RSK MiG 5th Generation fighter- Huge

Confidence in the Future

RSK MiG is continuing work on a fifth generation fighter

[EXTRACT of a wide-ranging interview with Vladimir Barkovskiy, director of Mikoyan OKB Engineering Center. Opens with recent sales of MiG-29 to Sudan and Yemen and its potential for continued sales. All snipped.]

– What, in your view, the basic directions of development of the MiG brand of airplanes today?

– I would single out three. First – this is the upgrade of our successful projects and, most of all, the MiG-29 fighter. We are not only delivering the basic airplanes today, but also the upgrades. The first upgraded MiG-29 have been shipped to a foreign customer. These are two trainers [SPARKI] for training pilots, but not on the SMT version. The single-seat MiG-29SMT are in the final stage of assembly, equipped with a full complex of weapons and targeting and navigational systems. I think, by year’s end we will start series shipments of the single-place airplanes of this type, in which connection to two countries at once. At the same time – and we have not made much noise about this – we have received certification, a preliminary conclusion about the upgraded MiG-29 airplane in our air force.

Right now production is unfolding of an advanced version of the MiG-29 – this is the MiG-29K. There also exists in parallel a land-based version which is maximally unified with the maritime (the degree of unification is more than 90 percent), and, on the whole one can say, that this generation is of a higher level than the MiG-29SMT. These airplanes possess a large fuel reserve in internal tanks, a digital fly-by-wire control system, new cockpit instrumentation and new capabilities in maneuverability. Moreover, we have a version of the airplane with vectored thrust based on the MiG-29M fighter. Today the Mikoyan OKB is at a very advanced stage of this airplane’s tests. Flights began as early as before the last MAKS. But we did not show this airplane in flight at the air salon. After completion of the first stage of tests, airplane systems were modified and today its flight tests are continuing actively.

In fact the MiG-29OVT – this is the first MiG-29M aircraft which is equipped with deflected thrust vectoring (the developer is the Klimov plant) which allows controlling the aircraft in all axes. We also will be able to offer versions with such engines in several years at a foreign customer’s request for airplanes of the advanced MiG-29 versions. For the first time in Russian, and perhaps in the world, the control system for deflecting the nozzles of the engines is digital.

The MiG-AT is a new theme for the MiG corporations. This aircraft is the quintessence of new technologies. Forty percent of this airplane’s surfaces are composed of composite materials. Not one other domestic jet airplane has such a feature.

The third direction on which the MiG corporation is working is the creation of a new generation fighter. It should not only preserve to a significant degree for the corporation the market which the MiG-29 has won today, but also essentially expand it.

– Is this an initiative development of the Mikoyan OKB?

– No. It was not an initiative at first. But afterwards, because of decreased funding of this project on the part of the state budget, the MiG corporation took it onto itself in order to assure continuity in the development of its product line and to preserve the positions in the market in that way.

– At what stage is this project?

– At the draft stage.

– And how will it look technologically? Will the air force be attracted? The Sukhoy Aviation Holding Company has it kind of clear – there is an established program, as the financing goes. But what about you?

– Here it is very important to be accurate and correct in the wording. Our project is not an alternative to that development with which the other developer is involved. We have never tried to contest the air force positions on this question. Our state has huge continental expanses, and it is necessary to assure the coverage of its air space. As of today, the MiG-31 and Su-27, which have a takeoff of more than 30-40 tonnes mainly accomplish this mission.

But there are combat missions, including too for the Russian air force, which from the point of view of finances and the limitations of the defense budget are more suitable for accomplishing by other airplanes. The more “budgetary,” which have, what is very important, also the best prospects in the marketplace. And if we don’t want to lose this market, and today, I repeat, 52 countries have MiG brand fighters and 30 states – the MiG-29, then we must think about the future, understanding at the same time in which direction the combat aircraft marketplace will develop. We see that the European Eurofighter in weights and dimensions and combat capabilities are very close to the MiG-29.

[Comparisons of MiG-29 with non-Russian fighters snipped.]

– Right now your future fighter is at the draft stage. How will future stages and periods look in getting to a prototype?

– We are planning to prepare this aircraft for that moment when the market of the MiG-29 airplane and its heavily upgraded versions decreases. It is a question of 2012 – 2015, when we place to market this airplane.

– This aircraft is a great attraction for collaborators. The question is fully appropriate: with which engine will it be equipped? The AL-41 is intended for the future Sukhoy Aviation Holding Company fighter. What will your engine be?

– [Information about relationships and not about engine snipped.] Thus, there are no principle problems either from the point of view of organizational control or from the point of view of organization of the development and production of a future engine.

– Will it have supersonic cruise?

– If there are not two – three qualities on the fifth generation airplane, such as stealth [NEZAMETNOST’], advanced cruising capabilities in speed, and capabilities in maneuvering and basing, then this is a generation 4+, 4++ airplane.

– With the Klimov plant come forward as the engine developer? And will it be a principally new engine? Again, what will the stages of its creation look like?

– We are working with the Klimov plant. It is the developer of all our engines. On the developmental level, this OKB today is one of the most advanced in Russia.

Per se, the Klimov plant is a leader in the Russian aviation industry for the creation of the majority of the basic elements of the next generation engine.

– That is the development of the engine for the future fighter will be realized by the Klimov plant. And will Fazotron-NIIR make the active phased array antenna array radar, as I understand it?

– I would answer like this. We are open for cooperation. Undoubtedly, RSK MiG is working today on a parity basis with all collaborators on the creation of an example of next generation equipment. But no one as of today has yet created a second effective mechanism for moving ahead, as competition is. .

– You will make the airframe, and the cockpit, you are resolving the low-observability problem: But the main thing on a new fighter is the engine and radar. How nonetheless will you resolve this question? The most “delicate” moment is the engine. What stage of development is it in? Billions are needed here. And using what funds? Export alone doesn’t give such revenue. Or is an intermediate variant possible, with a transitional engine?

[Discussion of funding and cost-effectiveness snipped.]

– Will it be a one or two-engine airplane?

– Two-engine.

– How will the airplane look weight-wise?

– The aircraft is a MiG-29 class.

– Will weapons carriage be inside the fuselage?

– Stealth has to be realized.

– Are you planning such an airframe assembling that it would approximate a JSF? Will this be a complex solution?

– Stealth has to be realized fully. It is impossible to correct anything fundamentally with “cosmetics,” it is only one of the elements. We have a complex approach to the solution of the stealth question.

– But is it possible to say anything about the external appearance of the future RSK MiG airplane?

– This is a premature question. Until the airplane is presented for flight tests, much data about it is classified [ZAKRYTYY] in nature.

– But at what stage will the “picture” cease being secret?

– This will depend on the paces of the realization of the program and the marketing of this product. Every thing has to be considered. [What other countries do snipped.]

– Will the future RSK MiG airplane be an international project?

– Today it is a Russian project.

– And what about the 1.44 project? Is this a dead-end path as of today? Or have some kind of political considerations come into play here?

– Today RSK MiG is at the stage of executing some huge contracts. All revolving funds a directed, essentially, at their fulfillment. Work on the 1.44 is underway for the purpose of the possible use of this aircraft as a flying laboratory, but in that capacity as funds will allow us.

[Discussion of OKB experience snipped.]

Vladimir Ivanovich Barkovskiy was born 28 April 1956 in Moscow. In 1979, he graduated from the S. Ordzhonikidze Moscow Aviation Institute. From 1979 through 1981 he served in the armed forces. From 1981 through 1992, he worked in the P.O. Sukhoy OKB where he managed a projects’ team in which the Su-27, Su-30, Su-33, Su-35, Su-37, S-37, S-80 and others were developed. In 1997-199 – manager of the scientific research and experimental design work directorate at AVPK Sukhoy. In 1998-1999, – deputy director of the scientific research and experimental research programs at the Irkutsk Aviation Production Association. He has worked at RSK MIG since 1999. At the present time – deputy general director – general designer and Engineering Center director of the A.I. Mikoyan OKB. Candidate of Engineering Sciences.

Source: 06.09.04, Voenno-Promyshlennyy Kur’er

Wow, that was a great article. So there we have it, MiG is developing a “5th generation” stealth fighter, with two-engines, in the MiG-29 weight class, but not as a competitor to Sukhoi’s PAK FA.