Posted on 06/30/2010 12:18:14 AM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
a high-profile visit to view what is Russia’s first “low-observable” aircraft, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin watched the prototype Sukhoi T-50 being put through its paces at the Zhukovsky flight test research center near Moscow and got a tour of the new aircraft’s cockpit June 17.
The T-50 is being developed to meet the Russian air force’s PAK FA requirement for a multirole fighter to replace the Su-27 Flanker. It has logged about 16 flights, say U.S. officials, first flying Jan. 29. (AW&ST Feb. 8, p. 30). The initial stage of state testing of the aircraft is presently due for completion in 2012.
Sukhoi chief Mikhail Pogosyan estimates there will be a worldwide market for 1,000 of the aircraft over the next 40 years. Putin contends the aircraft will carry a price tag that is one-third that of the U.S.-built Lockheed Martin F-22. Unlike the F-22, which the U.S. Congress has ruled cannot be sold to foreign governments, the new Sukhoi design is built with export in mind.
India is already a “participant” in the program, with an interest in a two-seat version of the PAK FA.
The first prototype T-50 is not believed to have been fitted with radar. The design will have at least two fixed active, electronically scanned arrays—one facing forward, the other facing aft and providing about a 120-deg. field of regard in each direction. The design may also have cheek radar apertures.
The aircraft is flying with a pair of NPO Saturn 117S engines, which are a further modification of the AL-31F engine family that powers various Flanker derivatives.
(Excerpt) Read more at aviationnow.com ...
Double BS! Did you read the story that I linked to? It was well covered when it first came out, and was also covered by Western media as well.
Maybe the Mach 2 part is BS, but flying around the Su-27 convertable is very plausable.
YOu think these cowboys were flying Mach 2 with the canopy open? I’m not a pilot, but I thought that appearance of the plane’s wings and angle etc. indicated that was not possible.
Nooo, I said the Mach 2 part could be BS. But the flying around part (a a few hundred knots) is very plausable.
(And you posted BS to me twice, hence my "double BS" comment.)
Hahahaha.....
Wasn’t there something about how the wings were tips or airolons etc? that precluded the plane going at Mach anything...
One thing about those Russians, they’re all foool of sheeeet when it comes to telling the truth about anything....
The worst was that one premier Yuri Shrivelupanddropoff. He lied about everything.
The point is that the Russians are probably not being truthful as to the capabilities of this aircraft.
Let's start with the SU-35, the best Russian fighter, as the benchmark. The SU-35 is a highly maneuverable, has great-to-astounding fuel fraction/twr/wingloading, a powerful radar, great range with favourable supersonic persistence, and very good avionics. The weapons it carries are also very capable, both in the short range (IIR missiles), long range (the AMRAAM-ski), and very long range (the AWACS killer missiles). It is a major threat to any legacy fighter (the F-16s, 18s and 15s), and the only fighters that give it a match are the new-advanced iterations of the F-15 (eg the F-15K) and the EuroFighter Typhoon. (Obviously the Raptor is significantly much much much much better).
Now, let's look at the PakFa. If it is better than the SU-35, it will be the second best fighter in the skies (after the Raptor). All it needs is to be better than the SU-35, a plane that (note: Western) sources consider to be totally and thoroughly formidable.
The PakFa will be able to supercruise, have better fuel fraction and TW than the SU-35, have higher maneuverability, far greater supersonic persistence, far smaller RCS signature, much better avionics, and a mix of radars (a main X-band AESA in the nose, a rear-facing X-band AESA, 2 L-band AESAs in the chin, and 2 L or S band AESA radars in the leading wing edges ....the longer wavelength L AESA would not be effective against a high stealth plane like the Raptor, but against the F-35 JSF, which is optimized against the X-band, it may be another story). The weapons being developed for the PakFa are evolutions of what is currently present, meaning a really effective short range missile, and a really effective long range missile (in the class of the Meteor BVRAAM carried by the Typhoon).
Basically, it will be better than the SU-35.
Does that make it a Raptor killer??? Heck no, the PakFa is not a Raptor, let alone a Raptor killer. However, it was not meant to be. It was primarily to provide the Russians and Indians with something that would be vastly superior to what the Chinese (the major threat to both India and Russia ...and incidentally the US) may have (the Chinese are working on their own stealthy fighter, the JXX).
Thus, this thing is not a Raptor. But if it is better than the SU-35 already flying out there, then it will be the best fighter bar the Raptor ...better than any F-15/16/18, better than the Eurocanards (Typhoon, Rafale, Gripen NG), better than the Chinese fighters (JF-17, and J-10), and yes, potentially better than the F-35 (although that is a huge area open to contention)
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