Posted on 12/11/2017 10:11:27 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Westerns analysts have concluded that Russia’s fifth-generation Sukhoi Su-57 stealth fighter is unlikely to enter operational service before 2027. Postponements, cost-overruns and research and development-related problems mar the project.
This should come as no surprise. The Su-57 program was never really viable.
Back in early 2006, Russian president Vladimir Putin integrated all of Russia’s aviation companies into a single, state-owned holding — the United Aircraft-building Corporation.
Over the time, UAC absorbed more than 20 aviation companies, and re-organized these into four aircraft-manufacturing divisions. One for combat aircraft, one for military transport aircraft, one for civilian aircraft and one for aircraft components.
In the course of the streamlining, most of the state-owned enterprises became joint-stock companies. However, the government owns at least 90 percent of shares.
Despite the resulting centralized and vertical structure, most of enterprises integrated within UAC have retained some level of autonomy. MiG and Sukhoi both have their own board of directors.
However, with few exceptions, these directors have no say. On the contrary, the entire UAC conglomerate is subject to a board of 14 directors, most of them well-known associates of Putin. Few are skilled industrial managers.
At top and above — Su-57s. Photos via Wikipedia
Despite bombastic reports in the Russian media, UAC turned out to be a lame duck. The conglomerate proved capable of re-launching production of types designed back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Otherwise, UAC is incapable of innovation and adaptation.
The main reason is that most of UAC’s directors are hand-picked yes-sayers — people more than happy to discuss planning, strategies and new projects, but lacking the ability to make hard decisions. Unsurprisingly, over the last 10 years UAC has made promises it cannot fulfill,
In the case of the Su-57, UAC’s crucial failure was the early decision to close its Combat Aircraft Division to foreign investors. The first director of the consortium, former deputy minister of defense and later prime minister Sergey Ivanov, insisted back in 2006 that Russia “plans to develop this sector on its own.”
Combined with the dramatic collapse of the Russian economy in the wake of Western economic sanctions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the inflexibility of UAC made the Su-57 impossible to realize. No matter how large or populated, a country with GDP comparable to that of Australia cannot afford to play at being a superpower, fight a protracted war in Syria and develop its own stealth fighter.
The last hope for the project was the serious Indian interest in financing the conversion of the Su-57 into a stealth strike fighter in the class of the Su-30MKI. But the management structures Putin imposed undermined that collaboration.
Of course, the Kremlin’s core interest in the Su-57 is scoring big propaganda points by creating a supposed match for Lockheed’s F-22 Raptor. This is something the business-minded Indian air force is not keen to finance.
And that means the Su-57 is going nowhere fast.
Agreed.
Russia & India have been dance partners for many years, hard to understand why, easy to suppose Indians ready for different music & a new partner.
Yet Russia has a hard time of providing the reliability, advanced technology, and close tolerances needed for top notch weapons systems today. They lack the financial and technical resources because their economic base is too small for the task. To support their great power aspirations, the Russians thus resort to touting prototypes and announcing programs that will never enter production. The Russian arms industry is in decline and is of diminishing consequence in international markets. Russian weapons today may be cheap but they are, with limited exceptions, obsolete and inferior.
‘’’Russian weapons today may be cheap but they are, with limited exceptions, obsolete and inferior.’’’
That’s rather dated way to see things and it is not only about weapons. I’d say most Russian-made consumer goods nowadays are better than average. I mean these are closer to the German quality that to a Chinese one.
You won’t have much trouble even with newer Lada these days.
Please, never use the word quality and China in the same sentence.
I suspect that India’s politicians and bureaucrats find that Russia is an easy partner in the graft that tends to invest the Indian procurement process.
I have no idea about that because Russian consumer products rarely find their way to my venue at the northern edge of Florida. I have fired an AK-47 though. It impressed me as crudely made but fully deserving of its lethal reputation. It is now considered obsolete though due to its relative lack of accuracy and unsuitability for attachments.
AK47 is like 70 years old vintage.
The AK-47 can be described as even older in that it combined major features of the US M-1 Garand and the German Sturmgewehr 44, iconic infantry weapons of WW II that were developed in the 1920s based on WW I experience. Supporting my larger point, the Russian arms industry has proved unable to produce an acceptable modern successor to the AK-47. In part, this may be because instead of seeking greater accuracy in their main infantry weapon, the Russians have put much effort into better sniper rifles and equipment.
Not related to AK and vastly superior. Tries to replace AK as a standard-issue rifle since 1971 and would probably succeed starting next year. As for a sniper's rifle it was actually Russia's weak point until just recently. SVD was not exactly a sniper rifle in international terms and the only more accurate alternative was Mosin. SVD has its pros but you certainly wouldn't like to use it in a sniper duel with someone who are more than 800 yards away and has a real sniper rifle.
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