[postingawayonhn]

The Russian aviation industry has a terrible track record on delivering new aircraft.

[eunos]

I'm willing to entertain the possibility that the Russian can improve the track record faster than the EU develops 5th gen fighters.

[rich_sasha]

Thankfully, Russia doesn't really have 5th Gen either. Europe has a lot of solid 4+ gen planes: Rafale, Eurofighter, maybe Gripen. And I'm willing to guess that, especially with better trained pilots, these are potentially better than Russia's assortment.

But there remains a question of quantity and determination.

[eitland]

So far their 5th generation fighter program has been an even worse embarrassement than the T14 Armata.

Their own press photos shows uncovered Philips screws on a supposedly stealth aircraft, and their "loyal wingman" drone used the first opportunity near the frontlines to try to defect.

[SiempreViernes]

Sure, but that risk is just something Europe has to eat as punishment for buying F-35 instead of building their own, it doesn't affect the new reality that US aircraft cannot be trusted in wartime.