Remember when the Su-47 was revealed? There was all sorts of noise about it, whether it can best the Raptor and so forth. But as we all know, the Su-47 as well as it’s other, the Mikoyan Project 1.44/1.42 never made it into service. And now that the PAK FA is reportedly only a year a way from its rollout (assuming it hasn’t been canceled as some certain people here will tell you 😀 ), it will presumably take the place in the RuAF originally intended for one of these two jets.
The Su-47 made quite a few airshow flights, but the 1.44 only made one or two flights if I recall. The specs of these two jets as they would seem quite impressive; good thrust numbers, supposedly high turn rates, thrust vectoring, and what have you. At any rate, the Su-47 were often touted as the Raptor’s equal and such, leading to a fair bit of fanboy arguing and baiting.
So, in hindsight, I’m looking for your opinions about these two what-ifs and how they would have fared had they gone into active service. In that alternate universe where the post-soviet Russia still had the money to spare for these jets. The prototypes of course were just demonstrators (the 1.44 didn’t even have a radar) but if they had gone into service as production aircraft, how would they stack up compared to other jets of their generation, i.e. the F-22, Typhoon, and I guess the Su-35 variants? Could they have been the “Raptor killer”?
Furthermore, does anyone know what changes their designs would have undergone had they gone into service? (much like how the YF-22 became the F-22A?)
Is the Su-47’s forward swept wing arrangement all that advantageous compared to other designs? And was the Su-47 intended to have thrust vectoring? A few sites say so. (Cant remember the link, sorry)
Ever the dreamer,
LoofahBoy
Sign In
April 14, 2008 at 3:50 am