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PAK FA
Sukhoi T-50 during a test flight Role
Stealth multirole fighter National origin
Russia Manufacturer
Sukhoi First flight 29 January 2010
[1][2][3] Introduction 2015 (planned)
[4][5][6] Status Test flight / pre-production Primary user
Russian Air Force Number built 4 (2 flown)
[7] Program cost
US$8–10 billion (est.)
[8][9][10] Unit cost US$100 million (est.)
[11] Variants
Sukhoi/HAL FGFA The
Sukhoi PAK FA (
Russian: Перспективный авиационный комплекс фронтовой авиации,
Perspektivny aviatsionny kompleks frontovoy aviatsii, literally "Prospective Airborne Complex of Frontline Aviation") is a
twin-engine jet fighter being developed by
Sukhoi OKB for the
Russian Air Force.
The current
prototype is Sukhoi's
T-50.
[12] The PAK FA, when fully developed, is intended to be the successor to the
MiG-29 and
Su-27 in the Russian inventory and serve as the basis of the
Sukhoi/HAL FGFA being developed with
India.
[13][14] A
fifth generation jet fighter, the T-50 performed its first flight 29 January 2010.
[3][15] Its second flight was on 6 February and its third on 12 February 2010. As of 31 August 2010, it had made 17 flights and by mid-November, 40 in total. The second prototype was to start its flight test by the end of 2010, but this was delayed until March 2011.
[16][17][18][19][20]
Sukhoi director Mikhail Pogosyan has projected a market for 1,000 aircraft over the next four decades, which will be produced in a joint venture with India, 200 each for Russia and India and 600 for other countries.
[21] He has also said that the Indian contribution would be in the form of joint work under the current agreement rather than as a joint venture.
[22] The Indian Air Force will "acquire 50 single-seater fighters of the Russian version" before the two seat FGFA is developed.
[23] The Russian Defense Ministry will purchase the first 10 aircraft after 2012 and then 60 after 2016.
[24][25] The first batch of fighters will be delivered with current technology engines.
[26] Ruslan Pukhov, director of the
Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, has projected that Vietnam will be the second export customer for the fighter.
[27] The PAK-FA is expected to have a service life of about 30–35 years.
Development
Radar with
APAA for the PAK FA is provided by
NIIP.
MAKS-2009
APAA in
slat.
MAKS-2009
In the late 1980s, the
Soviet Union outlined a need for a next-generation aircraft to replace its MiG-29 and Su-27 in
frontline 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.
[28]
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 (
Nizhniy 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 has been determined the lead executor for work on the engines for this airplane.
The
Novosibirsk Chkalov Aviation Production Association (NAPO Chkalov) 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 will take place at Komsomol'sk-on-Amur, and we will be carrying out assembly of the fore body of this airplane", Zhdanov specified.
On 8 August 2007, Russian Air Force Commander
Alexander Zelin was quoted by Russian news agencies that the development stage of the PAK FA program is now complete and construction of the first aircraft for
flight testing will now begin.
[29] Alexander Zelin also said that by 2009 there will be three fifth-generation aircraft ready. "All of them are currently undergoing tests and are more or less ready", he said.
[30] In the summer of 2009 the design was approved.
[28]
On 11 September 2010, it was reported that Indian and Russian negotiators had agreed on a preliminary design contract that would then be subject to Cabinet approval. The joint development deal would have each country invest $6 billion and take 8 to 10 years to develop the
FGFA fighter.
[31] The agreement on the pre-design of the fighter was to be signed in December 2010.
[32] The preliminary design will cost $295 million and will be complete within 18 months.
[33]
Flight testing
Optical detection pod for the Sukhoi PAK FA at
MAKS-2009
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.
[34] On 20 August 2009, Sukhoi General Director Mikhail Pogosyan said that the first flight would be by year 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 5 to 10 years for commercial production.
[35]
PAK FA T-50 prototype on the day of its first flight
The maiden flight had been repeatedly postponed since early 2007 as the T-50 encountered unspecified technical problems. Air Force chief Alexander Zelin admitted as recently as August 2009 that problems with the engine and in technical research remained unsolved.
[36]
On 8 December 2009, Deputy Prime Minister
Sergei Ivanov announced that the first trials with the fifth-generation aircraft would begin in 2010.
[37] The testing, however, has commenced earlier than stated, with the first successful taxiing test taking place on 24 December 2009.
[38][39][40]
The aircraft's maiden flight took place on 29 January 2010 at
KnAAPO's
Komsomolsk-on-Amur Dzemgi Airport; the aircraft was piloted by Sergey Bogdan (Сергей Богдан) and the flight lasted for 47 minutes.
[3][41][42] [43]
A second airframe was first planned to join the flight testing in the fourth quarter of 2010 but was postponed. On 3 March 2011 a second prototype was reported to have made a successful 44 minutes test flight.
[16] These first two aircraft will lack radar and weapon control systems, while the third and fourth aircraft, to be added in 2011, will be fully functional test aircraft.
[44]
On 14 March 2011, the aircraft achieved supersonic flight at a test range near
Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Siberia.
[45]
The T-50 is expected to be on display at the 2011
MAKS Airshow.
[46]
In June 2011, an unauthorized video was made of the Sukhoi PAK FA in flight displaying a variety of acrobatic moves.
[47]
Naval version
Navalized Sukhoi T-50 PAK FAs will be deployed on the
Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov and
future Russian aircraft carriers.
[48] There will be a competition between the Sukhoi,
Mikoyan and
Yakovlev design bureaus to choose the new naval aircraf
