[tanknetter]

I wouldn't be quite so hasty in dismissing the Russians.

I wouldn't be quite so hasty in praising them. The Raptorski has a number of decidedly non-LO features (the jet exhausts, for instance, look directly lifted off of the Su-27, the IRST ball forward of the canopy as well) and many of the other features look to be direct copies of other known LO designs (wing planform is a near-duplicate of the F-22, the main fuselage the YF-23, the forward fuselage the F-35). This would indicate an attempt at reverse-engineering from sight and measurement, rather than the ability to conduct predictive-stealh trials using computers.

Add to that the pretty small control surfaces for what is allegedly supposed to be an air-dominance fighter. Plus the very good likelihood that the plane's "integrated" avionics/weapons-control suite is at least a generation, and maybe two, behind what the US is putting into the F-22 and F-35.

The Raptorski is certainly neat-looking, especially with the splinter cammo scheme. But good looks really say nothing about what lies underneath.

[Yo-Yo]

Again, I wouldn't be so hasty in dismissing the Russians.

The aircraft you have critiqued is a protype, ala YF-22 or X-35. The production aircraft will include supercruise, 3D thrust vectoring allowing for the smaller control surfaces, and will include improved frontal aspect stealth.

The avionics, while probably not on par with what is promised for the F-35, will most likely be equal to or slightly better than the now 15 year old F-22 avionics. (The F-22 doesn't even have IRST or a Helmet Mounted Cueing System.)

The F-22 will still probably have superior performance, but the PAK-FA will have a pretty decent AESA radar in it's own right, and a supercruising F-22 glows very brightly at 50,000 ft against the cold stratosphere, making the PAK-FA's IRST especially effective.