2016 - PAK FA Program
By June 2016 United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) was preparing a preliminary report on the production of the initial batch of the latest fifth-generation fighter T-50 for supply to the air and space forces of Russia. According to "Izvestia" 20 June 2016, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, the eighth aircraft in the series would soon "rise into the air", almost fully meeting the requirements of the military's combat capabilities of the fifth-generation fighter. Unlike previous aircraft, the eighth unit was equipped with equipment and systems prescribed in the specifications to create the prospective tactical aviation complex. "Izvestia" a source said "It is with the advent of the fighters can say that the T-50 as a combat unit is ready for mass production."
According to the source, there were four T-50 in the shops of Komsomolsk-on-Amur aviation plant (KnAAZ) in various stages of readiness. The machine number 9 was to join the flight test complex in September 2016. The next two, 10th and 11th, were in assembly. Eventually, both would enter the stage of flight tests. In the fall of 2016 the Ministry of Defense would sign a contract with for the supply of the installation of fighter equipment.
Deliveries of machines, according to the commander of VKS [Aerospace Forces] Viktor Bondarev, was due to begin in 2017. The first unit would no less than 12 aircraft, that is, one squadron, according to the head of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), Ruslan Pukhov. The number does not include fighter jets in the test phase now taking place. That is, in 2017 there will be built and delivered a completely new, meet the requirements of technical specifications fighting machines, who will pass the stage of military trials, after which it will be possible to talk about the expansion of purchases.
The T-50 will be a massive fighter, and some think it is not worth the cost. The PAK FA is positioned as the main rival to the US F-22 Raptor. The cost of the program creating a Raptor was estimated at $74 billion, and the per aircraft cost was US $ 146 million. The US bought 187 of these aircraft, and then shut down the program. The T-50 program and its development is much cheaper, but the Deputy Minister of Defence for Armaments Yuri Borisov has said that the military may buy a smaller number of fifth generation fighter aircraft than planned in the state program of armaments to 2020. The military contract is for 12 aircraft, and after their commissioning the military will determine how many aircraft of this type it will be able to afford.
Everything new is very expensive, and it is necessary to understand that the first machines will be very far from the final desing. The process of fine-tuning the aircraft even after adopting take years. Suffice it to recall that between the prototype of the Su-27 - the T-10, appeared in 1977 - and the final product, there have been so many changes in design and on-board fighter equipment that only the last modification - Su-35S, adopting in 2014 - might be considered final. A similar fate seems to be waiting and T-50.
Although, if only because of the fifth-generation engines, known today as the "Type 30", or the engines of the second stage, in the development stage. The series T-50 will go into service with the 117C motors, the same, which are on the Su-35. Though they provide the necessary total thrust sufficient to achieve supersonic cruising speed, they do not meet the requirements of the fifth generation of the thrust to weight ratio, as well as fuel consumption. The technical complexity of the debugging engine will requires a very long time of bench and flight tests, which will affect the overall timing of the development of the T-50. According to various estimates, the power plants of the second stage of the Russian fighters T-50 will be received only the years 2025-2027. Actually, only then can it be said that the T-50 became a true fifth-generation aircraft.
Ruslan Pukhov, the head of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), suggested "I think that today it is necessary to get ahead of the curve, not only by developing the T-50 as part of FGFA program (export name of the PAK FA - Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft) with our strategic partner in the field of military-technical cooperation - India, but also offering its Algeria and Vietnam ... Both countries are independent of the military-technical policy, and have their own funds to buy modern weapons. Through an alliance with them, you can "cheapen" the creation of the T-50, making it a massive fighter."
Russia will start serial production and deliveries of the Sukhoi T-50 (PAK FA) fifth-generation fighter aircraft to the country's Aerospace Forces in 2018, Sukhoi aircraft manufacturer said 04 July 2016, citing Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov. "Speaking about the PAK FA program, the deputy defense minister said that serial production of T-50 fifth-generation aircraft is scheduled to start in 2018," the company said in a statement.
Russia planned to begin serial production of the fifth generation fighter T-50 (PAK FA project), with new engines in 2018. "When new engines emerge, which will be about 2018, we will then proceed to full-scale generation production," a source said 02 Sptember 2016. Earlier the United Engine Corporation representatives stated that the first prototypes of the standard "second stage" PAK FA engine would be produced by 2017, and that the testing was scheduled for 2018. Currently, prototypes of the PAK FA were flying with the "first stage" engine "Article 117", which had already been put into production. The "second stage" engine will have a much higher fuel efficiency and specific thrust than the "product 117" has, and its structural and technological performance and the level of achieved parameters will fully meet the world standards for the fifth generation engine.
By Septemer 2016 India and Russia were ready with a detailed work-share agreement for joint production of a fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA). Russia would share critical new generation aircraft technologies as part of a deal that would include production of over 100 fighters in India, with India committing to invest $4 billion over the coming years to develop a tailor-made version of the fighter.
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