What Happened
Sukhoi Develops Two-Seat Fighter as Airborne Command Platform
Russia’s Sukhoi Design Bureau is developing the two-seat Su-57D as an airborne testbed for combat artificial intelligence and control of advanced unmanned aircraft. The aircraft will work with highly autonomous systems like the S-70 Okhotnik and future drone groups, supporting the development of AI-assisted combat functions. This initiative could make the Su-57D a key step toward distributed air warfare, where human crews, autonomous platforms, and networked sensors operate as a coordinated combat force, as reported by Army Recognition.