Generations not Changing
The appearance of the new combat airplane isn’t expected until 2012
Yesterday, the head of the Sukhoy Aviation Holding Company, Mikhail Pogosyan, and the air force commander-in-chief, General of the Army Vladimir Mikhaylov, almost simultaneously acknowledged that there will not be a revolution is military aircraft construction in the near future. Russian aces will receive the long-awaited fifth generation combat airplane not earlier than 2012. Only the aircraft’s concept design will be presented to the customer- the Russian Federation defense ministry- at the end of this year. The Su-35 airplane will fill the eight-year time interval, which, according to Mikhail Pogosyan’s assurance, will be “an intermediate airplane between the utmost as of today in the family of Sukhoy Su-30 and the fifth generation airplane.”
Nevertheless, it will be difficult to call the Su-35 brand-new: the fighter, per se, will be a hodgepodge of all the best which has been produced by the Sukhoy OKB aircraft designers. In particular, they will take the airframe from the Su-27, and the different experiences of the Su-24M and Su-30 airplanes will be used. As regards the airframe, as Mikhail Pogosyan explained, the use of the airframe from the Su-27 “will permit essentially shortening the time for the development of a new aircraft, since tests of the airframe will not have to be performed. The new aircraft is supposed to appear as early as 2006. OKB adviser, Marshal of Aviation Evgeniy Shaposhnikov, also supported Sukhoy’s position on the upgrade while answering a Russkiy Kur’er question. “We have achieved such a technological level that it isn’t suitable to expect a revolution a revolution in aircraft construction. The Su-30 has even outpaced the fifth generation in aerodynamic qualities,” the ex aide to Russia’s president for space and aviation assured. “But it is worth putting work on the avionics over combat characteristics. The new generation airplane is not a 30-50 percent improvement of qualitative performance, but by 2- 3 times. But this can be achieved today only by evolutionary, and not by a revolutionary means.” “We will be able to preserve our leading positions in the aviation marketplace in the 2006 – 2012 interval with the Su-35 airplane and also owing to the upgrade of the Su-30,” Mikhail Pogosyan added.
Nevertheless, these are the plans. For the time being the air force needs to be involved with more mundane affairs. In particular, to analyze the results of the two recent catastrophes: of the Mi-8 helicopter and of the Tu-22M bomber. As air force CinC, General of the Army Vladimir Mikhaylov, explained to us, the human factor led to both tragedies. “The flight controllers are to blame for the loss of the helicopter. On that day the temperature was zero at an altitude of 3,000 meters. It was madness to climb the airplane ((sic)) even higher. However, the flight controller gave the crew the order to take an altitude of 3,300 meters. In the Tu-22M crew tragedy, the main reason is technical, a generator malfunctioned. But there is not one generator on the airplane, but four. The crew, in view of little flying practice, was unable to enable the three other generators correctly. Moreover, the generator had been inoperative for 43 minutes before the catastrophe, however, the airmen did not report about this malfunction,” Vladimir Mikhaylov said.
As regards the fifth generation airplane, the air force CinC confirmed to Russkiy Kur’er the words of the Sukhoy manager. “We expect the new airplane by 2012,” the general reported. “But it is supposed to be a really new airplane, and not an upgrade of an old aircraft.”
Source: 29.07.04, Russkiy Kur’er
“Su-35” is obviously a reference to the new Su-37 being built.
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