Sure it was, they designed a whole one-off aircraft just to test engines and flight control systems :rolleyes:
Do you really believe that? It was an embarressing turkey of an aicraft that achieved nothing.

Ever heard of the BAe EAP? Similar concept. Yes the MFI program achieved very little, but there is no evidence to suggest that the production representative 1.42 wouldn’t have been a quality aircraft. The F-22 isn’t a carbon copy of the YF-22 either, did you ever realize that?

If I recall, the 1.42 flew only 2 sorties for a grand total flying time of around 45 minutes.:rolleyes: Hardly enough time to derive any useful technical data I should think. So yeah, maybe the plane is no turkey but the research project certainly was. The thing is, The Soviet Union and the RF have a track record of spending what must be vast amounts of money on aviation projects that just don’t come to any sort of fruition… M-50 BOUNDER, t-4 Sotka, Tu-144 Concordski, N-1 Lunar booster, Buran… The list is endless.
Maybe that’s why some people are sceptical about PAK-FA?

Are the progress engines in line with noise regulations ? Just a specultation, since the counter rotating engines of the Bear are quite loud.

I recall reading a few years back that one reason the Russian air force weren’t very interested in the An-70 due to the fact that it’s too noisy to carry out commercial freight flights from civilian airports, the RuAF like to lease out their Il-76s and An-124s for such flights as a money earner.
I believe the A-400M would also have the same problem.

Nah!! Progress is the Ukrainian engine manufacturer that makes the D-27 propfan powering the An-70.

It (and the engine) have been flying for 14+ years.

Ken

It’s also done a lot of crashing… all of them:(

It’s well known that many in the Russian AF are not too keen on the Su-35 – for every Su-35 delivered in 2015, it means that there will be one less PAK-FA delivered in 2020… Su -35 is seen as a huge distraction of skilled personnel, plant and money from the more important goal of getting PAK-FA into service.
What was wrong with the Su-27SM project as a stopgap until the intoduction of PAK-FA?:confused:
Certainly the original basic Su-27 airframe should be competitive until 2020…?:confused:

Is the Yakolev Design Bureau a part of the United Aircraft Corporation these days?

The headquarters (or part of) of United Aircraft Corporation were initially located in the main offices of the Yakolev design Bureau on Leninskii Prospekt in Moscow (I was in them) I think that UAC have since moved into offices closer to the centre – so yes, I presume ‘Yak’ is now part of UAC.

A vulcan has been rolled, but I assume the a B-1B is alot heavier

A Boeing 707 has been rolled too…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ546BEps-M

First deliveries to Venezuela scheduled 2010.

http://www.apacheclips.com/boards/showthread.php?t=781

The only price quote so far available is the price tag for 12 aircraft offered to Brazil ($750 million bulk, over $1bn with additional infrastructure and weaponry). That makes $62.5mil UPC, for a small batch like this a good deal, IMHO. According to Bob Kemp, director of sales for the Gripen, the Typhoon and Rafale were offered to Singapore and South Korea at ca $95 million each while the basic price tag of the JAS39C was set at slightly less than $50 million.

First deliveries 2010?? Sounds a bit optimistic considering it’s only just started flight testing this year. I would normally give it about 4-5 years for completion of flight testing and beginning of deliveries. Su-35 is almost a completely new aircraft with almost new propulsion completely new avionics and instruments, even the basic airframe has changes I would give it till 2013 at least. It took almost 6 years to get the F-18E SH into service after its firist flight

The Super Hornet first flew on 29 November 1995.[3] Initial production on the F/A-18E/F began in 1995. Flight testing started in 1996 with the F/A-18E/F’s first carrier landing in 1997.[3] Low-rate production began in March 1997[6] with full production beginning in September 1997.[7] Testing continued through 1999, finishing with sea trials and aerial refueling demonstrations. Testing involved 3,100 test flights covering 4,600 flight hours.[4] The Super Hornet underwent U.S. Navy operational tests and evaluations in 1999,[8] and was approved in February 2000.[9]
Initial Operational Capability (IOC) was achieved in September 2001 with VFA-115 at NAS Lemoore, Calif.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F/A-18_Super_Hornet

And who knows what production costs in the Russian Federation will be then… or who’ll be running Venezuela.

What is a 3M45?

P-700 ‘Granit’ (SS-19 SHIPWRECK).
But I’m not sure it’s the picture…