Posted on 04/07/2015 9:51:11 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
PAK-FA may suffer significant cuts.
Russian Deputy Minister of Defence Yuri Borisov, has recently announced that the PAK-FA programme may be halted or adjusted, due to the dire conditions of Russia’s economy, affected by the Ukrainian crisis and the subsequent (proxy war and) EU sanctions.
Initially, the Russian Air Force was expected to procure more than 150 PAK-FA next generation stealth fighter jets, with the first examples to be delivered to the active squadrons in 2016. In December 2014, the RuAF plans was to receive the first 55 fighters by 2020.
However, as announced by Russia’s MoD last month, the production will be slowed down and the initial order cut to 12 jets: the nation’s economy has deteriorated and the aircraft troubled development and increasing costs have persuaded the Russian Air Force to retain their large fleets of fourth-generation Sukhoi Su-27SM and Su-35S to obviate to the reduced amount of frontline next generation fighter jets.
Indeed, the PAK-FA program seems to be quite costly, because of the troublesome childhood of the new Russian fighter and the problems associated with the fighter’s powerplant.
According to the Polish media outlet Altair, the production is to be started next year, and the Russian Air Force would stop the production after the first 12 examples are acquired for a period of operational tests. This would serve two purposes: first of all, it would enable the Russian MoD to plan the procurement of Su-30SM and Su-35 jet fighters to eventually save some money. Secondly, that period would be used to test the PAK-FA’s operational capabilities, and possibly to get rid of any of the problems that could emerge during the initial field operations.
Sukhoi planned to sell some 400 fighters to the Russian and the Indian Air Force; figures that seems to be well above the current sales forecast: India has considerably reduced the requirement from 200 to no more than 130-145 jets, and has recently expressed concerns over the raising costs, delays and technical issues that have plagued the 10.5 billion USD FGFA (Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft), that is based on the PAK-FA aircraft.
Image credit: Sukhoi via Airforce.ru
Translation: It isn’t working well enough to sell it
Also, the planes cost more than expected, even with stolen technology from the US.
They must have stolen F-35 technology, then.
I’ll bet they didn’t see that coming.
“They must have stolen F-35 technology, then. “
Twin engine.. F22.
They probably can’t figure out why their pilots pass out either.
The problem is that Russia's aviation technological base has decayed and the industry suffers from an aging workforce and profound corruption. At best, with India's cash and technical help, the Russians might be able to produce a small number of serviceable examples of the PAK-FA. The air frame is large enough to carry a significant payload at ranges suited to the vast size of Russia's and India's strategic spaces.
The PAK-FA though will never become the equal of the F-22 or of upgraded older model opponents, let alone of the sixth generation fighter aircraft that will eventually appear.
Ohhh nooo,
This can’t be true.
Puttie says he is going to restore russias once great empire.
Oh yeah, russia’s broke, again.
Shelving an expensive resource consuming program like this means they will be able to build more of their less advanced, but still highly capable, fighters.
Modern sensors like VHF radar and IRST, which they have, vastly cuts into any advantages that stealth conveys.
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