vina wrote:Mark my words. You are looking at 15 years from now before the PAK FA will be in any usable form for it to be inducted. The big hurdle of stealthy engines is yet to be met , and not to mention all the avionics and others that need to be developed.
Though I am no Prophet from Israel to predict what can/may happen in the future but in high complexity project such delays are inherent and how can one manage those delays and trade off the risk/gain keeing requirements in mind would needs project management skills of highest order , We can just hope that delays are minimilised to the least possible , every one hope for that , We will see how Sukhoi tackles that.
There are no such things called stealthy engine , what PAK-FA wala did was they went for Blocker Approach for stealth and something else as Engine is not aligned with the intake, for Frontal RCS and for rear aspect they can always use Serated Nozzle JSF style ..... A new engine is always a risky business and I am not sure why they want to go for a new engine with so called 17-18 T of thrust its insane as the current engine closely matches the thrust of F-22 and has better T/W ratio and life cycle claimed to be better than any Saturn engine of flanker. Never mind if something exotic comes out from new engine no one will complain , considering this baby will serve for 30 years plus they perhaps want to make it future proof.
If the F-35 and F-22 are any indication to be an operational weapon in IAF service you are looking at 20 years from now.
F-22 and F-35 are both badly managed project and should not be a mirror for any other project , US defence industry and its key aerospace players are hell bent on ripping off pentagon , They come up with Over Specd , Over Priced design , rip up pentagon to maximum possible then when the project actually takes shape they find it does not meet original specs and its delayed .. so they rip off more under cut the specs and when air craft is inducted the GAO report like in case of F-22 suggest its a maintenance nightmare and promises that never made good.
In US Defence project only the contractors and subcontractors are net gainers , the Pentagon if they are lucky gets what they want in most cases they dont and the USAF becomes the net looser.