You're reading: The Daily Beast: Putin’s new stealth jet is on a mission – to prove Russia can still fight

Russia's new stealth fighter made an eyebrow-raising surprise appearance on June 5 - soaring over the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow ripped from Ukraine in early 2014. The T-50 - Russia's answer to the U.S. Air Force's F-22 - is far from war-ready. Indeed, the twin-engine, radar-evading warplane is suffering such serious design, quality-control and financing problems that it might never enter frontline service in large numbers.

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