircraft, named 'Checkmate,' was unveiled on Tuesday at an aerospace fair outside Moscow. According to the Interfax agency, President Vladimir Putin said that there was nothing comparable to the fighter jet in Russia yet.

The fifth-generation stealth jet was announced as a "fundamentally new military aircraft" and is to go into series production in the next few years.

It is more difficult to track on radar and has a high flight performance, Putin said.

According to experts, the 'Checkmate' was designed as a cheaper variant of the Russian Su-57 fighter jet to make it easier to sell.

Global arms sales

According to the Stockholm-based peace research institute SIPRI, nuclear power Russia was responsible for one-fifth of global arms deliveries between 2016 and 2020. This puts it in second place, ahead of France and Germany; only the United States exports more.

In view of tensions with the West, Russia has repeatedly announced the development of new weapons. On Tuesday, the Defence Ministry spoke of another successful test of a hypersonic cruise missile.

The weapon, called 'Zircon' and said to be capable of speeds of 8,500 kilometres per hour, was launched from a ship in the White Sea and hit a target more than 350 kilometres away on the coast of the Barents Sea, it said.