U.S. airforce not impressed by PAK-FA

[keysersoze]

Obviously a biased article but interesting nonetheless

Leaders not impressed by new Russian fighter

By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Mar 22, 2010 7:06:18 EDT

The flying debut of Russia’s answer to the F-22 Raptor isn’t wowing Air Force leaders.

Dubbed the T-50 or PAK-FA, the fifth-generation stealth fighter jet made its maiden flight Jan. 29 — 47 minutes over eastern Russia — and has flown at least twice since then. The twin-engine jet will replace the MiG-29 Fulcrum and Su-27 Flanker, both fourth-generation front-line fighters.

The first operational T-50s should be delivered in 2015, the same year the Air Force expects its first F-35 Lightning II. Also a fifth-generation fighter, the F-35 has a single supersonic engine and stealth capabilities.

“I didn’t see anything … that would cause me to rethink plans for the F-22 or F-35,” Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told reporters Feb. 18 at the Air Force Association’s winter conference, held in Orlando, Fla.

“Russia has a robust [aircraft industry],” Donley added. “This is not a surprise in that context.”

The PAK-FA resembles the F-22 — distinctive tilted rear tail fins and all — and has many of the same high-tech features, including digital avionics, a phased-array radar and communications equipment to link the fighter to command and control centers, according to the Russian news agency Tass.

The Air Force ordered the last of its 187 F-22s in 2009. Russia has not had a new fighter in nearly 20 years; the Indian air force is also sponsoring development of a version of the T-50.

“It looks like a plane we’ve seen before,” Gen. Roger Brady, the air boss for NATO and commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, said at the conference.

Gen. Gary North, commander of Pacific Air Forces, made clear his impression of the fighter: “I guess the greatest flattery is how much they copy you.”

Still, the four-stars wonder whether the T-50 will live up to its fifth-generation billing.

“I don’t know if it’s really a fifth-generation aircraft,” Brady said. “What I do know is that it’s very clear that they’re working on a fifth-generation technology.”

For Brady, Russia’s push on the development front signals that the U.S. cannot settle for the status quo.

“The key is, we must continue to do fifth-generation and sixth-generation research and put money against it because other people clearly are,” Brady said.

North added that the Pentagon must ensure fourth-generation jets such as the F-15, F-16 and F/A-18 are continually upgraded.

“If we’re not going to buy more, what we’ve got to have is the very best that our sons and daughters go out to fight with,” he said.

In tandem with the T-50 project, Russia is developing a long-range bomber.

“We won’t limit ourselves to just one new model,” Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said March 1. “We must start work on a prospective long-range aircraft, our new strategic bomber.”

———

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Leaders not impressed by new Russian fighter - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

[keysersoze]

Article from RIA Novosti

Russian military to buy 50 fifth-generation fighters after 2016

Russia's Defense Ministry will order at least 50 fifth-generation fighters from 2016, a senior official said on Thursday.

"At the first stage, there will be dozens of planes, more than 50," said Vladimir Popovkin, deputy defense minister for arms procurement.

He was on hand as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin observed the test flight of a prototype fighter and later talked to the pilot, Sergei Bogdan, who said it was the fighter's 16th test flight and more would follow shortly.
Popovkin said that based on the outcome of initial tests, the Defense Ministry would purchase the first six to 10 aircraft after 2012.

He said the fighter will be superior to U.S. analogs.
"The requirements we are setting on this plane are well above those for the U.S. fifth-generation aircraft," he said.

Putin said the Russian fighter will be about three times as cheap as its foreign analogs.

The prime minister said 30 billion rubles (around $1 billion) had already been spent on the project and another 30 billion would be required to complete it, after which the engine, weaponry and other components would be upgraded.

He said, factoring in modernization and upgrades, the fighter will have a service life of 30-35 years.

As Putin climbed into the cockpit of the plane, Bogdan began telling him about the aircraft's unique features, in particular the yoke that was very convenient, especially during overloads.
"
I know, I have some flying experience," Putin said.
In 2000, then acting president Putin co-piloted a Sukhoi-27 Flanker fighter jet from Krasnodar to Chechnya's capital of Grozny ahead of presidential elections.

Russia's only known fifth-generation project is Sukhoi's PAK FA and the current prototype is the T-50. It is designed to compete with the U.S. F-22 Raptor, so far the world's only fifth-generation fighter, and the F-35 Lightning II.

Russia has been developing its newest fighter since the 1990s. The country's top military officials have said the stealth fighter jet with a range of up to 5,500 km should enter service with the Air Force in 2015.

The PAK FA is to be armed with next-generation air-to-air, air-to-surface, and air-to-ship missiles, and has two 30-mm cannons.

[keysersoze]

Russia's T-50 PAK FA Not Fifth-Generation Fighter Jet Yet
18.06.2010

Prime Minister Putin praised Russia’s new fifth-generation fighter jet when he visited the Central Aerohydrodynamics Institute in the Moscow region on June 17. However, Putin was hasty in his remarks. The T-50 fighter jet, which performed its 16th test flight for Putin, can not be referred to as the fifth-generation aircraft. Experts claim that the plane has to be reequipped to obtain the title.

For the time being, the PAK FA jet meets only a few requirements of the aircraft of this class, the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper said.

According to experts’ estimates, if a plane does not correspond to two or three requirements on the list of technical qualities, it can not be considered as fifth-generation aircraft. That is why the USA’s F-35 and Russia’s MiG-35 are only budget replacements of the genuine F-22 and T-50 fifth-generation jets.

The plane, which was demonstrated to Putin in the town of Zhukovsky, corresponded to a part of technical requirements. It is a multi-role jet that can be used both for executing air defense tasks and for striking ground-based targets.

Russia Today: Russian fifth-generation fighter: high hopes
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The T-50 develops the ultrasonic speed in a regular operation mode. Fourth-generation jets had to use the afterburner for the purpose. The T-50 engine consists of the digital control system and the plasma ignition system. The engine and the advanced construction of glider give the jet extra high maneuvering abilities. Russian specialists are working on the next generation of engines that are said to improve the flight performance of the T-50.

The stealth technology, a mandatory requirement for a fifth-generation fighter jet, has not been fully developed for T-50. It is worthy of note that the T-50 is the stealthiest plane among all Russian warplanes. However, US specialists sacrificed additional maneuvering ability to make the F-22 stealthier. Experts say that Russian engineers will most likely choose the maneuvering capability between the two qualities.

The PAK FA carries state-of-the-art radar equipment with active phased antenna array. The Russian-made device allows to conduct all-sided and multi-channel target servicing, which is also one of the requirements for fifth-generation fighter jets.

The T-50 lacks the required electronic equipment. The plane of this class must carry state-of-the-art avionics: a circular data system, automated interference control and other systems. It was earlier reported that India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited would deal with development of the navigation system and the mission computer for the T-50.

Vladimir Putin said in Zhukovsky that the T-50 fifth-generation fighter jet would be 2.5 or even 3 times less expensive than its foreign analogues. The Russian jet will overcome the USA’s F-22 on its maneuvering ability, arms and range.

Russia has spent 30 billion rubles on the first stage of the development of the plane and will require additional 30 billion rubles for the second stage. The modernization of the engine and the arms of the jet will follow next.

PAK FA’s speed limit is 2600 km/h, the maximum non-afterburning speed – 2100 km/h. The practical range – 4300 km. For comparison, F-22 Raptor’s speed limit makes up 2410 km.h, the maximum non-afterburning speed – 1963 km/h, and the practical range – 3219 km.

Moskovsky Komsomolets

Russia's T-50 PAK FA Not Fifth-Generation Fighter Jet Yet - English pravda.ru