Fighter Jet: Russian Fighter Jets

Russian Fighter Jets Biography

the late 1980s, the Soviet Union outlined a need for a next-generation aircraft to replace its MiG-29s and Su-27s in front line service. Two projects were proposed to meet this need – the Sukhoi Su-47 and the Mikoyan Project 1.44. In 2002, Sukhoi was chosen to lead the design for the new combat aircraft.[29] The Tekhnokompleks Scientific and Production Center, Ramenskoye Instrument Building Design Bureau, the Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design, the Ural Optical and Mechanical Plant (Yekaterinburg), the Polet firm (Nizhny Novgorod) and the Central Scientific Research Radio Engineering Institute (Moscow) were pronounced winners in the competition held in the beginning of 2003 for the development of the avionics suite for the fifth-generation airplane. NPO Saturn is the lead contractor for the engines.[citation needed]
T-50 in-flight at MAKS 2011
The Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association has begun construction of the fifth-generation multirole fighter. This work is being performed at Komsomol'sk-on-Amur together with Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association; the enterprise's general director, Fedor Zhdanov reported during a visit to NAPO by Novosibirsk Oblast's governor Viktor Tolokonskiy on 6 March 2007. Final assembly is to take place at Komsomol'sk-on-Amur.[citation needed]
On 8 August 2007, Russian Air Force Commander-in-Chief (CinC) Alexander Zelin was quoted by Russian news agencies that the development stage of the PAK FA program is complete and construction of the first aircraft for flight testing would begin.[30] Zelin also said that by 2009 there would be three fifth-generation aircraft ready. "All of them are currently undergoing tests and are more or less ready", he said.[31] In mid-2009 the design was approved.[29]
In the early 2000s, analysts estimated that developing a true fifth-generation stealth fighter would require at least US$40 billion, since the American F-22 took more than US$65 billion to develop. In 2004, and again in 2007, Russia invited China to join the PAK-FA program. The Chinese preferred to focus on their own stealth fighter programs, the J-31 and J-20. This caused a gap in the program's expected funding, after which Russia invited India to join the program. As of late 2012, including India's contribution, overall project spending has remained under US$10 billion.[citation needed]
[edit]Flight testing
The T-50's maiden flight had been repeatedly postponed since early 2007 as the aircraft encountered unspecified technical problems. Alexander Zelin admitted as recently as August 2009 that problems with the engine and in technical research remained unsolved.[32] On 28 February 2009, Mikhail Pogosyan announced that the airframe for the aircraft was almost finished and that the first prototype should be ready by August 2009.[33] On 20 August 2009, Pogosyan said that the first flight would be by year's end. Konstantin Makiyenko, deputy head of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies said that "even with delays," the aircraft would likely make its first flight by January or February, adding that it would take five to ten years for commercial production.[34]
On 8 December 2009, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov announced that the first trials with the fifth-generation aircraft would begin in 2010.[35] The first taxi test was successfully completed on 24 December 2009.[36][37][38] Piloted by Hero of the Russian Federation Sergey Bogdan, the aircraft's 47-minute maiden flight took place on 29 January 2010 at KnAAPO's Dzemgi Airport in the Russian Far East.[4][39][40][41]
PAK FA T-50 with landing gear down, April 2010
A second prototype was first planned to join the flight testing in the fourth quarter of 2010 but was postponed. On 3 March 2011, it was reported that the second aircraft had made a successful 44-minute test flight.[20] These first two aircraft will lack radar and weapon control systems. The third and fourth aircraft, to be added in 2011, will be fully functional test aircraft.[42] On 14 March 2011, the aircraft achieved supersonic flight at a test range near Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Siberia.[43]
The T-50 was displayed publicly for the first time at the 2011 MAKS Airshow. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was in attendance.[44][45] In June 2011, an unauthorized video was made of the Sukhoi PAK FA in flight displaying a variety of aerobatic moves.[46] On 3 November 2011, the PAK FA program achieved its 100th flight.[47] More than 20 test flights were made in the next nine months.[48]
The third prototype, T-50-3, was the first prototype to fly with an AESA radar. Originally scheduled for the end of 2011, these flights occurred in August 2012, and showed performance comparable to existing radars.[49][50] On 22 November 2011, T-50-3 took its first flight from KnAAPO's airfield in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, piloted by Sergey Bogdan. The aircraft spent over an hour in the air, and was subjected to basic stability and powerplant checks.[51] It differs from the other prototypes in the way it lacks a pitot tube. All 14 test aircraft are scheduled to fly by 2015.[52]
The fourth prototype had its first flight on 12 December 2012.[53] And joined the other three aircraft in testing near Moscow a month later.[54][55]

Russian Fighter Jets

Fighter Jet

Thursday, 21 February 2013

Russian Fighter Jets

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