The Indo Russian PAK-FA Project

All threads that are locked or marked for deletion will be moved to this forum. The topics will be cleared from this archive on the 1st and 16th of each month.
Locked
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

The Indo Russian PAK-FA Project

Post by JaiS »

Please post all news, speculations, images regarding the past, present and future of this project in this thread. I believe that there is a need for a separate thread considering the amount of Indian commitment to the project ( ~ 5 Billion USD ) and also because this plane is likely to be India's next 'MKI'.

Recently there have been a lot of articles regarding the PAK-FA Project. However, I believe that there is a need to trace the history of the project, since work on it has been going on for a long time. This thread is meant to contain articles which describe the past work which has been done on this project, and the current and future work. Such a thread would serve the purpose of de-mystifying a lot of the confusing aspects of this project.

Please also note that there will be a lot of conflicting articles specifically regarding :

1. Indian workshare in the project.
2. Deadlines of the project.

etc. and the purpose of this thread is also to collect such articles from which a single coherent picture can be drawn. Please cite the articles with sources and date. Thanks.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Russia working on first-stage engine for 5th generation plane
TASS
June 20, 2007 Wednesday 02:36 PM EST
DATELINE: LE BOURGET, June 20

Russia's fifth generation fighter plane will be equipped with an AL-41F1 engine in the first stage, Sukhoi Director General Mikhail Pogosyan said.

He said no decision on the engine for the second stage has been adopted yet.

``The Defence Ministry, together with us, will consider possible options for new engines and make its decision. But I don't think this is an acute question because all decisions regarding the first stage are made and all work is proceeding by schedule,'' Pogosyan said.

``Given the life cycle of the plane, the serial production of which covers a period of 30 years and 30 more years for operation, the engine and other systems will change considerably in the course of serial production. That's normal. And I see no urgent need for new decisions in addition to the ones that have already been adopted,'' the official said.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defence Ministry, which has placed an order for the manufacture of a fifth generation fighter plane, is specifying some of its engine details, the head of the Federal Agency for Industry, Boris Alyoshin, said at the 47th International Aerospace Show in Le Bourget.

``They will specify technical specifications and the list of related companies for the engine project. It's their right and I think this will not affect the creation of the engine,'' Alyoshin said.

The head of the Moscow-based machine-building production association Salyut, Yuri Yeliseyev, said, ``the Military Industrial Commission has decided to organise a new contest to select the engine for the fifth generation fighter plane.''

``The first contest never took place,'' he added.

``The project timing has not changed. Nor have changed the customer's decisions. And we are working by the schedule that has been adopted,'' Air Force Deputy Commander, Colonel-General Alexander Zelin said earlier.

``The fifth generation plane project has passed the stage of technological mock-up defence. We are now creating the working and design documentation,'' the general said.

In his words, ``Work to create fifth generation hardware is proceeding as scheduled.''

Earlier, the Russian defence minister said a fifth generation plane would be built by 2009.


He said in January, while visiting India, that the Sukhoi aircraft maker planned a demonstration flight of its fifth generation jet fighter in 2009 and invited India to join the project.

``In any case India informed us it will join Sukhoi's project Russia has been implementing for three years,'' he said.

``Russia's Sukhoi has been designing a fifth generation jet fighter for three years and certain progress has been reached,'' he said.


``This project envisions Russia's budget financing estimated at dozens billions of roubles,'' Ivanov said pointing out that ``the presence of private capital'' is also possible.

``It is still difficult to speak about a concrete price, but it's evident that very heavy sums estimated at billions of dollars will be engaged,'' Ivanov said.

The agreement to build a fifth-generation fighter plane was reached by the president of Russia and the prime minister of India in Moscow in December 2005.

The fifth-generation plane is scheduled to make its maiden flight in 2009, the chief of the United Aircraft Corporation, Alexei Fyodorov, said.

``At this moment technical documentation is being developed. This part of the project is being accomplished in keeping with the expected schedule,'' he said.

``There are very many complicated phases ahead, including that of mastering the production of dramatically new constructions and materials, including composite ones. These are going to be rather complicated processes and they are very hard to predict,'' the unified aircraft corporation chief said. ``It is hard for me to say at this point whether the plane will certainly go up in the air in 2009, or a little bit later. One can be more certain about that when the production process proper is underway.''

Fyodorov said all avionics in that plane would be of Russian manufacture.


``As far as the project is concerned, this is going to be the most research intense and time-consuming phase,'' he said. ``The airframe and the platform are much made faster than the equipment they are 'stuffed with.'''
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Post by JaiS »

Russian S-37 Accelerates Fighter Technology

Aviation Week & Space Technology

May 29, 2000

Author: CRAIG COVAULT


Russia's Sukhoi S-37 forward-swept-wing fighter has completed about 100 flights and is progressing through its supersonic test regime at the Zhukovsky Flight Test Center near the Russian capital.

Sukhoi has not been able to obtain Russian Defense Ministry permission to even display the S-37 publicly at Russian venues other than Zhukovsky, although the aircraft made two brief overflights of Moscow after it first flew in 1997.

The prototype is the most advanced Russian military aircraft since the Su-27 operational fighter first flew more than 20 years ago. ''The S-37 remains highly classified, and the Ministry of Defense is not in a hurry to make information available about this aircraft,'' Pogosyan said.

The S-37 is Russia's primary testbed for new composite materials and multiple-string fly-by-wire computer and software technology that could form the foundation for a Russian fifth-generation heavy fighter, although the Russian economy is so bad that it will be years before such a program emerges.

A new Sukhoi heavy fighter design will not necessarily involve a forward-swept wing. But the composite materials development and fabrication techniques and flight control technologies embodied in the S-37 will benefit Russian fighter designs well into the next two decades.

''We are proud to say that all the advantages of this configuration have been successfully proven during flight test,'' he said. These include algorithms associated with flying the forward-swept wing at high angles of attack, a key element for defining the efficiency of the design.

The aircraft's basic air-to-ground and air-to-air maneuvering capabilities and radar signature are being explored during the flight tests. The S-37 also has an infrared sensor pod mounted on its nose and an internal weapons bay. But Pogosyan said weapons test details about the aircraft are classified.



Alexey Komarov contributed to this story from Moscow.
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Post by JaiS »

Sukhoi corp. willing to jointly develop fighters with India

September 28, 2000 Thursday

The Press Trust of India

Russia's Sukhoi Aircraft Corporation has expressed its willingness to develop fifth generation multi-role fighters jointly with India if a decision is taken in line with the Indo-Russian strategic partnership.

During development of SU-30MKI multi-role fighter for the Indian Air Force, the two countries accumulated a vast experience in developing state-of-the-art jet from 'four plus' to 'four plus plus' (4"") generation, the company officials said.

They said developing the fifth generation multi-role fighter was an expensive task which required colossal financial, intellectual, technological and human resources.

Even the US' JSF and European Eurofighter projects, based on new technologies, were result of joint development and pooling of resources by several parties to cut down the costs and risks.

Spokesman Yuri Chervakov said Sukhoi designing and production complex had begun intensive trials of its latest prototype, S-37-BERKUT, considered a flying lab for developing fundamental technologies for the fifth generation Russian fighter.

India's growing technological might, rich human resources and highly-skilled workforce provide a solid foundation for development of new generation fighters, he said.
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Post by JaiS »

The Military Will Get a Fighter Plane of the Future

June 16, 2000 Friday

RusData Dialine - BizEkon News

Author: Sergei Putilov


The commander of the Air Force Anatoly Kornukov made a sensational statement last week: the Defense Ministry has finally decided on its fifth-generation fighter plane and sent its specificiations to the Sukhoi and Mikoyan design bureaus. The military news analyst of the newspaper Vremya-MN has some details:

"Until recently, it appeared, the Russian Air Force was doomed to extinction because the Defense Ministry had stopped financing the development of a combat plane of the future. After the passage of some 6-7 years this plane should have replaced such fighter aircraft as the MiG-29 and Su-27, that were developed thirty years ago and at present form the backbone of Russia's fighter aviation. But now the situation appears to begin to change for the better with the adoption of a defense budget for the year 2001 which has been increased to 218 billion rubles.


"A source in the Russian military-industrial complex thus commented on Kornukov's statement: 'The submission of the tactical and technical specifications of the fifth-generation fighter plane to the Sukhoi and Mikoyan design bureaus means that the military have already decided on the plane that they need and, consequently, it will be purchased within the framework of the armaments program that has been drawn up to the year 2010'. Such a plane should be invisible for all practical purposes to the enemy's means of detection, possess super maneuverability and have the capability to hit several targets simultaneously.

It is expected that the Russian plane will be capable of effectively coping with the newest American tactical aircraft, B-1 and B-2 strategic bombers, the newest cruise missiles and other potential targets.

"Incidentally, not so long ago in an interview with the author of this article the General Director of the Sukhoi Design Bureau Mikhail Pogosyan had complained that the implementation of the entire project was being stalled by the absence of financing and a concrete perception by the Defense Ministry of the fighter plane of the future. Against the background of similar R&D in the United States... this gives rise to serious concern about Russia's security and its successes on the world armaments market. If we fail in the coming years to start the batch production of fifth-generation fighter planes, supremacy in the air will be won by our foreign competitors...
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

MiG and general Soviet history of working on the 5G project

Post by JaiS »

A changing challenge

Flight International

April 9, 1997


The Mikoyan design bureau's fifth-generation fighter prototype could yet debut at the Moscow air show in August 1997 - if it survives at all, however, it will be only as a technology demonstrator. Conceived by the old Soviet Union, the design has proved too ambitious and too expensive for a Russia wrought by economic strife.

THE NUMBERS GAME

In part, Soviet conservatism was born out of an increasing concern about its ability to best US aerospace technology, and in part by a knowledge that its air force would be numerically superior to that of the USA. The Soviets could afford to accept a low exchange-ratio in air combat, since comparative attrition rates would favour the air force with the greater numbers of aircraft.

In looking to the next generation of fighters beyond the Fulcrum and Flanker, Soviet designers were tasked in the early 1980s with designing aircraft capable of challenging the emerging US Advanced Tactical Fighter.

Originally, the West expected the Soviet Union to develop successors to both the MiG-29 and the Su-27, which it dubbed the counter-air fighter and the air-superiority fighter. Certainly the Soviet air force, in the early 1980s, did look at both a light frontal fighter - Logkiy Frontovoi Istrebitel (LFI) - and a multi-role frontal fighter - Mnogofuntktsionalnyi Frontovoi Istrebitel (MFI). MIGMAPO is again looking at an LFI.

The MFI programme is thought to have been referred to initially as the Istrebitel 90 (Fighter 90). Mikoyan was selected over Sukhoi to develop the aircraft and the designation was changed subsequently to the Mikoyan Article 1.42. The 1980s LFI programme fell by the wayside, with the Soviet air force concentrating on the acquisition of an air- superiority fighter to counter what would eventually emerge as the F- 22.

Mikoyan began serious work on its MFI contender around 1985, at which time the first flight of a prototype was projected for around 1990. It was an ambitious project, built around Soviet projections of how advanced the US Air Force's F-15 replacement would be.


CANARD CONFIGURATIONS

Throughout the mid-1980s conceptual drawings of advanced US fighters had shown aircraft with foreplanes, and France, Sweden and the four Eurofighter nations were all developing close-coupled delta-canard designs to meet next-generation fighter requirements. Russia followed suite, with the Central Aeronautical Hydrodynamics Institute testing a number of delta-canard configurations.

One such design was to surface eventually as a single-engined multi- role fighter, the Su-37, which was proposed to replace the Su-25 Frogfoot, while foreplanes were also introduced on the Su-27M, variously referred to by Sukhoi as the Su-35 and Su-37. The Mikoyan 1.42 was to emerge as a large canard-delta design.

Lyulka Saturn was tasked with developing an engine for the 1.42 with performance considerably exceeding that of the Al-31 which powers the Su-27. The Al-41, as the engine is designated, proved to be one of the most technically demanding aspects of the development programme, and Mikoyan has blamed project delays on Lyulka Saturn's slow progress on the engine.

Radar development was to prove similarly over ambitious, both in terms of the original timescale, and within the timeframe of the delays resulting from problems other areas of the programme. The outcome appears to have been that the 1.42 was planned to enter service with a derivative of the phased-array radar developed for the Su-27M. The aircraft was also intended to have a rearward-facing radar, as does the Su-27M, to provide rear-hemisphere protection and weapons cueing.

The 1.42 configuration has gone through a number of design iterations, likely introducing an increased emphasis on low-observable (LO) characteristics. From the outset, however, Russian design bureaux have maintained an attitude to radar cross-section and infra-red signature reduction markedly different to that to their US counterparts.

Opinion differs as to whether the Russian attitude toward LO is driven primarily by technological limitations or operational doctrine. It may be a mix of the two. Certainly Russian production tolerances on its present-generation of combat aircraft, such as the Flanker and Fulcrum, would have had to be improved greatly if an LO design comparable to the F-22 was to have been developed.

There is considerable speculation as to whether the MFI aircraft was intended to carry an air-to-air missile with a range considerably greater even than that provided by the ramjet derivative of the R-77 (AA-12 Adder) medium-range missile, which is being developed by Vympel. There is some speculation that Vympel's K-37 (AA-X-13) replacement for the R-33 (AA-9 Amos) on the MiG-31M may also have been intended for the MFI project. Development of the K-37 has been prolonged and it now appears unlikely to enter service on the moribund MiG-31M.

The MFI was also intended to be fielded with a new short-range dogfight missile to replace the R-73 (AA-11 Archer). Vympel has occasionally alluded vaguely to a follow-on to the R-73, although no details have been released.

It appears now that the programme will go no further in terms of providing the Russian air force with a next-generation combat aircraft. The fall of the Soviet Union, followed by the collapse of the Russian economy, left the majority of its next-generation weapons projects in limbo, at best, if not on the scrapheap.

CONSIDERING THE NEXT MOVE

With the 1.42 likely to remain only a technology-demonstrator programme, the Russian air force has been left to reconsider its fifth- generation fighter requirements. The air force has undoubtedly continued to watch development of the F-22, its increasing cost and reducing procurement numbers. While the end of the Cold War has certainly changed the Russian air force's threat analysis, it will continue to measure the capabilities of its combat aircraft against the best fielded by the West, and by the USA in particular.

Against this desire to match the next generation of combat aircraft to be fielded by the West is the reality of having funds which are only a fraction of those allocated by the air force's former Soviet masters. This is coupled with the realisation that, while both the Fulcrum and Flanker could, with relatively limited upgrades, provide an adequate force, the air force's strike capability badly needs improving.
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Post by JaiS »

AL-41 engine problems are over, says Lyulka Saturn

Flight International

August 2, 1995

Alexander Velovich/MOSCOW

MIKOYAN'S FIFTH-generation fighter, the Article 1.42, has been fitted with Lyulka Saturn AL-41 next-generation engines, with the engine- design bureau claiming that previous engine problems have been overcome.

Victor Chepkin, Lyulka Saturn president and chief executive, says that the AL-41s installed in the Mikoyan technology demonstrator, shown in June to Russian defence minister Gen Pavel Grachev, are development engines rather than experimental.

He adds that, as installed on the aircraft, these include circular thrust-vectoring nozzles. Circular- and box-nozzle thrust-vectoring configurations are thought to have been examined.

The 1.42's first flight has been delayed repeatedly, with Mikoyan saying that this was partly the result of problems with the powerplant.

Chepkin claims that AL-41 performance "... is in no way inferior to the Pratt & Whitney F-119 engine powering the F-22". The AL-41 is a fifth- generation engine distinguished in principle by "...absolutely new aerodynamics, ie all compressors and turbines were designed and developed exclusively using a three-dimensional computer model," he explains.

The design also includes advanced materials, including high load- bearing titanium alloys and compacted heat-resistant powder alloys for discs, shafts and load-bearing body parts.

Chepkin says that a qualitatively new level of turbine-inlet temperature has been attained in the AL-41 design adding 250 degreesC to the value achieved in the Lyulka AL-31, now powering the Sukhoi Su- 27/Su-33, which required a new level of technology for blade cooling.


The high inlet temperature is necessary to allow the aircraft to "supercruise" that is, to cruise supersonically without using reheat. The AL-41 has already logged a "sufficiently high number of hours" in flying testbeds.

Specification figures for thrust, specific fuel consumption and acceleration time have been met, according to Chepkin, but the turbofan has a limited guaranteed life.
niran
BRF Oldie
Posts: 5535
Joined: 11 Apr 2007 16:01

Post by niran »

Here is an alphabet for your Pak Fa alphabet soup.
The article is on clicky

The part which interest you most
[8] MIG 1.44 / PAK-FA, THE NEXT GENERATION

* While the MiG OKB was working in a "step forward step back" fashion on second-generation MiG-29 concepts in the late 1980s and through the 1990s, the organization's engineers were also working in fits and starts on a true next-generation fighter under the "Multirole Tactical Fighter (Mnogofunktsionahll'nyy Frontovoi Istrebitel / MFI)" program.

The MFI program had been initiated in 1986 to counter Western efforts to develop next-generation fighters, such as the US "Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF)", which would become the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. The MiG MFI design team was originally led by Grigoriy Sedov and later by Yuri Vorontnikov. Initial MFI prototype construction began in 1989, with the prototype, the "MiG 1.44", finally rolled out in early 1994. It performed taxi trials later that year, but the program then bogged down to a halt, to remain in darkness for the next several years. Rumors circulated in the West about the secret "MiG 1.42", along with speculations about its features.

However, work on the MFI was only dormant, not dead, and the type was finally unveiled in January 1999. The designation was announced as the "MiG 1.44", the MiG 1.42 code apparently having been only for the overall development program. The MiG 1.44 looked something like a child of the MiG-29 and the Eurofighter Typhoon. The MiG 1.44 shared the Typhoon's canard layout, an unusual configuration by Russian standards, and the twin underslung engine intakes, but it was clearly not a Eurofighter copy.

MIKOYAN MIG 1.44:
_____________________ _________________ _______________________

spec metric english
_____________________ _________________ _______________________

wingspan 16.4 meters 53 feet 10 inches
length 21.7 meters 71 feet 2 inches
normal loaded weight 28,000 kilograms 61,730 pounds
max speed at altitude 2,500 KPH 1,550 MPH / 1,350 KT
range 4,500 kilometers 1,553 MI / 2,430 NMI
_____________________ _________________ _______________________


The wings were of cropped-delta configuration, with a 45-degree sweep and no LERXs. They had full-span leading edge flaps and big two-section elevons in the rear. The large canards were placed behind the canopy and had a dogtooth leading edge. Unlike the Eurofighter and like the MiG-29, the MiG 1.44 had twin tailfins with a slight outward cant. There were ventral fins under the tailfins.

The MiG 1.44 was made of steel alloy, aluminum-lithium alloy, and composites. Its lines reflected some degree of "stealth" design, and a production version was to be coated with "radar absorbing material (RAM)" to improve stealth. The aircraft was powered by twin Lyul'ka-Saturn AL-41F bypass turbojets with an afterburning thrust of 17,840 kilograms (39,340 pounds) each. The engines gave the MiG 1.44 a "supersonic cruise" capability; some reports indicated that they had thrust-vectoring nozzles as well. The MiG 1.44 had twin-wheel nose gear that retracted backward, while the single-wheel main gear retracted forward.

The demonstrator lacked most combat avionics systems, though it did feature an advanced FBW control system and was fitted with a GSh-301 30-millimeter cannon. In the production version, stores were to be carried in a weapons bay in the center fuselage, though the demonstrator didn't have this feature. Munitions could also be carried on external stores pylons.

* In 2001, the Russian government announced a next-generation fighter effort under the "Future Air Complex for Frontal Air Forces (Perspektivnyi Aviatsionnyi Kompleks Frontovoi Aviatsyi / PAK-FA)" program, specifying an aircraft that could compete with the US F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for service beginning in 2010. A group of Russian industries led by Sukhoi and another group led by MiG and Yakovlev competed for the PAK-FA contract; in late April 2002, the Russian government announced that the Sukhoi group had won the award.

The government specified that MiG and Yakovlev would get workshares in the program, but the loss of the competition was still clearly a blow to MiG. The MiG 1.44 demonstrator has apparently been used for trials of PAK-FA technology.

[/url=http://www.vectorsite.net/avmig29.html]Image
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Post by JaiS »

Sukhoi Forms Alliance For New Fighter

May 28, 2001


Aviation Week & Space Technology

BYLINE: ALEXEY KOMAROV

SECTION: WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS; Vol. 154, No. 22; Pg. 37


AVPK Sukhoi and several Russian aviation research and development companies have signed a strategic partnership agreement on development of a new fifth-generation fighter.

The organizations pledged to pursue a ''common strategy to create a new advanced fighter,'' according to Mikhail Pogosyan, general director of AVPK Sukhoi and the Sukhoi Design Bureau. In practical terms, he said this meant coordinating the participating companies' plans and ''concentrating all their resources -- intellectual, production and financial -- to achieve the common goal.'' The strategic cooperation agreement follows closely in the wake of an industrial consolidation plan announced by the Russian government (AW&ST May 21, p. 46).


IN ADDITION TO AVPK SUKHOI and the Sukhoi Design Bureau, the agreement was signed by practically all of Russia's leading aviation science institutes -- State Research Institute of Aviation Systems (GosNIIAS), Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), Research Institute of Aeroengine Technology and Production (TcIAM), Central Research Institute of Material (VIAM) and National Institute of Aviation Technologies (NIAT). Also involved are Sukhoi's traditional cooperative partners -- engine design bureau Lyulka-Saturn, avionics specialists Ramenskoe Instrument Design Bureau (RPKB), the Aviapribor holding company and the Aviakosmitcheskoe Oborudovanie corporation, as well as weapon companies Vyimpel and Zvezda-Strela. Pogosyan said a number of manufacturing plants were also expected to join the partnership.

This autumn, the Sukhoi Design Bureau and MiG Corp., which is teamed with Yakovlev Design Bureau on the fifth-generation fighter, will present their proposals to the air force. The air force reportedly revised its requirements for the preliminary design in April. Plans call for the first flight of a prototype of the winning design in 2006. Pending authorization of the required funding, production of the new aircraft would start in 2010.

Though details of the requirements for the new project are being closely held, officials from the companies participating in the new strategic partnership cast the new aircraft as a competitor to the U.S. Joint Strike Fighter rather than the F-22 Raptor. Mikhail Simonov, general designer of the Sukhoi Design Bureau, said that the days of specialized fighters are gone and that the new aircraft will feature a multirole capability and be able to operate from an aircraft carrier.

Pogosyan said that Sukhoi's S-37 forward-swept-wing aircraft would not act as a prototype (AW&ST May 29, p. 52). ''This project from the very beginning was considered as an experimental technology demonstrator, not a combat fighter prototype.'' But he confirmed that technologies developed for the S-37 and test results would be used to a ''great extent in the advanced project.''

Viktor Chepkin, the head of Lyulka-Saturn, said his company is in the advanced stages of a merger with Rybinsk Motor company (AW&ST Apr. 30, p. 34). Lyulka-Saturn is known for its AL-31F engines which power Sukhoi's Su-27/-30 family of fighters. Ufa-based UMPO is expected to join the new entity, as well. Chepkin said that will create a powerful integrated company with the primary aim of developing and manufacturing a fifth-generation turbofan for the new project.

''THE AL-41F PROJECT WAS initiated in the mid-1980s, and market requirements have changed dramatically since then,'' Chepkin said. ''We will use AL-41F technology as much as possible in the course of our AL-31F upgrade program for Su-27 derivatives. In the design bureau, extensive modifications of the Su-27 engine bear the designation AL-41F1. ''The AL-41F2 project for the new fifth-generation fighter will be better adapted to modern requirements,'' he said.

Yuri Koptev, head of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (Rosaviakosmos), said development of the new fighter would be funded from a variety of sources, including government, industry and possibly a ''foreign strategic partner.'' Industry experts believe that adequate financing is required if the new fighter project is to be a success, especially given the current situation of limited government funding.
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Post by JaiS »

India Eyes $ 1Bln Fighter Jet Project

The Moscow Times

June 4, 2001

Author: By Simon Saradzhyan


Russia will invite either India or China to invest in the billion-dollar development of a fifth-generation fighter that would compete with the U.S. Joint Strike Fighter co-funded by several countries, officials and industry sources said. Of the defense industry's customers, "only India and China have enough financial resources" to fund the project, which would cost at least $ 1 billion, a source in Russia's arms export network said in a telephone interview Friday. The source, who asked not to be identified, said foreign investment would be "key" if the industry wants to meet the 2006 deadline for development of the fighter.

Yury Koptev, general director of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, or Rosaviakosmos, told the Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye weekly earlier this month that Russia will decide which country to invite for development of the fighter by the end of summer.

Koptev said "this country's air force" relies on Russian-made warplanes and that it has bought licenses to produce Russian systems. He wouldn't say, however, which country it was, but said it would most likely be "one of our strategic partners" that will not become a rival to Moscow.

India and China jointly procure an average of $ 2 billion worth of Russian -made weapons systems every year, including Sukhoi fighter jets. Both countries have bought fighter production licenses from Russia and invested in the development of fourth-generation Su-30 fighter modifications, but so far Moscow has declared a strategic partnership only with New Delhi.

Financing for the fifth-generation fighter will probably be discussed at the pending session of the Russian-Indian military-technical cooperation commission, the source said. The session begins Monday, and an official protocol on future cooperation is expected to be signed by Indian Defense and Foreign Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov.

Singh arrived in Moscow on Sunday, Interfax reported. Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said that Singh had arrived "for talks with his colleagues from the Russian Defense Ministry and primarily to discuss the two countries' cooperation in the military sphere." Russia is more likely to invite India as it enjoys warmer relations with New Delhi than Beijing, even though the latter buys more arms from Moscow, said Konstantin Makienko, deputy head of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.

Plagued by cash limitations, the air force has stated that it is ready to allow Sukhoi to draw foreign investment into the project. "The air force is not against ... internationalization of development" of the next-generation fighter, the air force's procurement chief, Yury Klishin, earlier this year told the Defense Ministry's official mouthpiece, Krasnaya Zvezda.

The Moscow-based Sukhoi design bureau, which the Defense Ministry and Rosaviakosmos selected to lead development of the fifth-generation fighter in December, received an updated list of technical requirements for the aircraft from the air force in April, an official at AVPK Sukhoi said in a recent interview. AVPK Sukhoi comprises the bureau as well as three Sukhoi manufacturers.
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Post by JaiS »

Creation of 5th generation fighter plane will cost Russia $1.5 billion

Interfax News Bulletin

August 02, 2001, Thursday


MOSCOW. Aug 2 (Interfax) The creation of a 5th generation fighter plane in Russia in the next few years will require approximately$ 1.5 billion, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov said.

"The money that it will be possible to allocate for this program from the budget within the next ten years will be much less. The rest of the resources will have to be found. The state and the Sukhoi Design Bureau will have to find them together," he said in an interview published in the Thursday edition of the newspaper Vedomosti.




Specifications for a Russian fifth-generation fighter

Aviation Week & Space Technology

June 25, 2001

SECTION: WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP; PARIS BRIEFS; Vol. 154, No. 26; Pg. 23

Specifications for a Russian fifth-generation fighter are practically completed, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov said at the Paris air show. The Sukhoi Design Bureau, which has the most experience in heavy fighter development, will lead the project, with the ''active involvement'' of the MiG Corp. Klebanov said he saw no need to arrange a tender between Russian design facilities on the next-generation fighter project.
Neshant
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4852
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30

Post by Neshant »

will india end up being just a buyer or will there be any new technological component to the pak-fa that is made by India.

sounds like the russians are on track and don't really need India other than as a buyer.
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Post by JaiS »

JOINT PRODUCTION OF ADVANCED JET MOOTED

The Times of India

June 7, 2001

RAJAT PANDIT


MOSCOW: After the four-generation Sukhoi-30MKI jets, the Russians have now offered India the joint production of a fifth-generation fighter plane to further enhance the operational capabilities of the air forces of the two countries in the coming decades.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, after the conclusion of the first-ever session of the Indo-Russia joint commission on military-technical cooperation on Wednesday, told The Times of India that his country had already started work on the fifth-generation fighter aircraft. We have discussed the project with the Indian side. We are waiting for tactical and technical parameters about the plane from them. Our parameters are ready, he said.
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Post by JaiS »

Sukhoi Wins Battle For Russian Fighter Follow-On

Aviation Week & Space Technology

May 6, 2002

BYLINE: ALEXEY KOMAROV; DOUGLAS BARRIE

SECTION: WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS; Vol. 156, No. 18; Pg. 24


Sukhoi has emerged as the victor in Russia's long-running design-bureau battle to lead development of its air force's so-called fifth-generation fighter effort.

Ilya Klebanov, Russia's industry, science and technology minister, said that on Apr. 26 the government's military-industrial commission made the decision to award Sukhoi the role of lead developer for a fifth-generation fighter to succeed the Su-27 Flanker and MiG-29 Fulcrum. Klebanov added the MiG Corp. and the Yakovlev Design Bureau would participate in the program, known as the Perspektivnyi Aviatsionnyi Kompleks Frontovoi Aviatsyi (Prospective Aviation Complex for Frontal Aviation [PAK FA]).

Despite this, however, the decision is a serious blow for MiG, leaving it without a future fighter program. In the mid-1980s the company had defeated Sukhoi in winning the competition for a twin-engine heavy multi-role tactical fighter, the MFI (Mnogofunktionalniy Frontovoi Istribitel) program, intended to succeed the Flanker. MiG eventually flew the prototype, dubbed the Article 1.44, in April 2000, but the program proved unsustainable.

The timetable for the PAK FA is highly ambitious. A draft design of the aircraft is to be established by the end of 2002, with first flight of a prototype in 2006, with production beginning in 2010.

However, while purportedly not intended as the basis for a frontline fighter, the S-37 appears to have some six internal weapons bays under the fuselage; four across the mid-section of the aircraft, and a further two to the rear of the front-nose wheel door.

The Russian air force has also shown a concept design for a twin-engine aircraft which appears to use the basic S-37 fuselage plan-form, but with a conventional wing, and tail surfaces rather than canards. The design, which includes low-observable elements, also appears to have two-dimensional thrust-vector nozzles.

In funding the program, Russia may look to its client arms-purchasing states as potential launch partners. Klebanov and Yuri Koptev, head of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, have previously suggested funding for the PAK FA fighter would be drawn from a variety of sources, including government, industry and possibly a ''foreign strategic partner.''

THE MOST OBVIOUS CANDIDATE for this is India, which is looking to further develop its own indigenous aerospace industry through strategic linkages with Russia.
Sukhoi is producing the Su-30MKI for India, with this derivative of the Flanker also slated for license production in the latter country.

Last year Sukhoi teamed with several Russian aviation research and development companies to work on a new fifth-generation fighter (AW&ST May 28, 2001, p. 37). Industry support, combined with a comparatively strong funding flow from exports, made Sukhoi's fifth-generation fighter project proposals more attractive to the cash-strapped Russian government. Some sources said the state budget allocated only $ 1.5 billion for new-generation fighter development, obviously not enough to cover such an ambitious program.

Though details of the requirements for the new project are closely held, officials involved attempt to cast the PAK FA as a competitor to the U.S. Joint Strike Fighter rather than the F-22 Raptor. The requirement is believed to call for an aircraft larger than the MiG-29, but smaller than the Su-27. It remains to be determined whether this will be a single- or a twin-engine design.
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Post by JaiS »

RUSSIA SET TO SPEND 1.5BN DOLLARS TO DEVELOP NEW FIGHTER

April 27, 2002



ITAR TASS


Moscow, 27 April: The creation of a fifth-generation fighter will consolidate Russia's aviation industry and tap the positive potential accumulated over the previous years, a spokesman for the Sukhoi aircraft building complex, Yuriy Chervakov, told ITAR-TASS on Saturday 27 April .

The government wants a sketch of the new plane ready by the end of the year. Two other major aircraft design bureaus, MiG and Yakovlev, will participate in the work.

Sukhoi has already invested about 8m dollars in the fifth-generation fighter project, Chervakov said. The corporation's analysts say the development of the plane and manufacturing of four flying models will cost 1.5bn dollars. The domestic market is estimated at least at 500 planes and exports at another 1,000.

To make the programme successful it will be important to draw extra-budgetary financing and make it open to international cooperation.

Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in English 1007 gmt 27 Apr 02
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Post by JaiS »

Sukhoi plans further Su-27 derivative

Flight International

September 6, 2005

Sukhoi is to produce an advanced Su-35 variant of its Su-27 fighter for the Russian air force, amid concerns that the parallel development of Moscow's fifth-generation fighter will be delayed by a shortage of funds.

Preliminary design work on the so-called T-50 is scheduled for completion late next year, but the Russian counterpart to the USA's Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is unlikely to enter service and mass production until 2015, says Sukhoi general designer Mikhail Pogosyan.

The design bureau has already spent about $100 million of its own funds on the project, he says.

The Moscow-based Avionika research and development corporation is currently bench-testing T-50 avionics, including a digital flight-control system.
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Translation credits : Roy FC

Post by JaiS »

Joint Work with India Will not Impact Timetable for Creation of Russian Fighter under the PAK FA Program

Joint work with India on the creation of a fifth generation fighter will not impact the timetable for the creation of the Russian future fighter under the Future Tactical Aviation Aircraft Complex (PAK FA). An informed source in the defense industrial complex expressed such an opinion in an interview with an AviaPort.RU correspondent.

He noted that creation of the fighter under the PAK FA program is on-going based on Russia’s active arms program for the period to 2015.

“The Indian variant of the fighter will be distinguished only by the realization of the required advanced by the India side,â€
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Post by JaiS »

An ambitious Russia-India fighter plane project

21 November 2007

Yury Zaitsev


On November 15, officials of Russia’s Sukhoi Military Aviation Complex and representatives of the Indian Defence Ministry held a round of talks on developing a fifth-generation fighter.

On October 18, President Vladimir Putin told a news conference that Moscow would develop such warplanes by 2015. Earlier, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov had said a prototype fifth-generation fighter would perform its maiden flight in 2009, and that serial production would start in early 2010. But most experts were not so optimistic and predicted that the first warplane in this category would not appear before 2012-2014 — which was more in line with Mr. Putin’s statement.

Russia has so far failed to master production of the purely experimental Su-37, built by Sukhoi at its own expense. But the layout of the aircraft makes it possible to streamline various engineering solutions under the Advanced Tactical Aircraft (PAK FA) programme.

Expensive project

The U.S. and Europe spent over $20 billion on the F-35 JSF programme. Therefore, experts believe Russia should team up with a foreign partner to develop a fifth-generation fighter. It will take $600 million to $800 million to design the engine, the most expensive element, and $1.5 billion to launch serial production.

Russia and India began negotiations on the joint fifth-generation fighter programme in 2003. New Delhi insisted that the new aircraft be developed from scratch. Moscow was not very happy about this because it implied another expensive project. There have been some outstanding achievements, but bilateral military-technical cooperation has been marked by major setbacks and even conflicts. And this explains why it took India so long to get involved in the new fighter programme.

This October, Russia and India agreed to develop jointly the fifth-generation fighter and to manufacture it at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Sukhoi Military Aviation Complex plants.

In addition, the fifth-generation fighter will be fitted with advanced avionics, long-range weapons and other radio-electronic equipment to hit any conceivable target. The Indian electronics industry will provide an invaluable contribution to developing automated electronic counter-measures (ECM) systems, secure data-exchange networks and fire-control systems for long-range tactical missions.
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Post by JaiS »

From last year.

Russia’s air force chief hits out at Sukhoi over spending priorities

DATE:31/01/06

SOURCE:Flight International

Sukhoi is spending too much on developing the Russian Regional Jet (RRJ) instead of backing advanced military programmes, says Russian air force commander Gen Vladimir Mikhailov.

“There are some problems with funding for the fifth-generation fighter, but they to a lesser extent apply to the defence ministry rather than to Sukhoi,â€
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Post by JaiS »

Russia splits next-generation fighter engine contest

DATE:30/08/07
SOURCE:Flight International


Two engine manufacturers are to contest the second phase of the Russian air force's PAK FA next-generation fighter requirement, says the commission established in June to select its propulsion system.

The programme's first phase will require an aircraft to fly by late 2008 or early 2009 with NPO Saturn's Item 117S engine, which also powers Sukhoi's new Su-35-1. A second test phase will start in 2012-13 ahead of the PAK FA production timeframe from 2015-16.

The latter effort will require the creation of technology demonstrators and their comparative testing over a two- or three-year period.

Their proposals are based on the further development of the Item 117S design and a further evolution of Salyut's AL-31FM3 now undergoing bench testing.

The companies will then create full-scale engines adhering to an air force specification that outlines a production design in the 33,000-37,500lb-thrust (145-165kN) class while retaining the weight and dimensions of the current AL-31F series, with swivel nozzle and a life of not less than 4,000 flight hours.
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Article from 2004

Post by JaiS »

Thanks to Roy FC.

An Engine for the PAK FA

The competitive struggle doesn’t always suit the Russian air force

Saturn’s solution

In the summer of 2003, the winner became known in the tender for the development of the engine for the fifth generation fighter - NPO Saturn. Answering a question of which role in the new engine program will be allotted to Salyut and the Ufa Motor Production Association, Yuriy Lastochkin said: “They may take part in the financing of this program and in the role of component suppliers. I think that this is a very high place in the creation of the next generation engine, considering the undoubted superiority of Saturn ahead of all the other developers and manufacturers of aircraft engines of this class in Russia.â€
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Post by JaiS »

Funding of fifth-generation fighter program to be amended - official

Russia Defense Industry Weekly

February 10, 2006



The funding procedures of the fifth- generation fighter development program will be changed, deputy director of the Russian Federal Agency for Industry Stanislav Puginsky told a news conference.

"We will have to switch to funding of the future aircraft program from the state budget, by the Defense Ministry and the Ministry of Industry and Energy to be more exact," Puginsky said during the conference on defense industry problems on Monday.

According to him, the fifth-generation fighter development is not a problem of designers, but the problem of funding.

"The provision made in the program that the aircraft will be developed mostly with the use of money coming from military-technical cooperation most unfortunately turned incorrect, because we clearly see the reduction of aircraft export volumes now," Puginsky said.

He added that no exact deadlines have been set for adopting the decision on state budget support of the new aircraft program.

"I cannot say now when this will happen, but I am sure that we will have an example of the fifth-generation fighter by 2010," he said.

The fifth-generation fighter, or a future tactical aircraft, is being developed by the Sukhoi Aviation Holding Company. The aircraft is intended to replace the fourth-generation MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters.
JaiS
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2190
Joined: 01 Mar 2003 12:31
Location: JPEG-jingostan
Contact:

Post by JaiS »

Russia developing two 5th generation fighters

Russia & CIS Military Newswire

August 18, 2006 Friday


Russia is developing two fifth-generation fighters, Air Force Commander-in-Chief Army General Vladimir Mikhailov said on Friday.

"Development of the fifth-generation fighter is underway, deadlines are met, and all financial issues are settled in full this year. At the same time, we are designing a light fifth-generation fighter," Mikhailov told reporters.

He added that "all the work ( for the LFI project ? ) is underway at facilities of the MIG corporation."

And then one month later, this was stated.


Govt to sponsor only one fifth-generation fighter project - agency

Russia & CIS Military Weekly

September 22, 2006


Only one fifth-generation fighter project will be developed with financial assistance from the Russian government, said Director of the Russian Agency for Industry Boris Aleshin.

"The State Arms Program envisages that funding will be provided for the development of only one project of a fifth-generation tactical aircraft.


It is possible that a light fighter project will be launched subsequently, but without the state party involved," he said.

He added that the development of the new aircraft is vested in the Sukhoi company that should cooperate with many Russian firms within the framework of the project. According to earlier reports, the fifth- generation fighter will enter the class of aircraft with takeoff weight from 25 to 30 tons.

Meanwhile, the Russian MIG Aircraft Corporation is developing an export- oriented light new-generation fighter. Its technological appearance is being formulated, the marketing analysis is under way, as well as talks with potential clients.

According to Valery Bezverkhny, the head of the United Aircraft Building Consortium - a not-for-profit partnership, if an export niche is discovered for the new-generation light mutirole aircraft, the development of such a fighter may well be put on the priority list of the United Aircraft Company, now being established. "The fifth- generation light aircraft project is now being thought over, and has not been recognized viable yet," he said.
Neshant
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4852
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30

Post by Neshant »

Looks like an unimpressive reconfiguration of the old Mig-29. Was it a wise idea to sign up for this project considering how little India gets to participate in its development.

Image
p_saggu
BRFite
Posts: 1058
Joined: 26 Nov 2004 20:03

Post by p_saggu »

Mikoyan LFI
Image

Mikoyan MFI
Note: The LFI was supposed to be single engined, the MFI was twin engined.
Image

Sukhoi T-50
Image

Vityaz 2000
Image
Raj Malhotra
BRFite
Posts: 997
Joined: 26 Jun 2000 11:31

Post by Raj Malhotra »

Having two programmes being light and heavy fighters only make sense if the number of light fighters to be produced are adequate enough to cover the additional programme, R&D and production line cost.

If you look at France, Sweden and even Europe, they are basing their whole airdefence on single airframe.

Additionally lot of work of DPSA and Light single engined aircraft will be taken over by UCAV. As was discussed on BR, DRDO has started an LCA based UCAV programme.


It makes more sense for India to go in for long range and survivable heavy PAKFA which will useful against China also rather than light LFI. Th job of light aircraft should be handled between PAKFA and UCAV.

Having a seperate JSFiski programme will cost India equivalent of say 200-300 PAKFA aircraft cost.
davidn
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 82
Joined: 30 Jan 2001 12:31

Post by davidn »

Let me get this straight... You want India to go for the twin engined PAKFA because it will give us strategic reach and the ability to strike at enemies wherever they may hide anywhere in an enormous radius around the country, and have a long range platform ready for naval adaptation that can intercept enemies anywhere in the sky 1000km away from the carrier battlegroup?

What rubbish... clearly the need of a supposed superpower of the future is a bare minimum deterrent and self defense capability... the ability to destroy any enemy nice enough to hide relatively close to its airbases, and naval opponents who would be courteous enough to strafe a carrier battlegroup with guns as opposed to those nasty long range air launched antiship missiles..

*sarcasm*

I don't understand the logic of these guys. If they really must have a light fighter, why not continue our own well established LCA/MCA development whilst putting funds into Ru's heavy fighter programme which is years ahead of anything India has in that category to make it something of a competitor which is able to stand up to the Raptor and take the fight deep into China. Instead they want to squander the opportunity to capitalise on the work done by the PAKFA team to start virtually a whole new project!!
vvijay
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 11
Joined: 08 Nov 2007 02:00

Post by vvijay »

India's JSFski is basically MCA and not some silly MIG proposal. MCA is necessary because it will not only provide experience and capability to Indian aerospace industry but also make India less dependent on foreign supplies.
p_saggu
BRFite
Posts: 1058
Joined: 26 Nov 2004 20:03

Post by p_saggu »

So if I am not mistaken, the indo russian 5th gen fighter is likely to look like the Sukhoi T-50 ? Any ideas from the gurus?
Sanku
BRF Oldie
Posts: 12526
Joined: 23 Aug 2007 15:57
Location: Naaahhhh

Post by Sanku »

Off the bat; they dont "look" very stealthy; even in the clean configuration. So other than taking the payload in internal bays; any idea how it would do in terms of RCS? Or too early to tell?
Singha
BRF Oldie
Posts: 66601
Joined: 13 Aug 2004 19:42
Location: the grasshopper lies heavy

Post by Singha »

T-50 needs atleast a flat 2D TVC in the rear to improve its rear aspect
stealth which looks very bad in above drawing. the wing looks a straight lift
from the transonic SU27 design not one optimized for higher mach1.5+
speed.

T-50 sure has miles to go.
p_saggu
BRFite
Posts: 1058
Joined: 26 Nov 2004 20:03

Post by p_saggu »

T-50 seems to have a similar shape to the F-22. If the materials are just as radar evasive why should stealth be any less?

T-50
Image
Image

F-22 Raptor
Image
Image
Image

But for TVC, I initially mistook the T-50 drawing for the F-22, they are so similar on the outside. But then again, the 5th gen is supposed to have the AL-41F, with Supercruise and 3DTVC.
Rahul M
Forum Moderator
Posts: 17168
Joined: 17 Aug 2005 21:09
Location: Skies over BRFATA
Contact:

Post by Rahul M »

p_saggu, singha, all of the above are artist's impressions and it is unlikely that any will have a similarity with the final product.

NO official pictures have yet been released as of yet. even the saturn picture is a fake.

so it's too early to speak of the "stealth" aspects of the t-50's backside !! :wink:
Mihir.D
BRFite
Posts: 171
Joined: 19 Oct 2007 08:50
Location: Land Of Zero :D !

Post by Mihir.D »

Rahul M wrote:p_saggu, singha, all of the above are artist's impressions and it is unlikely that any will have a similarity with the final product.

NO official pictures have yet been released as of yet. even the saturn picture is a fake.

so it's too early to speak of the "stealth" aspects of the t-50's backside !! :wink:
Exactly! These images have been there for some time all over the web. Not a single image has come out. I have read on one of the boards that internally in Sukhoi the project has a different designation and even that is a secret.So much so for keeping the project classified.
Shankar
BRFite
Posts: 1905
Joined: 28 Aug 2002 11:31
Location: wai -maharastra

Post by Shankar »

I think T-50 is not the aircraft that will become Russias 5th generation aircraft -it will be most likely the Golden Eagle with its revolutionary forward swept wing and AL-41 engines and maybe plasma stealth technology .Plasma stealth needs lot of power and hence the need for extra powerful engines apart from aerodynamic reasons as detailed below
Summary of news and estimated technical information.
There was a lot of speculation following the publication of several articles in Russian and international press about the S-37 fighter. The first article to appear was the ITAR-TASS report of October 8, 1997, which informed the public about the test flights of the "S-32" fighter with forward-swept wing design piloted by Sukhoi's test pilot Igor Votintsev. he article mentioned

Sukhoi S-37 "Berkut", Russia's 5th generation fighter. New in Sukhoi fighters forward-swept wing design integrated into the tandem triplane configuration. Visible in the tail section of the aircraft are two "stingers". One of them may contain a rearward-looking radar and the other - a break parachute. A rather interesting element: the "stingers" are of different length. At first it might appear that this is a perspective optical illusion, however, after a closer examination the difference in length of the "stingers" is obvious. It is reasonable to conclude that the longer "stinger" contains a spin-recovery parachute. However, the difference in size of the "stingers" can be also explained by a possibility of an aft facing radar.
that the S-32 fighter is designed to use the thrust-vectoring AL-37FU engines, however, during the first test flights was using the more powerful D-30F6 engines from MiG-31, Russia's most advanced high-speed interceptor aircraft.
The next piece of information about the S-32 appeared simultaneously in Russian newspapers Kommersant-Daily and Nezavisimaya Gazeta (October 24, 1997), shortly followed by an Associated Press article. The article in Kommersant-Daily was accompanied by a photo of the S-32 fighter, which was referred to as S-37 "Berkut" (or "Golden Eagle"). The change of name from S-32 to S-37 caused a short-lived confusion whether the "Berkut" is the same S-37 fighter project officially confirmed by Sukhoi in 1991 which later came to a stall due to the lack of funding (its cancellation was never officially confirmed). The original, 1991 S-37 project was a smaller aircraft with a delta wing design and a single AL-41F engine. This apparently was not the case with the 1997 S-37 "Berkut": the new aircraft is significantly larger, it is equipped with two engines, and employs a forward-swept wing design. Thus, the "Berkut", apparently, took the place of the original S-37.
Perhaps one of the most interesting and confusing technical issue about the new Russian fighter is its engines. The Kommersant-Daily mentioned that the combined thrust of S-37's engines is 25 tons, or lb., no make of engine, however, was mentioned. The thrust of lb. is consistent with the two AL-31F engines commonly used on Russian Su-27 fighters. This, however, raised very interesting questions: why the significantly more powerful D-30F6 engines were used during the initial flight tests when there were AL-37FU engines available and why the engine thrust mentioned by the Kommersant-Daily is consistent only with the older AL-31F engines?
The available information suggests that the basic dimensions and weight of the S-37 "Berkut" are similar to those of Su-37 (see table below). While the main advantage of the forward-swept wing design is the improved maneuverability at subsonic speeds and high angles of attack its primary drawbacks are the reduced lift and handling problems at supersonic speeds. A natural way to counter such problems is by using more powerful engines and an advanced thrust-vectoring controls. There is little doubt that the S-37 would require more powerful engines than the AL-31Fs for stable performance. This conclusion is fully supported by the fact that the initial flight tests were conducted with the powerful D-30F6 engines, though there is no knowledge of any thrust-vectoring version of these engines. Considering all these arguments and facts an interesting possibility arises.
The 1991 S-37 project was designed with very powerful AL-41F engines in mind. There is a strong possibility that a thrust-vectoring version of this engine exists. The AL-41F would be able to satisfy the power requirements of the S-37, as well as to explain why MiG-31's D-30F6 engines were used for initial test flights (this was suggested to me by Yevgeniy Chizhikov from rec.aviation.military).


Some of the latest articles about the S-37 Berkut indicate that it is still unclear what engines are being used on this aircraft. As is evident from the latest photos of the S-37 fighter, it has large canards mounted on the intake side, close to the leading edge of the forward-swept wing. It is also apparent that the vertical stabilizers are canted slightly outward, and not inward, as was previously believed. After closer examination of some photos, two large auxiliary intake doors are visible on the center fuselage section. Their purpose is unclear. It previously suggested that the nose section of the S-37 was similar to the one of Su-27 family. However, better photographs showed that it is rather similar to the original S-37 design announced in 1991 and later canceled. It is now clear that the S-37 fighter is intended to be more than just a technology demonstrator, as OKB Sukhoi is pushing this aircraft to become Russia's fifth generation fighter.
source www.geocities.com
Shankar
BRFite
Posts: 1905
Joined: 28 Aug 2002 11:31
Location: wai -maharastra

Post by Shankar »

he Sukhoi Design Bureau of Moscow, Russia has developed the Su-47 (previously called the S-37 Berkut or Golden Eagle) fighter aircraft, which first flew in September 1997. Su-47 is in a forward swept wing configuration and uses a highly unstable triplane (with three main lifting surfaces) aerodynamic configuration. The Su-47 completed the first stage of flight trials in December 2001. In May 2002, Sukhoi was selected as prime contractor for the next-generation Russian PAK FA fighter programme. The PAK FA will be a development of the Su-47 but without the forward swept wings.

The design of the very high manoeuvrability prototype is based on the avionics and aerodynamics technologies developed for the Su-27 upgrade programme. Some of the systems and component designs from the Su-27, (the all weather supersonic fighter aircraft with NATO reporting name Flanker), have been used in the Su-47, for example the design of the canopy, landing gear, some of the avionics and the near-vertical tails.

MANOEUVRABILITY

The Su-47 has extremely high agility at subsonic speeds enabling the aircraft to alter its angle of attack and its flight path very quickly, and it also retains manoeuvrability in supersonic flight.
Shankar
BRFite
Posts: 1905
Joined: 28 Aug 2002 11:31
Location: wai -maharastra

Post by Shankar »

Originally known as the S-37, Sukhoi redesignated its advanced test aircraft as the Su-47 in 2002 reflecting the decision to market the design as a production fighter rather than as an experimental prototype. Also commonly referred to as the Berkut (Golden Eagle), the Su-47 was originally built as Russia's principle testbed for composite materials andsophisticated fly-by-wire control systems.

The aircraft makes use of forward-swept wings allowing superb maneuverability and operation at angles of attack up to 45° or more. The advantages of forward sweep have long been known as such wings offer lower wave drag, reduced bending moments, and delayed stall when compared to more traditional wing shapes.
Unfortunately, forward sweep also induces significant wing twist that would shear most wings off the aircraft. To solve this problem, the Su-47 makes use of composite materials carefully tailored to resist twisting while still allowing the wing to bend for improved aerodynamic behavior. To reduce development costs, the S-37 borrowed the forward fuselage, vertical tails, and landing gear of the Su-27 family.
Nonetheless, the aircraft includes reduced radar signature features (including radar absorbent materials), an internal weapons bay, and space set aside for an advanced radar.

Sukhoi S-37 ad Mikoyan MFI: Russian Fifth-Generation Fighter Demonstrators (Aerofax Series)Though similar in overall concept to the American X-29 research aircraft of the 1980s, the Su-47 is about twice the size and far closer to an actual combat aircraft than the US design.
Su-47 has shown far superior manuvering in the air to any aircraft known to this date.
Like the X-29 though, the Su-47 was primarily a technology demonstrator, one intended to lay the foundation for the next Russian fighter. Such a fighter must not only be as advanced as the US F-22 and Eurofighter Typhoon, but must also compete for funding with the more conventional MiGs.
JCage
BRFite
Posts: 1562
Joined: 09 Oct 2000 11:31

Post by JCage »


I think T-50 is not the aircraft that will become Russias 5th generation aircraft -it will be most likely the Golden Eagle with its revolutionary forward swept wing and AL-41 engines and maybe plasma stealth technology .Plasma stealth needs lot of power and hence the need for extra powerful engines apart from aerodynamic reasons as detailed below
The FSW project is dead. Ask the Russians at airwarfare.ru et al. and other fora which include some Sukhoi hands. The FSW is simply not good enough an aerodynamic platform at certain speeds and the S-37 prototype had stability problems. This is not unique to Russia- the US experimented extensively with FSW and came to the same conclusion. As one US designer said: "FSW is one of those technologies we need to dust off every now and then to figure out it wont work".

Please stick to the latest news as well, otherwise the thread will be a bit cluttered up.

Did you find anything on the MKI/MKK in your books?
Shankar
BRFite
Posts: 1905
Joined: 28 Aug 2002 11:31
Location: wai -maharastra

Post by Shankar »

Recent investigations of aircraft configurations indicates that a significant number of benefits may be achieved by utilizing a forward swept wing (FSW) planform. When an FSW is used in combination with a canard at transonic and low supersonic maneuvering flight, favorable interference is provided over the inboard portion of the wing where the shock is strongest. This leads to higher aerodynamic efficiency than with the use of aft swept wings. In an aft-swept wing configuration the spanwise flow normally thickens the boundary layer at the tips. The flow on an FSW tends to separate first at the inboard section while good flow conditions can be maintained at the tip because of low induced angles of attack of the outer wing sections and because the air tends to flow toward the root rather than to the tip as it does on a sweptback wing. These flow conditions result in stall characteristics which allow the ailerons to remain effective at high angles of attack, even after most of the wing has stalled. Thus the FSW aircraft is more controllable at higher lift coefficients.

Extensive investigation of various aircraft configurations indicates that significant benefits may be achieved by utilizing the forward swept wing configuration. Forward swept wings have some potentially attractive aerodynamic features including a higher geometric sweep at the shock position, `good` stalling characteristics due to the more highly loaded inner wing, and lower wing root bending moments leading to a lighter wing structure than the equivalent aft swept wing.

In an aft-swept wing configuration, spanwise air flow normally thickens the boundary layer at the wingtips. In a forward swept wing configuration, air flow tends to separate first at the inboard section of the wing while good flow conditions are maintained at the wingtips. Thus, higher aerodynamic efficiency is exhibited with forward swept wings than with aft swept wings. Such flow conditions result in stall characteristics which render the ailerons effective at high angles of attack after most of the wing has stalled, making the aircraft controllable at relatively high lift coefficients. Since a forward swept wing tends to stall first on the inboard wing sections rather than on the outboard sections, air flow control over the fuselage must be carefully controlled to insure stability in low speed flight, at high angles of attack, and at high subsonic speeds.

They do have some disadvantages, not the least of which is the aerodynamic design of the inner wing region. The outer wing design is fairly straight forward and it is not difficult to maintain well swept isobars. Over the inner wing, however, there is a tendency for a very strong, unswept shock to form at high subsonic Mach numbers and at high lift coefficients.

Aeroelastic divergence occurs when a forward swept wing bends upwardly due to high angles of attack or gust loads. Because of the forward sweep geometry of the wing, the resultant torsional deflection increases the angle of attack of the wing. The increase in angle of attack of the wing increases aerodynamic load still further causing yet additional increases in the angle of attack. This self-propagating "divergence" can lead to structural damage or failure of the wing. Forward swept wings of metal are limited in their use due to the static stability phenomenon of divergence at high speed flight conditions. Making the wing out of composite materials offers relief from this phenomenon.
JCage
BRFite
Posts: 1562
Joined: 09 Oct 2000 11:31

Post by JCage »

Please provide a source when you quote one.

While your statements above may indeed be good in theory, its a fact of life that the S-37 has had issues with certain flight regimes and is hence relegated to test flying.

And irrespective of personal belief, there is no indication or report from the Russian or Indian side that the S-37 will be anything more than a technology demonstrator and a testbed for the PAK-FA program.

In fact, the requirements of high speed supercruise and supersonic manoeuverability suggest that the PAK-FA should adopt a similar planform moreorless as the Raptor, albeit with some changes. Forward canards, as on the EF are also very unlikely on account of their contribution to RCS.

All in all, the PAK-FA is likely to have a classical layout w/o canards and FSW.
Last edited by JCage on 27 Nov 2007 01:00, edited 1 time in total.
Shankar
BRFite
Posts: 1905
Joined: 28 Aug 2002 11:31
Location: wai -maharastra

Post by Shankar »

SU-30 MKK
The Su 30 MKI started a new trend in Russian aero space industry. Creating new versions to meet the specific need of customers .The next spin off was developed for PLAAF and hence the designation Su 30 MKK. The Su-30 MKK differs from Indian version both structurally and in equipment, incorporating some of the features of Su-35.It lacks the canard and TVC features of Su 30 MKI being powered by standard AL 31Fs .On the other hand it has a tall thick square tipped CFRP fins of the Su 35 incorporating fuel tanks.

The Su 30 MKK prototype was created from the very first Su 30- T 10 PU 05 blue in early 1999 and its maiden flight was on 9th March. It was decided to build the Su 30 MKK at KnAAPO which until then has produced only single seat fighters aprt from initial production of Su 27UBs .

Coded 501 blue first pre production aircraft was flown first on 19/5/99.The second preproduction aircraft 502 blue in mid summer. The first batch of 10 Su 30 MKK was
Reportedly delivered in late 2000.Interestingly PLAAF also took delivery of 4 nos Su 27 UB built by IAPO. Chinese production of the flanker switched to Su-30 MKK after 80 aircraft. However china reportedly ordered 45 KnAAPO built Su 30 MKK and placed a supplementary order 24 more likely 40 aircraft in June 2001.The first batch of 10 Su-30MKK was delivered to China on Dec 2001.Nine more followed in March/April 2001 followed by 10 more on August.

501 blue was seen flying with standard weapon fits as follows – 2x Kh 31 ARM +2X Kh 59M AGM + 2X R-73 +2X R-77
Source -Sukhoi 27 Flanker By Yefim Gordon and Peter Davison
Translated Dimitriy komissarov
Locked