New 5th Gen MiG?

Anyone have any updates on this? I found this very interesting article and saw the attached pictures in paralay.narod.ru of a model called the M-ATF…looks a lot like the Mig-I-2000/Vityaz 2000/Shafaq. Could this be the future MiG?

—–JT—–

Asian Aerospace 2006

Aircraft giants fight over a piece of the Indian pie

By Prasun K. Sengupta
March (2006)

Feature / Report

Tenuous Ties

Turbulent Border

Threat from the East

From an Indian standpoint, the 13th edition of the Asian Aerospace (AA-2006) exhibition, held in Singapore between February 21 and 26 this year, provided some critical insights into the fierce on-going competition between Boeing, Dassault Aviation, BAE Systems and RAC-MiG to supply close to 200 medium multi-role combat aircraft (M-MRCA) to the Indian Air Force (IAF). The exhibition also provided a rare glimpse into the various guided-missile R&D joint ventures that were recently launched between India and Israel.

With Dassault Aviation’s Rafale Mk1 and BAE Systems’ Eurofighter Typhoon now entering the fray along with the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Saab’s JAS-39C Gripen for the IAF’s M-MRCA competition (FORCE February 2006, pages 52-53), Russia’s RAC- MiG has quietly dropped its offer of the so-called MiG-35 derivative of the MiG-29M. Instead, the company is now offering its I-2000 fifth-generation M-MRCA, for which RAC-MiG did significant R & D work throughout the 1990s under its privately-funded Logkiy Frontovi Istrebilte project. In fact, a highly classified briefing on two distinct variants of the I-2000 was given to defence minister Pranab Mukherjee in Moscow last November (FORCE November 2005, pages 8-9) following which he reportedly told Russian officials rather bluntly that the ministry of defence (MoD) would be more inclined towards co-developing the I-2000 with Russia rather than go for the MiG-35. The I-2000 will have a blended fuselage and thick wing centre-section. To be equipped with fly-by-light flight control systems, an all-digital nav-attack system containing French, Indian and Israeli avionics, and powered by NPO Saturn’s twin AL-41FP turbofans with thrust vectoring exhaust nozzles, the tandem-seat I-2000 will be capable of supercruise (sustaining supersonic speeds without engaging the engine’s afterburners) as well as super-manoeuvrability. More than 50 per cent of the I-2000’s airframe will be built with composite materials, and the aircraft will have a gross take-off weight of 15 tonnes, and a weapons payload of five tonnes. Both Rosoboronexport State Corp and RAC- MiG have assured the MoD that first deliveries of the I-2000 would begin within 48 months of contract signature. RAC- MiG and India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) would jointly build up to four flying prototypes and two pre-production flight-worthy variants for the I-2000’s accelerated flight-test-cum-airworthiness certification schedule, which will be completed by 2010.