And by simple inflation, we can guess the price will never get cheaper, unless you just choose to give up capability.

http://theweek.com/articles/444281/russias-new-air-force-mystery

Furthermore there’s no peace dividend in Europe at this time. Russia is rising.
And us commitments are waneing.
Plane designs are progressive, and compounded, always incorporating last gen lessons in the next gen. For instance. Last gen advances in lifting body, area rule, and FBW carrying over into 5th gen.
We are faced with a almost 0 possibility that 6th generation fighters with abandon stealth, and sensors fusion.
How will Europe jump a generation, without mastering 5th gen manufacturing?

Think is one of the classical ‘Muricans that think only things that matter are Stealth and Aesa radar, so if you put some of them on a F-86 it will immediately become better than an Su-35S or a Typhoon…:rolleyes:

Now now, is this necessary? I have a legitimate post, you dont agree with, and your 1st reaction is to make ad hominem personal attacks, and national, racial slurs.
If I had made comments using denigrating names for Israelis, Japanese, Chinese, or others you would try to have me modded. Can we not use that word Muricans?
Its a personal attack on my country and culture.

Do you really think the Russians will not invest in 5th gen. They need it to counter F-22 and F-35s etc.
It may just be slower and over a longer time then people want or hoped. Its a priority project that will not be given up on. 4 prototypes on the schedule this year. When 8 planes are flying, are you going to say its in trouble. No more then the F-35 and that will never be cancelled. The same with Pak-fa. The Rusdian air force needs time meld these planes into service. Starting with 12 is good policy. This is typically how Russia procures its planes. Even the Su-35 has 48 orders with another batch being in the process this or next year. Russian air force policy. They dont order 1500 and then wait for them to arrive. Russian defence policy is more based on batch orders, 12, 24, 48, etc

Wait I thought the 12 plane order was a lie and a misquote? So everything is not perfect with the Russians air industry?

How is the T-50 in trouble?
Do you have insider info the rest of us do not?

The Su-27 is no more obsolete to modern IADs than 99% of fighters out there. And how many cutting edge IADs are there aside from Russia and China?
The Flanker is going to be the most produced/exported plane of this decade after the F-35. 4th gens are still a massive part of most inventories and that will not change through the 2020s.

Cheap and exportable makes no sense in your context. The Flanker serves as a good export counterpart to the eventual T-50 export variant.
Making something lighter when the RuAF is not buying is stupid and senseless. Especially when the few potential customers would need Russian credits to buy the planes in any case, making it….a complete waste of time.
Plus, Russia is buying the MiG-35. What else could you possibly want them to waste money on next?

Quite frankly I don’t see the “problem”.

You have not demonstrated a market for a single engine jet that is worth Russia’s investment, nor the sizable market share being lost to….Chinese MiG-21s.

Under 50 million for a new 5th gen with internal bay? lol. Good luck recuperating that cost on the export market. RuAF is not interested to date, that is all that matters.

http://m.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2015/0327/Grounded-Russia-s-answer-to-US-next-gen-fighter-hits-the-skids

The T-50 is very much in trouble

What would be the Pros of R&D a very costly small stealth jet that can only carry 2x500lbs and has short mission range..:highly_amused:
Do you think its a much cheaper way of doing war on terror, using more flight hour and possible more jets in the air for the same mission only a handfull of heavy airframe T-50, J-20, F-35 can do?
You would still need a pilot in them, and pilots get paid and trained, it is very expensive!

Pluss for such short mission range, you most likely would need air-refueling as well. Even higher cost(yes tanker support is very costly)!

If you cant see the error in your suggestions..

The current Flankers both Venez and Vietnam are using can do such mission you discribe here in a much more efficient way, even if they are expensive to service.

Thinkin about it, wth would countries like NAM and Venez whom happen to have a huge sea area and land areal to guard have any usage of a point defence fighter!!
They need a heavy platform whom can carry mediums size clubs to blow up surface threats and do deeper SAD penetration mission.

You view on world AF is a joke.

Because quantity has a quality of its own.
There is an advantage in buying twice the fighters and being able to maintain them.
No, wondering why we dont have more investments in light fighters, does not make my views on aviation a joke.