PAK-FA, T-50: News #3

mack8 wrote:Some very interesting recent information about T-50 status from an insider. Waiting in anticipation for the new prototypes, supposed to be no less that 3 new plus the reworked T-50-5R apparently flying this year.
http://forums.airforce.ru/matchast/4618-t-50-a-2/

Now, i've run all that through a translator but obviously it's less than clear in some places, so can anyone make a brief resume of what it's said in the last post, especially the bit about stabilizers and "sunglasses"? Thanks.

Kyo wrote:http://forums.airforce.ru/matchast/4618-t-50-a-2/

Stealthflanker wrote:Will PAKFA be much lighter compared to Su-27 in terms of empty weight ?

The Empty weight of Su-27 is around 15 ton. PAKFA is said to make extensive use of composite and weight saving method to make it lighter. But i wonder by how much.

Is 14 ton looks reasonable ? (Thus making it equivalent to F-22's 14.2 ton)

"Technical project of the second stage engine for the PAK FA is completed, and currently is being developed design documentation for the production of prototypes of the second stage engine" said Masalov (General Director of " United Engine Building Corporation), noting that the work on the engine are carried out in full accordance with the schedule defined by the state contract.

Masalov said that the first engine of the second stage - a demonstrator, will be produced in 2015. Earlier Masalov already said to the press that the first flight of the T-50 with the new engines will be held in 2017.

http://lenta.ru/news/2015/02/18/izdelie_30/

GarryB wrote:Air doesn't deflect or dissipate radar waves... early stealth paint had small iron balls suspended within it for the same purpose... in practical terms I rather doubt its effectiveness.

Stealthflanker wrote:Will PAKFA be much lighter compared to Su-27 in terms of empty weight ?

The Empty weight of Su-27 is around 15 ton. PAKFA is said to make extensive use of composite and weight saving method to make it lighter. But i wonder by how much.

Is 14 ton looks reasonable ? (Thus making it equivalent to F-22's 14.2 ton)

GarryB wrote:selecting its target itself based on a 3D IR database of aircraft shapes... why not put that seeker and guidance system on a long range missile that is looking all the way to the target for targets... when it spots some it picks the most valuable target and homes in on it...

AlfaT8 wrote:Been meaning to ask this, but i keep forgetting, what radar will export PAK-FAs use and what will FGFA use, i am thinking Irbis, but i dont know if it'll fit.

sepheronx wrote:N036 is technically an AESA variant of Irbis-e (that being a hybrid in itself).  With news that Rostec with their subsiduary KRET will be releasing photon based AESA radar tech by 2020, they could effectively sell the N036 to India at no worries, as by the time FGFA and PAK FA are released in numbers, the AESA tech using Photons will be in testing/service mode and can be used on PAK FA, while FGFA will be N036 itself (maybe a modification of it).

The Sukhoi PAK FA fighter jet, also known as T-50, is ready to go into production next year, and boasts innovative technology which renders the pilot one part of the plane's whole control system.

"The PAK FA is already to some degree a flying robot, where the aviator fulfils the function not only of pilot, but is actually one of the constituent parts of the flying apparatus," explained deputy head of the Concern Radioelectronic Technologies [KRET] unit of Rostech, Vladimir Mikheyev. "That is, the reaction of the aviator is a part of the control loop."

Mikheyev explains that "smart paneling" is another of the jet's smart features. "If we take the wingtip, from one perspective it functions as a wing, but from another it's also a part of the Himalaya active defense system."

In October KRET stated it had delivered the first batch of Himalayas for the aircraft, which were developed by a KRET subsidiary in Kaluga and constructed at the Stavropol Radioplant Signal.

"The unique system of active and passive radars and optical rangefinders is integrated into the aircraft body and acts as a 'smart skin'. Its use not only enhances the aircraft’s protection against jamming and its survivability, but also counters, to a great extent, the effects of low-observability [stealth] technology of enemy aircraft," explained KRET.

In January KRET lifted the lid on a number of the T-50's stealth capabilities, announcing that "the aircraft company Sukhoi managed to greatly reduce the effective surface scattering of the PAK FA, which is the basic element for visibility on aircraft radars."

"In order to achieve this level of stealth, designers moved all weapons to the inside of the plane and also changed the shape of the air intake channel, also lining its walls with a material that absorbs radio waves."

"Thanks to these new design solutions, the T-50 is now ahead of not only all other fighters of the Russian Army, but also foreign models. For example, the visibility of the American fifth-generation F-22 fighter is 0.3-0.4 square meters," said KRET, while the value of this indicator for the T-50 fighter is between 0.1 and 1 square meters.

"The T-50 is the first Russian combat aircraft made from a high proportion of composite materials, making up 25% of the mass of the aircraft and covering 70% of its surface," explained KRET.

The T-50 is set to replace the Sukhoi Su-27 fourth generation fighter jet, known also by its NATO name Flanker B, which entered service with the Soviet Air Forces in 1985, and the Mig-29, known by NATO as Fulcrum which entered service in 1983.

Work on the conception of fifth generation fighter jets began in the late 1980s in the USA and USSR; though there is no universally agreed set of features for the title of fifth-generation fighter jet, many hold that the only combat-ready fifth-generation fighter is the US Air Force's Lockheed F-22 Raptor, introduced in 2005.

In December Russia's United Aircraft Corporation announced that production of the fighter is ready to begin in 2016, following the completion of the testing phase. According to spokesman Vladislav Goncharenko, 55 PAK FA jets will be delivered to the Russian Air Force by 2020.

Austin wrote:New Robotic Russian T-50 Fighter Jet Fit for Star Wars
Russia's new fifth-generation T-50 fighter jet, currently in the testing phase, incorporates elements of automation which make it more like a robot than a fighter plane, explains a representative from the Rostech corporation.