|
|
Post by TsarSamuil on Jan 30, 2010 14:29:17 GMT -5
Reaction on internet forums: some aviation related troll humor: russiastrong.forums.ru: T-50 vs F-22 victories : 1 to 100 or 1 to 1000?
USAstrong.forums.ru: Why FAK PA s..cks compared to F-15C
lockheed.martin.forums.com: The Russkies stole it again
yf23fans.sad.forums.com: Memoriiiiies. Why Sukhoi is better than LM
russian-military-experts.com /.ru: PAK FA: a great hoax that doesn't work
cnn.com/forum: Cash-strapped Russia finally test its 5th generation fighter
bbc.co.uk/forum: Cash-strapped Russia finally flies an outdated Raptor copy
bharat.india.strong.com/forum: Should India continue to build the PAK FA in Russia or go on on its own?
beijing.greater-china.cn/forum: How China surpasses both the US and Russia (photoshop only thread)
stealth-machines.f22.com/forum: Why the PAK FA is not stealthy
paralay.ru/forum: 3D and graphic designers badly needed!
banderaaviation.nation.ua/forum: Why everything Russian s..cks, especially PAK FA
french-touchdown.aviation.fr/forum: Russia joins US and France in the 5th generation club
georgia.fight-for-freedom.com/forum: PAK FA: another barbarious crime
poland-not-yet-dead.freedom.com/forum: Why doesn't the US give us 1000 PAC-3 against PAK FA?
starwars.jedi.com/forum: They promised a Death Star and we got bantha dung Lol France...  |
|
|
|
Post by TsarSamuil on Jan 30, 2010 14:35:20 GMT -5
Forum link, www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7007913.eceRussia unveils its first stealth fighter jet - the Sukhoi T-50. The Times Tony Halpin in Moscow January 30, 2010 Russia showed off its first stealth fighter jet yesterday, immediately proclaiming it a challenger to American military dominance of the skies. The Sukhoi T-50 prototype, a “fifth generation” fighter, completed a 47-minute maiden test flight in Russia’s Far East. The project, three years behind schedule, has been shrouded in secrecy during almost two decades of development and aims to rival the F-22 Raptor flown by the US Air Force, which began flight tests in 1997. Military chiefs hope to put the jet, also known as the PAK FA, into service in 2015, making it Russia’s first new warplane since the collapse of the Soviet Union. India is also due to take delivery of the stealth fighter in a development partnership with Russia. Russian television showed a film of the jet undergoing its trial flight from an airfield at Sukhoi’s production plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. A company statement quoted test pilot Sergei Bogdan describing the T-50 as “easy and comfortable to pilot”. The test flight was a welcome boost for the Kremlin’s efforts to modernise Russia’s creaking, post-Soviet defences after embarrassment over the repeated failure of its new Bulova sea-launched ballistic nuclear missile in submarine trials. The most recent missile test in December ended in an explosion that cast a spiral of white light over Norway, the seventh failure in twelve launches. “All the tasks set for the first flight have been successfully met,” Olga Kayukova, a spokeswoman for Sukhoi, said. “The aircraft’s stability and controllability during the flight were rated as good. All systems and the engine of the aircraft worked smoothly.” Many of the aircraft’s capabilities remain secret but officials have described the T-50 as the first Russian fighter equipped with radar-evading stealth technology, a key component of so-called fifth generation jets. It is believed to combine supersonic cruising speed, an operational ability of more than three hours and a range of up to 5,500km (3,430 miles), nearly twice the distance of the American F-22. The F-22, which entered service in 2005 after a $65 billion (£40 billion) development programme, is the only fifth generation fighter currently in operation. Its developers, Lockheed Martin, claim that it has a radar signature “the size of a bumble bee” and a top speed in excess of 1.5 Mach, or one-and-a-half times the speed of sound. Sukhoi said that the jet’s stealth capabilities represented a “significant increase in military effectiveness”. It is armed with advanced air-to-air, air-to-surface and air-to-ship missiles and two 30 mm cannons. Anatoly Kornukov, the former commander of Russia’s Air Force, said that the new jet would be “no worse than an F-22”, adding: “I’ve been in an F-22 and I know.” He told Interfax news: “Our SU-27 and MiG-29 planes are good but have aged. They are 20 or more years old and it’s time to have something as a replacement.” Some experts expressed scepticism, however, that the T-50 really represented a great leap forward for Russia’s Air Force. Alexander Golts, an independent military analyst, said that it relied on old engines and the only major advance was the shape of the airframe, which made the fighter less visible to radar. India is Russia’s sole partner in the development project and is likely to acquire a twin-seat version of the fighter for its Air Force. The prototype is a single-pilot aircraft. Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Sergei Ivanov, announced last month that test flights would begin in 2010. The T-50 is now expected to undergo intensive trials at research institutes near Moscow and in the southern Astrakhan region. The maiden flight has been repeatedly postponed since early 2007 as the T-50 encountered unspecified technical problems. Air Force chief Alexander Zelin admitted as recently as last August that problems with the engine and in technical research remained unsolved. |
|
|
|
Post by TsarSamuil on Jan 30, 2010 14:42:49 GMT -5
Russia flexes military power with 'futuristic' fighter jet.
Csmonitor.com
By Fred Weir Correspondent / January 29, 2010
Moscow
Russia returned to the global stage Friday as a first-rank military and technological power by launching a 'fifth generation' fighter plane, with futuristic characteristics of stealth, sustained supersonic cruise, and integrated weapons.
Vladimir Putin is jubilant, the Russian aviation industry is filled with pride, and even normally skeptical military experts say they're truly impressed by reports Friday that Russia has successfully test-flown the first prototype of a "fifth generation" fighter plane.
They all may have good reasons to cheer. Building such a plane is so expensive, complex, and technologically sophisticated that, until now, only the United States has been able to field an operational version of one: the F-22 Raptor.
According to news reports, Russia's venerable Sukhoi company – maker of many famous Soviet warplanes – sent the V-tailed, swept-wing Sukhoi T-50 on its maiden flight for 47 minutes Friday near Komsomolsk-na-Amur in Russia's far east (see video here) and it exceeded all expectations.
"We started flight tests of the fifth-generation aircraft today," Sukhoi CEO Mikhail Pogosyan told Russian news agencies. "I am strongly convinced that this project will excel its Western rivals in cost-effectiveness and these planes will constitute the backbone of the Russian Air Force for the next few decades."
A fighter of the "fifth generation" should have futuristic characteristics of stealth, sustained supersonic cruise, multi-role capabilities, integrated weapons and navigation systems that are controlled by artificial intelligence, over-the-horizon radar visibility and other cutting-edge wizardry.
Experts say that the mere fact that Russia can put one into the air announces its return to the global stage as a first-rank military and technological power.
"This is an epic event, because it's the first time in post-Soviet history that [the Russian military industry] has been able to create something brand new," Alexander Khramchikhin, an expert with the independent Institute of Political and Military Analysis in Moscow, says in a telephone interview.
"Everything we produced after the USSR's collapse was based on Soviet designs; nobody thought we could make anything so technologically complicated as this. But now, strange as it may seem, this shows Russia's level is very high."
Kremlin leaders have been promising to build this new aircraft for years as part of a broader effort to re-arm and modernize Russia's crumbling Soviet-era armed forces. Though Russia handily won its brief 2008 war with neighboring Georgia, the conflict revealed massive shortcomings in its military machine, including disastrously poor air support for ground forces and almost nonexistent aerial reconnaissance capability.
Prime Minister Putin praised the T-50's first flight as a "big step" in restoring Russia's traditional place as a global military power, and pledged that the air force will start receiving production models of the plane in about three years.
As Russia's president, Putin launched a sweeping, $200-billion rearmament program that aims to introduce new generations of nuclear submarines, intercontinental missiles, tanks, and aircraft carriers for the armed forces within the next five years.
Experts say the T-50 fighter, which has been developed in partnership with Russia's leading arms client India, will also go far toward restoring the tattered reputation of Russia's military-industrial complex as a leading supplier of weaponry in global markets.
"This is really good advertising; it shows buyers of Russian-made hardware that we can produce the most modern weapons and also improve them," says Vitaly Shlykov, a former Soviet war planner who now works as a civilian adviser to the Russian Defense Ministry.
"We invested a lot in this plane, and the fact that we can fly it has a big psychological impact," he says. "It has a huge symbolic meaning for Russia itself."
But skeptics say we'd best wait for more details about the top-secret plane of which we have seen, so far, only a few superficial images.
"We see the plane has some external characteristics that are new, but we have no way of knowing whether it actually possesses the technological features that would make it a fighter of the fifth generation," says Alexander Golts, military expert for the independent Yezhednevny Zhurnal, an online news magazine.
"It's great that it took off. Hurray. But I want to know a lot more about it."
|
|
|
|
Post by TsarSamuil on Jan 31, 2010 10:35:35 GMT -5
The 'Raptorski' creates its ripples of envy news.
domain-b ^ | 30 January 2010 | Rajiv Singh
Moscow: The successful debut test flight of the Russian Sukhoi-designed fifth-generation fighter jet in the Russian Far East on Friday is already creating ripples, including those of the envious kind. The fighter prototype, designated the PAK-FA T-50, is meant to be Russia's answer to the American Lockheed constructed F-22 Raptor.
Indeed, Western military sources, for long, have referred to it as the 'Raptorski.'
The 47-minute flight carried out by Sergei Bogdan, one of Russia's best test pilots, marks the launch of a five year long project that will see two versions of the aircraft being developed. In accordance with the operational doctrines of both air forces, a single-seat version will be developed for the Russian Air Force and a two-seat version for the Indian Air Force.
While induction of the single-seat version for the Russian Air Force is slated for 2015, the twin-seat version for the IAF will likely be ready only two years later.
The two-seat version is being worked upon by Indian aerospace engineers from the country's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). India and Russia have agreed to co-develop the fighter and share the estimated development costs of $8-10 billion equally. Both nations will also place similar quantum of orders for the production version of the aircraft – approximately 250 aircraft each.
The Indians are also entrusted with a 25 per cent share of the design and development work.
The Indian version of this advanced stealth fighter is designated the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA).
Following Friday's successful test, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin has said that initial induction of the aircraft with the Russian Air Force must begin in 2013, even though mass production is slated only for 2015.
Speaking to Russian TV from an airfield in Komsomolsk-on-Amur where the company's KnAPPO production facility is located, Sukhoi's director general, Mikhail Pogosian said, "I think this is a new stage in the development of the military aircraft industry in our country, and I believe that this is a very good start of a big work we have yet to do."
According to Sukhoi, the T-50 will display "intellectual" capabilities allowing it to fly at any time of the day and in any weather conditions. The aircraft will be capable of simultaneously attacking multiple targets in air, on the ground and in the sea. The plane is also touted to have a very high degree of manoeuvrability and a very short take-off and landing capability.
"It will also be less recognizable for radars thanks to many innovations, the use of composite materials and a special coating on the surface of the plane," Suhkoi officials informed the media. They said that the T-50 would now allow them to catch up with the Americans, who developed advanced stealth technologies much before.
Predictably, the test flight has drawn a certain amount of scorn from some military observers.
They point out that the new prototype doesn't have new engines or electronics and hence cannot qualify to be called a fifth generation fighter, for it is components such as these that allow it to be placed in another generation. They said that the prototype was only a souped up model of the existing Su-27 platform and have characterised the test flight as a ''bluff.''
Not so far back in time, when the Su-27 platform, with its thrust vectoring engines and advanced aeronautic capabilities, was making its first entry into the world of military aviation similar scorn was heaped upon it. It was denied that the aircraft would succeed in displaying the kind of capabilities that the Russians claimed it would.
As Russian experts point out even the Su-27 made its first appearance borrowing engines from earlier models.
Strangely, the Western air forces now consider it a privilege to be able to take on its advanced variants, such as the Indian Su-30MKI, in air-to-air exercises.
For India, the Russo-Indian FGFA will mark a quantum jump in technology development for it will be the first time they will be involved in developing fifth generation technologies as full-fledged partners.
Both countries are set to sign commercial contracts and set up a joint venture company to build the aircraft. The BrahMos joint venture model is being kept in mind for this project as well, for it is indeed a successful example of joint venture cooperation
As for mutual understandings arrived at so far with regard to the project, India will supply the plane's navigation systems, mission computer, cockpit display, and also provide composites for the airframe.
Sukhoi chief is also confident about the cost-effectiveness of the fighter in comparison to its American counterparts –the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II.
''The joint Russian-Indian aircraft will not only strengthen the defence might of the Russian and Indian air forces, but will take a worthy place in the world market,'' said Pogosyan.
According to Sukhoi, the FGFA will have a radar cross section (RCS) that will be 40 times less than that of the Su-30MKI. While the Su-30MKI has an RCS of about 20 square metres, the FGFA will display an RCS of 0.5 square metres, making it almost invisible to enemy radar.
Its ''intellectual'' capability will lie in data fusion, with a wide variety of inputs being electronically combined and displayed to pilots in an easy-to-read form. Data inputs will come from the fighter's infrared, radar, and visual sensors.
|
|
|
|
Post by TsarSamuil on Jan 31, 2010 10:54:46 GMT -5
New vid, they claim T-50 is better than F-22. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXBs4PNdE_ARussian Sukhoi T-50 jet challenges US Raptor stealth fighter. RussiaToday January 31, 2010 Under secrecy, Russia's first fifth-generation PAK FA fighter jet has successfully completed a test flight. Its appearance has now been revealed by Sukhoi, the planes manufacturer, which released footage of the flight. |
|
|
|
Post by TsarSamuil on Feb 1, 2010 17:26:03 GMT -5
Hmmm...   |
|
|
|
Post by TsarSamuil on Feb 3, 2010 14:52:26 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by TsarSamuil on Feb 8, 2010 12:25:36 GMT -5
India to open talks with Russia on stealth aircraft. The Hindu ^ | 02/06/2010 | Sandeep Dikshit ( YES, that is his ACTUAL NAME...) Proof, beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article102209.eceAfter 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 years and the number of aircraft it requires with Deputy Prime Minister and Russia’s India point man S.S. Sobyanin when he visits India by the middle of this month, senior government sources said. Though its force levels are depleting, the Indian Air Force wants to ensure that the replacements are world-class and the best in the region. The 250-plus Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft to be inducted gradually over the next decade fit the bill, and so will the 126 frontline multi-role fighter aircraft, which India plans to buy and for which six vendors are in the fray. PAK FA, billed as a competitor to F-22 Raptor, developed by the U.S., is expected go into mass production after at least five years. The striking feature of this aircraft is its stealth characteristics: radars will find it tough to spot it. It will also be able to take off from short airstrips and remain in the air for longer than the current fighters in the inventory of air forces around the world. What has attracted India to the project is the cost factor: it will be a lot cheaper to make than F-22. Besides the talks on the aircraft, the military-technical team accompanying Mr. Sobyanin will hold discussions on more T-90 tanks, the naval version of MiG-29, Sukhoi-30 MKI and the multi-role transport aircraft project, said the sources. The two sides have agreed on the price for refurbishing the aircraft carrier Gorshkov. Russia is poised to deliver more frigates to the Indian Navy. It will also transfer a nuclear-powered submarine to India by the middle of this year. Recently India has favoured the U.S. while buying medium and heavy-lift planes and long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft. U.S. companies are also in the race for several types of helicopters and refuelling planes. But officials say the list of military ventures with Russia is still longer and more varied. |
|
|
|
Post by pastir on Feb 8, 2010 14:22:13 GMT -5
F-22 is a huge disappointment. I hope they know what they are doing with this PAK FA thing, so as not to produce a crap like the Americans.
|
|
|
|
Post by TsarSamuil on Feb 9, 2010 18:34:11 GMT -5
The people who made F-22 delibertly made it so that it would require a very long maintenance time, so they would make more money n it would require lots of spare parts...greed killed that plane.  ------------------------- Russian 5th-generation fighter deliveries delayed until 2015. 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. "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 developing its newest fighter since the 1990s. The current prototype, known as the T-50, was designed by the Sukhoi design bureau and built at a plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Russian officials have already hailed the fighter as "a unique warplane" that combines the capabilities of an air superiority fighter and attack aircraft. VLADIMIR, February 9 (RIA Novosti) |
|
|
|
Post by pastir on Feb 9, 2010 18:53:22 GMT -5
The people who made F-22 delibertly made it so that it would require a very long maintenance time, so they would make more money n it would require lots of spare parts...greed killed that plane. I can easily believe this. It is not that it was some kind of evil scheme, but simply they have every incentive to make planes that are crap. The crappier the plane the more money you earn making it better and the sooner orders for a new plane come in. Did you know American pilots get 1/3rd flight hours a month less than they did in the 1970s. Because all the record money they put in the defence budget just goes to the suppliers of hardware to make them rich, regardless if it is what the military needs or not. |
|
|
|
Post by TsarSamuil on Feb 10, 2010 9:11:41 GMT -5
Didn't know that, but believe it, just look at how they treat their personel in Iraq.. how they protect private interests there, they are more security guards than an army. It's all about money...they outsource everything.. someone to supply food to the army? They sell u icecream for a fortune while it could have spent instead of arming humvees, but hey u can die knowing u ate icecream sold for the price of gold... Usa treats their own forces like shit, everything is about money to them, no soul in this "nation"... Watch this, www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXATMnerBjI&feature=related |
|
|
|
Post by TsarSamuil on Feb 10, 2010 9:22:38 GMT -5
Major Work Ahead On T-50 Stealth Fighter.
AviationWeek.com ^ | Feb 8, 2010 | David A Fulghum, Maxim Pyadushkin et al.
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 bays and small vertical tails. The T-50 shows resemblances to the F-22 Raptor, but also reflects its Su-27 heritage in the wide “centroplane” that blends the fuselage and wing.
Sukhoi says “the T-50 will demonstrate unprecedented small cross section in the radar, optical and infrared range owing to composites and innovative technologies applied in the fuselage, aerodynamics of the aircraft and decreased engine signature.”
U.S. analysts are impressed, but not yet panicked by the T-50. “Don’t go overboard and call it the Raptorski,” says a Washington-based official. “It is essentially a Flanker in the shape of a fifth-generation fighter at this point. It still needs supercruise engines, advanced radar and a lot more work before military planners can start saying how it’s going to compete with the F-22 or even the F-35.”
Work on the T-50 began in the early 2000s, and the fighter is somewhere between a technology demonstrator and a development aircraft. How much effort is needed to finalize the production aircraft is not clear. Sukhoi’s Su-27 was substantially redesigned from the T-10 prototype, which first flew in 1977; but despite some rough edges, the T-50 looks closer to a finished product.
The YF-22 prototype first flew in September 1990, and the first development aircraft in September 1997, but the F-22 was not declared operational until December 2005—a longer cycle time than proposed for the PAK FA. And there are only three prototypes: the T-50-0 static-test article; T-50-1, now flying; and T-50-2, which will be used for ground testing. The two YF-22s were followed by nine development F-22s.
U.S. defense analysts see a flying planform that incorporates low-observable attributes in edges and shaping that are notable for a prototype. But, they caution, the work needed to finish a stealth design is great. There is obvious use of composites in the T-50; but many areas are metal, and analysts are unclear whether this is just for the prototype, with plans for more composites in production aircraft.
Seemingly similar in size to the Su-27, which it will replace, the T-50 like the Flanker has widely separated engines. This makes the three-dimensional thrust vectoring effective in roll, as well as yaw and pitch, and provides room in the center fuselage for fore and aft weapons bays. There are side bays for short-range air-to-air missiles (AAMs) under the inboard wing sections. The centroplane also provides plenty of room for internal fuel. There are hardpoints for external stores under the inlets and wing.
Unusual design features include the small all-moving vertical stabilizers, made possible by thrust vectoring, and the movable wing leading-edge extensions. These act like foreplanes and provide the three-surface control afforded by the canard on the Su-30. The delta-wing planform, similar to the F-22’s and likewise coupled with powerful engines, will provide supercruise capability.
“It is apparent that more concern has been paid to shaping, but there are still many surface intersections and flight-test probes that will [increase the radar] signature,” says a senior U.S. Air Force officer involved in development of the F-117 and F-35. “In addition, we need to understand the mechanics of the very large inlets to determine how and if engine [radar reflection] blockage is achieved. And those wing leading-edge devices present a challenge for signature control.”
The prototype has a number of features that are not stealthy, including the infrared-search-and-track ball on the nose, the canopy frame, gaps around the inlets, and various unshielded intakes and grilles. There are no signs of any low-observable coatings and materials, but they would not be necessary for first flight, say analysts.
The T-50 was expected to fly with a pair of NPO Saturn 117S engines—a further modification of the uprated 32,000-lb.-thrust AL-31Fs installed in the new Su-35S multirole fighter. But Saturn says the T-50 flew with “completely new powerplants.” Compared to the 117S, the new powerplant has increased thrust and a digital control system adapted to T-50’s performance, says Ilya Fedorov, Saturn CEO and head of the PAK FA engine program.
But Russian Vice Premier Sergei Ivanov appeared to contradict Fedorov when he said the aircraft flew with engines from an earlier “4++” generation fighter. The question of a new engine for the PAK FA remains to be decided, he said.
“Engines are going to be one of the long poles in the tent,” says one U.S. analyst. Saturn and Salyut are developing competing 38,500-lb.-thrust engines. “The [refined supercruise] engine likely won’t be ready for several years , well beyond even initial operational capability.”
Another big question is availability of an advanced active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. The PAK FA avionics suite is being developed by the Ramenskoye design bureau, with the AESA radar supplied by Tikhomorov NIIP. A full-scale antenna with 1,500 transmit/receive modules was unveiled at Moscow’s MAKS show in August. It is still in bench tests, and the prototype is likely flying without radar. The first radar for the aircraft is expected to be ready in mid-2010, but integration with the stealth fighter has yet to begun, U.S. analysts point out.
The T-50 appears to continue the Russian preference for a large weapons capacity. Although bay sizes have not been made public, near-term, beyond-visual-range weapons will be upgrades of the R-77—including the K-77-1 and K-77M developments of the basic AA-12 Adder medium-range radar-guided AAM.
Long-range AAM options for internal carriage include upgrades of the R-37M (AA-X-13). In terms of short-range missiles, the baseline may be the K-74 upgrade of the infrared-homing R-73 (AA-11 Archer), although the long-running K-30 program will likely replace the Archer.
Air-to-surface weapons could include the Kh-38M family of medium-range missiles now in development. Mockups have featured folding control surfaces for compressed internal carriage. A new version of the decades-old AS-11 Kilter, the Kh-58UShK, has also emerged with folding surfaces for compressed carriage.
The T-50 is expected to complete several more flights at KnAPPO before moving to the test center at Zhukovsky, near Moscow. Senior Russian leadership has said the first preproduction batch will be delivered to Lipetsk in 2013 for state tests; but even with the Su-35S program providing development support for the T-50, service entry in 2015 looks ambitious.
“Lipetsk will function as a sort of Nellis, sort of Edwards, sort of Eglin [USAF bases] to wring out the jet, develop some basic employment doctrine, and write the flight and weapons employment manuals,” the U.S. analyst says. “Finally, they’ll train the initial instructor-pilot cadre for the first-line unit that will receive the jet—probably 18-24 months after the first one arrives at Lipetsk.”
Whether Sukhoi can meet the timeline depends on the success of testing and the financial commitment of the Russian and, crucially, Indian governments. India is ready to invest 25% of the PAK FA’s development cost and form a 50-50 joint venture to manufacture the fighter, with a basic requirement of 250 aircraft for each partner.
A two-seat PAK FA, dubbed the T-50UB, will be the basis of an export version for the Indian air force. Hindustan Aeronautics joined the program in 2008, but Sukhoi Director General Mikhail Pogosyan says Indian designers will participate in the later stages of development.
While India can bring significant funding, it cannot supply relevant technical expertise to help Sukhoi with the challenging task of developing and integrating a low-observable, network-centric, fifth-generation fighter. How soon, and how effectively, the Russians can deploy their rival to the F-22 remains to be seen.
With Bill Sweetman and Graham Warwick in Washington.
|
|
|
|
Post by TsarSamuil on Feb 10, 2010 9:40:09 GMT -5
 Petr Yakovlevich Ufimtsev (born 1931 in Altai Krai) is a Soviet/Russian physicist and mathematician, considered the seminal force behind modern stealth aircraft technology. In the 1960s he began developing equations for predicting the reflection of electromagnetic waves from simple two-dimensional shapes. Much of Ufimtsev's work was translated into English, and in the 1970s American Lockheed engineers began to expand upon some of his theories to create the concept of aircraft with reduced radar signatures. Northrop made extensive use of Ufimtsev's work in developing the B-2 bomber. Professor Ufimtsev currently teaches at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Developing the maths Ufimtsev became interested in describing the reflection of lasers while working in Moscow. He gained permission to do work on it after being advised that work was useless and would curtail his advancement. Because the work was considered of no military or economic value, Ufimtsev was allowed to publish his work internationally. Stealth engineers at Lockheed realized that Ufimtsev had created the tools to do finite analysis of radar reflection. While this discovery inspired, but did not directly have a big role in the Lockheed F-117, Northrop used Ufimtsev's work to program super computers to predict the radar reflection of the B-2 bomber. In the 1960s he began developing a high-frequency asymptotic theory for predicting the scattering of electromagnetic waves from two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects. Among such objects were the finite size bodies of revolution (disk, finite cylinder with flat bases, finite cone, finite paraboloid, spherical segment, finite thin wire). Now this theory is well known as the Physical Theory of Diffraction (PTD). The first results of PTD were collected in the book: P.Ya. Ufimtsev, Method of Edge Waves in the Physical Theory of Diffraction, Soviet Radio, Moscow, 1962. In 1971 this book was translated into English with the same title by U.S. Air Force, Foreign Technology Division (National Air Intelligence Center ), Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, 1971. Technical Report AD 733203, Defense Technical Information Center of USA, Cameron Station, Alexandria, VA, 22304-6145, USA. According to the following publications, this theory played a critical role in the design of American stealth-aircraft F-117 and B-2. See also the Forewords written by K. Mitzner to the books: Ufimtsev, P.Ya. Theory of Edge Diffraction in Electromagnetics, Tech Science Press, Encino, California, 2003. Ufimtsev, P.Ya. Fundamentals of the Physical Theory of Diffraction, Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, 2007. In these two books, P.Ya. Ufimtsev presented the further development and application of PTD and its validation by the exact mathematical theory. In particular, a new version of PTD, based on the concept of elementary edge waves, is presented in his book Fundamentals of the Physical Theory of Diffraction (2007). With appropriate modifications the modern PTD can be utilized for the solution to many practical problems. Among them are the design of microwave antennas, mobile radio communication, construction of acoustic barriers to decrease a noise level, evaluation of radar cross sections for large objects (tanks, ships, missiles, etc.). Dr. Ufimtsev has been affiliated with a number of research and academic institutions, including the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Moscow), Moscow Aviation Institute, the University of California (Los Angeles, Irvine) and most recently, the Moscow State University (Russia, 2007) and the Siena University (Italy, 2008). Currently he is a retiree and a consultant in the field of electromagnetics. Among his honors and awards are the USSR State Prize and the Leroy Randle Grumman Medal. Coincidentally, Ufimtsev taught at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which is the same school that Ben Rich, developer of the F-117 stealth fighter, studied at for his graduate degree. |
|
|
|
Post by TsarSamuil on Feb 10, 2010 10:07:16 GMT -5
Vietnam buys 12 Sukhoi fighters – source.
10 February, 2010, 13:29
Russia will supply 12 Su-30MK2 fighters and associated weapons for them to Vietnam, reports Interfax citing a source close to the deal.
The deal is worth approximately $1 billion, and the delivery is scheduled between 2011 and 2012, the source said.
Russia and Vietnam have already signed two major arms deals recently. In 2009, Moscow agreed to sell 8 Su-30MK2s to the Asian country and to construct six Kilo diesel submarines for the Vietnamese Navy.
No official comment on the information has been issued so far.
|
|
