Posted on 01/29/2010 6:23:11 PM PST by cold start
Russia successfully tested a highly secretive stealth fighter for the first time on Friday as a multi-billion rearmament programme cranks into gear even as it pledges to make deep cuts in its nuclear arsenal.
Vladimir Putin praised the maiden flight of Russia’s new stealth plane as “a big step” towards giving the air force a fighter fit for the twenty first century.
The Russian prime minister told a cabinet meeting he wanted the first batch of T-50 stealth fighters to be in service by 2013, well ahead of earlier deadlines. The fighter will be the first all-new military aircraft Russia has built since the collapse of the Soviet Union nearly two decades ago.
Russian aviation and air force officials lost little time in boasting that the plane would equal if not better America's F-22 Raptor stealth fighter.
Experts believe the T-50s maiden test flight underlines the Kremlin's determination to overhaul its ageing Soviet-era military hardware even as it is locked in key nuclear arms reductions talks with the United States.
But though Russia may be ready to scale back its ageing nuclear arsenal it has signalled it will continue to actively renew its nuclear shield. So far unsuccessful tests to develop a new submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile dubbed the Bulava continue apace, a new strategic nuclear bomber is in development, and the country's strategic rocket forces have asked for a new silo-based heavy intercontinental missile too.
The stealth project is so secret that until yesterday photographs of the prototype had not even appeared in the Russian media. But state TV broke that embargo on Friday and showed the plane soaring over snowy forests in Russia's far east more than 5,000 miles east of Moscow.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Russia’s new fifth-generation stealth fighter (FGFA), a joint project with India which is set to form the backbone of the two nations’ air power till the mid-21st century, made a successful maiden test flight on Friday.
The plane performed “very well” during a 47-minute flight at an airfield in the far eastern city of Komsomoslk-on-Amur and met “all our expectations,” a spokesman for the Sukhoi Corporation, which designed the FGFA, said.
The flight marked a breakthrough for Russia, making it the second country in the world after the U.S. to have built a fifth-generation fighter plane. The FGFA will also be a quantum jump for India as the first joint project with Russia where the Indian aviation industry will be a full-fledged partner.
Under a 2007 inter-governmental agreement, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited took a 50 per cent investment stake in the $8-billion project and will contribute 25 per cent of design and development work. The two countries will shortly sign commercial contracts and set up a joint venture company to build the aircraft.
India will be responsible for supplying the plane’s navigation systems, mission computer, cockpit displays and will provide composites for the airframe. While the Russian Air Force has opted for a single-seater, the IAF will get a modified two-seater derivative.
The Russian Air Force is expected to begin inducting the new aircraft in 2015. The twin-seat version for the IAF may be ready two years later. Each side plans to acquire 250 planes.
Sukhoi head Mikhail Pogosyan voiced confidence that the FGFA will beat the U.S. F-22 and F-35 fifth-generation fighters in cost-effectiveness.
“The joint Russian-Indian aircraft will not only strengthen the defence might of the Russian and Indian air forces, but will take a worthy place in the world market,” said Pogosyan, whose company’s previous project, the Su-30 fighter jet, has become a world bestseller. India has purchased 140 Su-30MKI and will build as many under licence.
Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, said he expected the FGFA aircraft to be very competitive in international markets because its price would be significantly lower than that of the American rivals.
“I think by definition this aircraft will be able to occupy up to one-third of the market,” the analyst said.
According to designers, the FGFA will be a truly stealth plane almost invisible to enemy radars: it will be 40 times harder to detect than the Su-30MKI.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/international/article97228.ece
Who is the author trying to kid? The Russians are trying to finish development of their new Bulava missile system (with some difficulty) and they deployed the SS-27 systems about 10 years ago.
Our latest is the Minuteman III system deployed 30 years ago and longer. All the newer programs were canceled or decommissioned.
Just say'n...
5.56mm
Russia's criminal culture perfectly knows that once nukes are banned, only criminals will have them. Mere survival should teach them that and us that, but we do not get it while they do. They will steal them from the past and the future if they cannot build them themselves, period.
Anyways, what are we supposed to fight with? Bamboo sticks?
The Russians got the Indians and not the Chinese working on this aircraft for very good reasons. That is because Indians trained and taught in the US can be wooed to produce this kind of technology. They can be Christian like dedicated at low price to this stuff.
I was trying to make the point that this aircraft is not truly “stealthy” as we know it and unless the Indians happen to have a B2, F-117 or F-22 to copy, the Indians do not have the extreme technology to duplicate effective stealth as is claimed. Just look at the photo.
I’m afraid both of you are off the mark here. India is not in the project for technology per se but for funding and political backing. India is a more reliable partner than the Chicoms because their aerospace industry is less developed and is not going to be a competitor to the Russians. However, the Indian military also has cash to splurge. So win-win for both sides.
That Russian shuttle may be bringing astronauts to the ISS in the near future. We may pay the Russians to refurbish Buran.
You are probably right.
Never the less, this new Mig is NOT truly stealthy. The technology can not be reverse engineered by looking at photos of F-22. Cheap easy to build AK-47 is one thing actual high tech is totally another.
All we know about the PAK-FA or even the F-22A is from visual observation. No information on radar-returns is available, which is not surprising.
This could potentially be an actual competitor for the F-22. The design is less stealthy than the F-22, but potentially much cheaper and more maintainable.
It all depends on the operational doctrine of the Russian air force and how well their “system of systems” work.
With that said, it clearly outclasses all other non 5th generation fighter aircrafts from the U.S, EU, and China.
It’s not a MiG, it’s a Sukhoi. I’m sure the Russians have at least a working knowledge of what makes a LO airplane, and there’s a decent amount of theoretical paperwork out there even in the public domain. I wouldn’t be too dismissive of the Ruskies. The various Flanker variants out there are nothing to be sneezed at in the world of 4th generation fighters, and I’d expect the PAK-FA (if they are able to get it to production) to at least be competitive against the F-35.
Basically, my observations through many years, has been that the russian mil equipment is primarily designed toward attacking unarmed CIVILIANS and has rarely done well up against accomplished and well equipped militaries.
Some of the very first theoretical work in the concept of low-observable objects on radar was done by a Russian physicist. Now... they overlooked some of the potential of that research and we got a leg up on them, but they've got some smart guys working on this stuff too. I agree... this is no time to get cocky.
Well, some day the USAF will have to fly against an airforce that is of real capability, then we'll see what happens (I believe the USAF will still win due to training and sensor fusion, but it will be bloodied). Benchmarking performance against the Iraqi airforce is like playing against the local highschool baseball team and considering yourself a superstar.
China will eventually pull a stunt against Taiwan, or India Pakistan will have some skirmish. That will provide a real analysis of what can happen (say in the future, Chinese SU-35s and J-10s versus Taiwanese F-16s; or Indian SU-30MKIs versus Pakistani F-16s).
I predict it will be the same result ...a 100% killing, in the opposite direction.
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