Posted on 01/29/2010 2:35:54 PM PST by kronos77
Well, this brings back the old days when Flug Revue would pop out some over-the-fence shots obtained from the Military Missions in East Germany, and the assembled reptiles at Flight would adjourn to our secret analysis facility to figure out what it all meant.
First of all, for anyone contemplating the use of the word "Raptorski": don't. While this is an airplane that could have been the answer to the Advanced Tactical Fighter requirement, way back when, it's not an F-22 in many important ways.
In a lot of ways, the T-50 reflects the heritage of the T-10 Flanker series - it's much more like them than Sukhoi's last fighter prototype, the forward-swept-wing Su-47 Berkut, ever was. From the Flanker family, the T-50 gets the massive "centroplane" - a wide central body that blends the fuselage and inner wing - three-surface aerodynamic control and true three-dimensional thrust vectoring. The main weapons bay has been seen on a Flanker model, too.
Look at some of these in detail. The centroplane is huge, extending well outside the engines and terminating at the rear in a broad beaver-tail between the exhaust nozzles.
It accommodates a boatload of fuel on the Flanker and will do the same here. After the canard hokey-pokey in the T-10 family (in on the Su-30MK, out on the Su-35) the T-50 has something different: the forward part of the leading edge extension is movable. According to the usually well informed Flateric over at Secret Projects, it is called the Povorotnaya Chast Naplyva (PChN) or movable LEX section.
(Excerpt) Read more at aviationweek.com ...
Very nice preliminary analysis.
“First of all, for anyone contemplating the use of the word “Raptorski”: don’t.”
The T-50 seems designed to have the range and speed needed to defend Russia’s vast perimeter and the maneuverability stressed by its fighter combat doctrine. Although stealthy to a degree, it does not seem geared to well-defended airspace. My guess is that it will be at least ten years before production models are fielded.
lulz, loved the last comment (page 2) to the article on the site:
“Maybe we can get Clint Eastwood to steal it.”
lmao.
Putin said that preproduction batch will be operational in 2013 and production of first series will be in 2015.
Such projections are common for the Russian defense industry but are rarely met.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix0Izx-6Ycw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCiVKJ5VjE4
Firefox???? bump
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