In January of this year, the so-called Russian Ministry of Defense's official publication "Krasnaya Zvezda" made yet another claim that their front-line bombers Su-34 had already launched air-launched ballistic missiles X-47M2 "Dagger" - this information was later denied by the Russians themselves, and it turned out that the enemy acknowledged a severe shortage of qualified pilots.
Now, the Russians in their media are introducing a new topic regarding their air-launched ballistic missile, specifically whether the X-47M2 "Dagger" can be launched by their fifth-generation (in reality 4++) fighter Su-57. Here, the enemy press relies on the opinion of a certain pilot, Vladimir Popov, a retired major general, who allegedly "settled the matter" on this question.
In brief, the verdict on this matter is that Russian Su-57s can indeed utilize "Dagger" ballistic missiles, but with the caveat that the aircraft "will have to sacrifice its stealth capabilities."
Moreover, the general's further comments are purely speculative; he suggests that Russia "does not install a container or bomb bay for the 'Dagger' system on the Su-57 precisely because then this 'fifth-generation fighter' would be detectable on radars just like the Su-34 or Su-35, which is supposedly 'inefficient for fifth-generation aircraft.'" He also speculates that testing of the "Dagger" is possibly ongoing "specifically for the [Su-57] fighter."
Of course, such arguments appear rather strange because, firstly, the range of the "Dagger" air-launched ballistic missile is unfortunately sufficient for the enemy to launch attacks beyond the reach of our air defense systems.
Secondly, the question of the "visibility" of the Su-57 to radars is also puzzling, as monitoring channels regularly publish information about tracking the launches of existing carriers of the "Dagger" missiles - the MiG-31K aircraft, and they also monitor the launches of the ballistic missiles themselves.
Earlier, Defense Express reported on how the Russians planned to launch the "Dagger" from the Tu-22M3, and why the project "did not take off".