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Within a span of days, Russia's fifth generation fighter aircraft developed by Sukhoi Corporation under its highly secret PAK FA project Friday made its second successful flight in the country's far east. The flight carried out from the KNAAPO plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur lasted 57-minutes, ten minutes longer than its maiden flight on January 29 and the fighter was painted in the combat colours of the Russian air force, according to Interfax. This time also it was piloted by test-pilot Sergei Bogdan, who expressed satisfaction at the performance of the aircraft to be inducted by the Russian Air Force in 2015....

Russia has begun flying a stealthy fifth-generation fighter to rival the U.S. F-22, but Western analysts question whether Sukhoi can develop and deliver the aircraft by 2015 as promised. Sukhoi’s T-50, which made its 47-min. first flight on Jan. 29 from the KnAAPO facility in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, is the prototype of the PAK FA “future front-line aircraft,” the first new-generation fighter for the Russian air force since the Su-27 Flanker entered service in 1984. India plans to co-fund development and co-produce the new aircraft. The aircraft is clearly shaped for stealth, with the chined forward fuselage, planform edge alignment, internal weapons...

On 29 January 2010, the Sukhoi PAK-FA (Perspektivnyi Aviatsionnyi Kompleks Frontovoi Aviatsy, literally "Future Front line Aircraft System"), which could variously be described as a technology demonstrator, the first prototype of the future T-50 fighter, or an intermediate step between the two, took to the air for the first time from the freezing runway of Dzemgi Air Force Base (shared with the KnAAPO plant) at Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Russian Far East Siberia (see also http://www.defpro.com/daily/details/497/). A fundamental step has at last been accomplished in the development of the long-expected Russian response to the American F-22 RAPTOR air dominance fighter. Airframe...

Russia will supply Vietnam with 12 SU-30MK2 fighter jets and aviation equipment worth a total of about one billion dollars, a military-diplomatic source told the Interfax news agency on Wednesday. "Last week, a contract was signed to supply Vietnam with 12 more SU-30MK2 fighter planes. The planes will be supplied in 2011 and 2012," the source was quoted as saying. "The contract also calls for the supply of various aviation arms, equipment and parts," the source said, putting the overall value of the deal at one billion dollars (727 million euros). Vietnam is a major customer of Russia's Sukhoi fighter...

Deliveries of fifth-generation fighters to Russia's Air Force will start in 2015 rather than in 2013 as previously announced, the Air Force chief said on Tuesday, according to RIA Novosti. "In 2013, I hope... the [Sukhoi] PAK FA prototype will be ready and fine-tuned, and we will start deliveries to military units in 2015," said Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin. A prototype of the fighter made its maiden flight in Russia's Far East on January 29. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said after the 47-minute flight that the first batch of fifth-generation fighters would go into service in 2013. Russia has been...

On 29 January 2010, the Sukhoi PAK-FA (Perspektivnyi Aviatsionnyi Kompleks Frontovoi Aviatsy, literally "Future Front line Aircraft System"), which could variously be described as a technology demonstrator, the first prototype of the future T-50 fighter, or an intermediate step between the two, took to the air for the first time from the freezing runway of Dzemgi Air Force Base (shared with the KnAAPO plant) at Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Russian Far East Siberia (see also http://www.defpro.com/daily/details/497/). A fundamental step has at last been accomplished in the development of the long-expected Russian response to the American F-22 RAPTOR air dominance fighter. The...

Introduction In late January 2010, the PAK FA made its maiden flight, ushering in an end to an era of US dominance of stealth, fifth generation fighter aircraft. Military analysts of every shade and nation spent endless times speculating and awaited the first flight with sleepless nights and over bitter arguments about its final configuration, for the PAK FA was kept so secretive that none other than a very choice few knew what it would look like. Combat aircraft are the spear tip of any military power, and play a pivotal role in air warfare. And in today's day and...

Major Work Ahead On T-50 Stealth Fighter By David A Fulghum, Maxim Pyadushkin and Douglas Barrie Russia has begun flying a stealthy fifth-generation fighter to rival the U.S. F-22, but Western analysts question whether Sukhoi can develop and deliver the aircraft by 2015 as promised. Sukhoi’s T-50, which made its 47-min. first flight on Jan. 29 from the KnAAPO facility in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, is the prototype of the PAK FA “future front-line aircraft,” the first new-generation fighter for the Russian air force since the Su-27 Flanker entered service in 1984. India plans to co-fund development and co-produce the new aircraft. The...

With Sukhoi-30 MKI fighters generating sonic booms over the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago on Sunday, even as the 3,500-km Agni-III missile created fireworks off the Orissa coast, India sent a strong strategic message across Bay of Bengal that it is ready to play the role of a security facilitator in the larger Indian Ocean Region (IOR). India might not want to be seen as a regional supercop in the IOR, nor as the prime mover of a naval military bloc in the Asia-Pacific region . But yes, it has legitimate security concerns in the IOR, which falls in its strategic...

After favouring the U.S. for its recent purchases of hi-tech military equipment, India has now turned to Russia, its old supplier, for the next generation fighter aircraft. PAK FA, Russia’s fifth generation fighter, which boasts of radar evasion characteristics, made its maiden flight only late last month. India inked an agreement with Russia for jointly developing this aircraft, but the time taken to complete the paperwork meant that 70 per cent of the plane was already developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau. Now India has planned to enter the project mid-way. It will discuss the development schedule for the coming...

Indian Air Force's multi-role Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighters could be armed with supersonic cruise missiles by 2012, giving them the capability to strike ground targets from stand-off distance. "The work to adopt the missile for deployment on fighter is being carried out by the Rosoboronexport, the Sukhoi Design Bureau and NPO Mashinostroyeniya (Russian partner in BrahMos JV)," a top official of the aircraft manufacturer has said, adding that the missiles could be mounted on the aircraft in two years. With this, India would get the capability to fire these missiles from land, sea as well as air. BrahMos are already...

It has become common in the aviation community to classify fighter aircraft by "generations" for historical purposes. There are no official definitions of these generations; rather, they represent the notion that these are stages in the development of fighter design approaches, performance capabilities, and technological evolution. Fifth Generation Fighters represent a quantum leap in air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities that provide an order of magnitude increase in operational effectiveness over legacy fighters. These fighters are characterised by being designed from the start to operate in a network-centric combat environment, and to feature extremely low, all-aspect, multi-spectral signatures employing advanced materials and...

Sukhoi's Stealth Fighter May Be Quick Export to India Posted by David A. Fulghum at 2/2/2010 9:12 AM CST U.S. intelligence officials are closely monitoring the testing of Sukhoi’s T-50 stealth fighter prototype. It’s first flight from Komsomolsk has packed Russian blogs with pictures and videos taken from the base’s fence line and transcripts of in-flight conversations between Russian aircrews. Funding aid for the program is expected to come from India, say U.S. officials. India's air force is becoming sophisticated and has adopted an operational flexibility and tactical innovation similar to U.S. Air Force and Navy fighter units. The flights...

On March 29 of last year (2009), DefenseReview published a story stating that we disagreed with the cancellation of the F-22 Raptor program, and calling for at least 1,000 Raptors, total, to be built and fielded. This is because we knew that advanced Russian and Chinese Gen 5 (5th-Generation) fighters have been under development for quite some time, and will likely pose either a grave military threat to the United States or undermine our power around the world when dealing with Rogue Islamic states/countries. Well, three days ago, the AFP and other international news sources reported that the Russians have...

On January 29, the prototype Russian fifth generation Prospective Aircraft Complex of Frontline Aviation (PAK FA) “T-50” finally completed a successful 45 minute test flight in Komsomolsk-na-Amurye. The stealth multirole fighter was developed by OKB Sukhoi (experimental design bureau) to replace MiG-29 and Su-27’s and is reportedly analogous to the US F-22 (Raptor). Mikhail Pogosyan, Sukhoi’s Director-General, praised the aircraft’s maiden flight, saying that it marked a breakthrough for the Russian aviation industry (Rossiya 24, January 29). Indeed, the reported technical specifications of the aircraft are impressive. It has a maximum supersonic cruising speed of 2,100 kilometers (km) per hour,...

On Friday morning, Sukhoi Company (JSC) and the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) celebrated its latest success in the ambitious and prestigious fifth-generation fighter aircraft project, the PAK FA. The T-50 prototype aircraft left the ground at the KNAAPO factory aerodrome in Russia’s Far East and made its first basic manoeuvres during a 47 minute flight. Congratulating all participants of the project on the occasion of the maiden flight, Alexey Fedorov, President and Chairman of control board of UAC, said that it “opens a new horizon for the Russian aviation for the rest of the 21st century and, hopefully, even further....

The latest Russian fighter design, the T-50, made its first flight on January 29th. Also called PAK FA (Prospective Aviation System of Frontline Aviation), or T-50, it’s a radical development of the Su-27/30/35 series of aircraft. The 47 minute test flight was done without the new engines designed for the T-50. Russia has always had problems with high performance jet engines, and those woes continue. "Evolving" an aircraft design, in this case, the Su-27, is a Russian custom. New models of a base design are given new names. The U.S. also does this, but keeps the original name. The Russian...

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...

MOSCOW — Russia on Friday unveiled a new fighter aircraft touted as a rival of the US F-22 stealth jet and developed amid the highest secrecy as part of a plan to modernize the armed forces. The fifth generation fighter, manufactured by the Sukhoi company and known as the PAK FA, made a maiden flight of just over 45 minutes at the firm's home base of Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Far East region. "The flight lasted 47 minutes during which all the aircraft's systems were tested. It was successful," Sukhoi spokeswoman Olga Kayukova told AFP. "This is the first time it...

Russia's much-anticipated regional passenger aircraft, the Sukhoi Superjet, should be given flight certification by the summer, officials reportedly said Wednesday. The Superjet, produced by Russian airline maker Sukhoi in association with Italy's Alenia Aeronautica, has been widely seen as Russia's chance to gain a competitive foothold in the international passenger airline market. The jet, which seats 75 to 95 people, has a range of about 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) and is priced at $29 million a piece. Superjet is designed compete against other regional craft such as the Embraer E-Jets and the Bombardier CRJ program. Locally, it will replace Russia's...