Bharat Rakshak

from the PAKDA article:

Another major aviation project, the PAK-FA fifth-generation fighter, has been experiencing technical problems with the powerplant and onboard systems. The Saturn Item 117 engine developed for the PAK-FA has suffered flame-outs, including one on the closing day of the 2011 MAKS air show. At the defence ministry's insistence, industry began working on a more advanced Item 129 model. If that proves up to expectations, it may also find way onto the PAK-DA.

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my spider feel is PAKDA will not be as huge as a Tu22 let alone Tu160. it might go the Platypus route and be a enlarged form of basic PAKFA template featureing a large cockpit side by side and a deeper and wider internal bay to take a shitload mix of hypersonic, stealthy and wing gliding munitions for the SEAD / GHQ targeting mission. engine will likely be same 5th gen engine, and with bigger wing tanks will permit a good range.

should be a good and first addition to our bomber fleet inshallah.

They said it would be between Tu-22M3 and Tu-160 not as big as the latter but not as small as the former its a strategic bomber not a tactical one. Size would be dictated if its supersonic or subsonicdesign that would have impact on size , range/fuel and payload.

US for one has opted for subsonic design for NGB taking into account its B-2 experience but with something cheaper in mind.

USA is becoming increasingly conservative. It has fixed a max price of US$ 550 million per aircraft to avoid a B2 like situation.

Russia would want to have a supersonic solution since they don't envision a scenario where air superiority is assured. It needs to be big for long range, intercontinental missions that would allow flights from Russia instead of overseas bases like USA does. Budget would be a priority if they want it now. Longer time frames would allow for larger budgets & more capabilities. If they develop a marine variant, I could see IN using it as a Tu 142 replacement. The IOR is the only region that requires long legs. Overflying China & Pakistan would be suicidal for a huge lumbering bomber unless they incorporate hypersonic technology!

Not sure if those figures would mean any thing to hungry giants like LM or NG , when was the last time these giants has ever delivered on fixed budgets when they have a bottom line and share holder to take care after.

All they need to do is to pull their strings with senators and that fixed money will easily go up by tens of millions. Keeps every one happy and in business

I think there should be a requirement criteria with a fixed price tag on the total amount. Say, there are 10 requirements & only 6 can be met within the budget, the remaining 4 should be dropped. After the F22/F 35 fiasco, they should have learned. But what do I know about the powerful arms lobby? They will probably add 2 more requirements to justify doubling the budget!

The major indicator of controlling budget overruns was cutting down F 22 nos to 187. The B2 was similarly cut down to 20. Expect JSF to have less than the initial nos as well. If they repeat the same thing with the NGB, the numbers will be halaalled to make the purchase kosher.

F35 was a post Cold War plane and its cost cutting requirements indicate that USA is no longer looking at the best performance in its planes. The bombers will probably used against third world nations where air defence is expected to be weak. Apart from stealth, it should have good EW capabilities. The navy is already looking at unmanned platforms for taking over its bombing roles.

X 47

for the kind day1-day10 missions usa does like strikes on id'ed HQ, supply chain storages, airbases , ports, power stations and such....both a barrage of cruise missiles and PGMs dropped out of UCAVs will work. I guess they will use both options.

but in a land battle or libya style situation there are many emerging fights and targets of opportunity that right now can only be tackled by manned planes or UAV operators using hellfires(UAVs need to be on station to strike, very slow transit speed...vulnerable to SAMs)...if UCAVs gain the brains to id and attack targets of opportunity, they will get a big jump in funding.

for the strategic bomber role to release ALCMs, I dont see why a manned bomber is needed.....could as well be dropped off by a UCAV that returns to base. make it smallish the size of a Su34 , fit in 4 ALCMs internally inside VLO airframe and build a lot of them to disperse the risk factor and make intercepts tough.

right now a surprise "prompt global strike" hypersonic attack on Engels AFB might wipe out most of the precious 20 Tu160 Blackjacks parked there.

Are you talking about the IUSAV? The yindoos are building one and the first prototype is expected to take flight in 2015. Induction is in 2020. Till then the Tu 142 is being readied for the strategic role. Each of these mighty birds can carry 6 Brahmos missiles. 6 missiles per plane with a total strength of 8 planes is 25% of our total stock of air to air Brahmos. A barrage of 48 missiles from 290 (or 500) km away is enough to take care of Paki & Cheeni Angels (sic) bases. The only possible drawback is that they are based out of 1 base in Tamil Nadu. Its the only runway that is capable to launch these birds. But its intercontinental range more than makes up for it. During war, IN should lend a helping hand to our friends to the north with their inferiority complex. The puny H 6 is not even half as good as Tu 142, which is still in use by Russia as TU 95 for strategic bombing. Inshallah, we develop our Nirbhay 3 with 5000 km range, these mighty birds could deliver a handful of them over the South China Sea without breaking a sweat.

Il-476 production pictures

http://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/23968/

They are using American Tooling machines .. quite a change from the days of cold war

Unfortunately, MAZAK is a Japanese company. The former Soviet Union and Russia has been very sucessful in obtaining Japanese tooling machines.

yes I remember America imposing some sanction on Japanese company for exporting


On January 26, 27, 1987 The United States asked Norway and Japan about the 9-axis machine tool. Norway investigated the incident, revealing Japan's crime. Kumagai received no reply from the government of Japan from December, 1985 until they finally did so on April 27, 1987.

News of the 9-axis violation in Japan appeared for the first time on April 30. The news in Japan of the 5-axis violation appeared for the first time on June 18. The statute of limitations on both violations had already expired. Because the government of Japan knew the details by the end of December, 1985, they had apparently the interval lapse intentionally. He conferred with William C. Triplett, a former CIA analyst, in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in July, 1987. Triplett asked him to testify at a United States congressional hearing that he refused it fearing KGB retaliation. Instead, he produced testimony a book on January 30, 1988.[1]

Well...these days they can source from Germany and Sweden too. If they cannot source from Germany directly, they can do so indirectly via Czech republic. In the meantime, Russian tool machine companies of quality are also being groomed. The world is getting small and there is nothing that the Russian mob cannot get.
Avram

Interesting news on Mig-25R upgrade wish we had upgraded and continues with our Mig-25's

Modernization Prolongs Life of Russia’s MiG-25 Spyplanes

Nice write up on Japanese 5th gen fighter

Japan Aims To Launch F-3 Development In 2016-17

I knew the Su 27/30 is a big beast but this image really put put things in perspective

The lady sure seems to be in love and not wanting to let go

http://i.imgur.com/kRkLg.jpg

Note: Image from a post by D-Mitch on the Military photos.net website (i was not clear on how to put a thumbnail image)

^^^ nice pic. Seen pics of people standing on wings but never on the elevators. USAF would never try something similar on their climate controlled hangar munnas.

My video of F22 in action
http://youtu.be/jEO4wwxf3bI

realised its very difficult to hold a camera still and track a fast plane at the same time

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/p ... ortie.html



Note that's just for the ITC. There are now a total 49 F-35s flying, which seems like quite a hefty fleet for a plane that is still years away from IOC.

Even though its short, that is a good video clip. Your hand has been pretty steady

^^^ Any new news about the developments of the LMFS front?

Mig was in requirement of funding. Probably we could collaborate on the AMCA and LMFS fronts. We both will be able to field our prototypes faster.

I hope not. Too many diffs between the two (single vs. two engines, fly-by-light, etc). Besides if the only client is going to be the IAF then it i not worth it.

Actually, the single engine has been a speculation based on the idea of keeping commonality with the PAKFA. However, Mikoyan was originally designing a replacement for Mig-29 which was double engined (I will try to find out the interview when it was first revealed. May be Austin can help). They planned to get it out only by 2020 or so when even the upgraded Mig-29s near their end of lives. For that weight category, a single engined plane is always going to be underpowered (unless the Russians can lay their hands on the PW F135).

If the LMFS comes to fruition (targeted at 2020) and the AMCA would be very close to each other (as would be the J-31).

Perhaps. Trust you know far more than me.

However, is there a reason to change directions - at this late stage - for the AMCA? Late Oct, 2012 article:



The last sentence surprises me, if at all I was under the impression that it had taken a turn towards the YF-23 Black Widow planeform. But, I guess time will tell.

Also, I am not too sure where the fly-by-light and the cockpit design is at for the AMCA. IF (BIG if) they are sticking by them then it is too late for any major changes in the thinking. The LMFS will not be able to accommodate such thinking at this stage of the game. And the other way around.

NRao sahab,

I am not speaking of one program to subsume the other. Nowadays most parts are designed to be modular and there will be lots of components (not necessarily related to airframe) which can be co-developed. Share the load and get the prototypes out there ASAP.

Regarding AMCA looking more like F-22, I agree with that observation. And I am in love with this airframe (though I think that some parts of this diagram are not accurately drawn).



Since then aerodynamic studies by NAL show this airframe with LERXs attached.

LMFS is not getting funded atleast not this decade ...the only aircraft program getting funded besides PAK-FA is a Su-25 replacement which is CAS.

Sukhoi and Mig are though jointly working on UCAV program link

Product 476

IL-476 has flown ( via Take Off Mag Pg 10 )

http://en.take-off.ru/arhiv/746

It never was getting funded. Wasn't Mig doing it on its own funds?

Mig did some ground work on LMFS project and had a proposal but the MOD in its wisdom decided not to fund a 5th gen light fighter program , Mig like other design bureau got absorbed into UAC and now they work with Sukhoi on other programs , even the new CAS is a Sukhoi baby but Mig gets its fair share of work.

That is very interesting. Surely, RuAF can't have all PAKFAs in its fleet!

The wont for sure , they will have new Su-35S , Su-30SM,Su-30M2 ,Mig-29M2/35 for company.

More ever existing fleet are being modernised and that would add another 20 years of service life just like our own 29/2000 upgrade .......plenty of time to think and even Europe is not funding a single 5th gen program but is moving towards UCAV

russian plans seems to be:
- PAKFA
- Su35bm
- PAKDA
- restart of IL476
- restart of AN124
- Mi26T , Mi17v continues in improved forms
- Frogfoot replacement

I wonder what work they are doing on force multipliers like new AWACS and JSTARS types.

Yeah, but everything there seems to be in the heavy category. The Mig-29 derivatives will probably not be fine past 2025 with the world transitioning to AMCAs/F-35s/J-31s/etc. Clearly, Russia can't start to develop a medium-weight 5th gen plane in 2025.

Anyways,no use breaking my head over it.

The A-100 project that will use Il-476 will have both AWACS and JSTARS capability built into one aircraft as mentioned by the radar designer VEGA.



Most of Europe will be on Rafale/Eurofighter/Gripen till 2040 and Su-35S and Mig-35 wont end up being a bad match for it , It would be cheaper for them to maintain a longer production cycle for Su-35/35/30 with lower production cost then to invest in another 5th Gen Fighter considering they already have their hands tied up with PAK-FA , 5th Gen CAS and PAK-DA program ...money is a premium and there is no point wasting in Medium fighter just because India ,China or some one else is doing .

More ever a response to one 5th Gen Medium fighter program is not necessarily another 5th Gen similar program , they have 4 different new types of long/medium range SAM under development and 2 two different ABM systems , key in with IADS and many different radar including VHF types that would be effective response for any stealth/high performance airborne target , No one in the world is doing that kind of Wide SAM and Radar development but it does not get a similar coverage as its lacks the fighter glamour

Fighter program at the end of the day tend to be very expensive and time consuming and they are pushed over internally by Airforces over other programs to keep Fighter lobby happy.

Some Gripen pics.....

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showpost.php?p=1957453&postcount=100

nice plane

^you can keep the plane as the trade in value!

third picture was truly (w)holesome nice backend too on landing strip

shows how gripen gives importance to rear signatures.