Belarus Takes First Step Towards Jointly Producing S-75 Checkmate Stealth Fighter: Can its Industry Meaningfully Contribute?

<p >The Russian state owned United Aircraft Corporation has been confirmed to have begun talks on May 21 towards possible co-production of the S-75 Checkmate fifth generation fighter with Belarusian industry. Such an agreement has the potential to revive Belarus’ high end aerospace sector, which has struggled due to a lack of funding since the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Belarus has long been considered a leading potential client for the Checkmate fighter, which was developed as a lighter single engine counterpart to Russia’s <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russia-prepares-su57m1-production-airframe-upgrades" target="_blank">Su-57 fifth generation fighter</a> with significantly lower procurement and operational costs. The country’s close proximity to NATO forces and lack of strategic depth limits the need for longer ranged fighters such as the Su-57, with the Belarusian Air Force having <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/su27ub-no61-special-fighter-belarus" target="_blank">placed its existing </a>Su-27 long range fighters in storage in 2012 to rely on the aircraft’s own lighter counterpart, the MiG-29, to form the backbone of its fleet. With Belarus’ MiG-29s fast ageing past their intended service lives, the Checkmate program could provide an optimal replacement. </p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/05/28/article_683676666c64d8_64522144.jpeg" title="Belarusian Air Force MiG-29" ></p><p >Significant questions remain regarding the Checkmate program’s future, particularly when considering the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/su57-fleet-50-strong-2026-six-years-behind" target="_blank">serious delays </a>which the Su-57 program suffered placing it several years behind schedule. The fighter has yet to make its first flight, although two flight prototypes are reportedly currently in production at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Plant, where Su-57s are <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/facilities-expanded-su57-fighter-production" target="_blank">currently built.</a> Should Russia prove successful in marketing the fighter for export, however, Belarusian participation could provide very considerable revenues for the smaller country’s defence sector. Without experience producing fighter aircraft in recent decades, however, Belarus’ ability to contribute significantly to the Checkmate program remains in question, although its electronics sector could potentially play important roles in developing the aircraft’s avionics suite. Industrial deficiencies could potentially be compensated for by allowing Belarus to assemble the fighters under license, and gradually build up industries to contribute to greater proportions of manufacturing, much as was the case with India and China under their respective Su-30MKI and Su-27S license production deals.</p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/05/28/article_683679eb0ea950_76481979.png" title="Checkmate Fighter Model"></p><p >Russia and Belarus have since 2020 expended considerable efforts to <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/wagner-s400s-iskanders-belarus-heavily-arming" target="_blank">bolster</a> the latter’s military potential, with a particular focus on its air defence and strike capabilities. Steps taken to do so have included supplies of <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/investment-s400-reindustrailised-sector" target="_blank" >S-400 long range air defence</a> systems and <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russias-iskander-north-korean-kn-23-ababrams" target="_blank" >Iskander-M ballistic missile</a>, with Belarusian and Russian S-400s having held <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/after-shooting-down-ukrainian-targets-russia-s-s-400-missile-defence-units-in-belarus-conduct-combat-readiness-drills" >joint exercises</a> in May 2022 followed by the operationalisation of a <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/belarus-s400-new-battalion-f35" target="_blank" >new S-400 battalion</a> in late June that year. These supplement the Russian S-400s and Su-35 fighters <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/s400s-su35s-russia-far-east-belarus" target="_blank" >deployed</a> to Belarusian territory from January that year. Ground warfare capabilities have also been bolstered by supporting Belarusian efforts to modernise its Soviet T-72B tanks to the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/belarus-t72bm2-upgrade-commpare-t72b3m" target="_blank">T-72BM2 standard</a>, which is closely based on the Russian T-72B3M. Russia has also stationed veteran <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russia-civil-war-wagner-24hour-coup" target="_blank" >Wagner Group paramilitaries</a> in the country, and supplied a squadron of <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/mi35-mi8-assault-command-post" target="_blank" >Mi-35M helicopters</a>. Four Su-30SM fighters were previously also delivered to the country, although these are considered too costly to provide one-for-one replacements for its MiG-29s. Russian support for a Belarusian procurement of a fifth generation fighter class developed under the Checkmate program would be fully in line with broader trends in defence cooperation between the two states. </p>