Low-priority launch for Russia’s next fighter
PIOTR BUTOWSKI JDW Correspondent
Berlin

Sukhoi has been selected as the prime contractor to develop Russia’s next-generation PAK FA fighter aircraft, because “its pilot project met in a better way the whole set of criteria”, according to Maj Gen Sergei Kolyadin, chairman of the Military-Science Committee of the Russian Federation Air Forces (RFAF).

Speaking during the ILA 2002 international aerospace exhibition in Berlin earlier this month, the official said other considerations in making the decision included Sukhoi’s financial stability, design bureau experience and its high level of design activity over the past decade.

The official selection of Sukhoi to head the programme was made during a 26 April session of the governmental Military-Industrial Committee headed by Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov.

Gen Kolyadin said that the PAK FA programme will continue at the research and development level, with the modernisation of existing aircraft to remain the top priority for the RFAF over the next few years.

Approved in 1999, the modernisation programme is being “revised upwards” to meet increased requirements, said the official. These efforts to enhance the capabilities of legacy aircraft and develop a new capability “are parallel programmes, based on common technological solutions”, said Gen Kolyadin, who believes the PAK FA “will be much better than the F-35 [Joint Strike Fighter] and equal to the F-22”.

A further development of the Su-47 Berkut demonstrator, which is nearing the completion of a supersonic flight-test programme, Sukhoi’s successful proposal is a more conventional design than the experimental aircraft and will not feature its forward-swept wings. Visually similar to the US fighters, the PAK FA will be around the size of the Su-27 (NATO reporting name: ‘Flanker’) fighter and heavier than previously planned.

The Russian Aircraft Corporation (RSK) MiG, which was Sukhoi’s main rival for leadership of the PAK FA project, proposed an aircraft with a tailless configuration and lighter by several tons to meet the requirement. Air force officials, however, described this more advanced concept as more technologically risky to develop.

The fate of the new programme depends to a large extent on the
position offered to RSK MiG, which is unhappy to participate at a level below Sukhoi.

RSK MiG representatives continue to back what they claim to have been a superior PAK FA proposal. They have suggested that the company could continue to work on its own project in an attempt to try to reverse the government decision.

The organisation’s financial condition is another crucial factor: RSK MiG earlier this year also lost out to Sukhoi in a competition to equip the Russian armed forces with a new combat trainer (Jane’s Defence Weekly 27 March).

Russia’s Yakovlev design bureau participated in both projects and company officials told JDW that it could secure up to 30% of PAK FA workshare by providing short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) systems and possibly other technologies. As with the US F-35 project, only some of the RFAF’s projected PAK FAs will feature a STOVL capability.

Gen Kolyadin said that a “concentration of technological, industrial and financial resources from the whole air industry” is essential for the successful realisation of the PAK FA fighter, and that schemes for financing the work from the state budget and the aviation enterprises will be created shortly.

Russian officials did not mention possible international co-operation on the project during the Berlin air show, although such a solution was until recently considered as an important source of income to support the programme.

Sukhoi is expected before year-end to submit a schedule of work on the PAK FA project to a government committee. This will include the division of project activities between all three companies. A more advanced draft of the PAK FA requirement should be ready before the end of 2003 “and then the decision will be taken concerning further work”, said Gen Kolyadin.

May 2002. Maybe the heavier than previously planned is the 21 tonnes vs 20 tonnes?

Just a note- the PAK FA will weigh about the same, if not slightly more than Su-27. The whole 20-21 tonne thing is obsolete.

Perhaps they’re their to go the ‘Su-30MKI route’. Specialized variants for export according to customer need. Or nothing might happen at all. The same Russian companies that participated in the Su-30MKI program have also been contracted for PAK FA, according to Jane’s.

Or, nothing could come of this French/Indian talk at all.

Really? Pathetic. Why was this so necessary for Sewer Horror?

Yeah- when I said primary weapon, what I really meant was weapons its most going to use, rather than weapons its primarily intended to deliver. The mysterious, unseen ‘Platan’ aiming complex is going to ensure that regular dumb iron is going to remain popular, if reports on its accuracy are anything to go by.

I swear, if Russia ever decides to try and reconstruct it’s historical holdings in a military fashion, I will cheer when they invade Turkmenistan.

I seriously doubt that ‘F-10A’ picture is anywhere *near* legit.

Re: China saves Raptor project

It’ll be only a few more years before grossly exaggerated estimates of the Chinese military “threat” to the United States appears in a publication similar to “Soviet military power”- complete with hand-drawn pictures of J-10s dropping chemical weapons on helpless Taiwanese or soemthing- best traditions of the Cold War.