And the undercarriage main wheel dissappears into thin air when the gear goes up?

No one here has ever said that externally there are curves?
Of course it looks straight!
No one is interested on the external looks.

true but this will imply less space in order to have curvature, in my opinion the T-50 must have some degree of inlet curvature but it must have a radar blocker as the X-32, it looks to straight to me

i would like to see original photo without photo-shopped fans then. Not seeing one yet makes me think that whoever shot this photo is the one that edited it. If not, ,then editor stole the photo, killed the photographer, and erased the original. Or maybe :rolleyes:its just been a fun game by Sukhoi dudes.

i agree where is that picture?

Yawn. Isn’t it better to simply wait up until more details are available instead of this annoying and endless bickering about nothing? :confused:

i totally agree, the X-32 had a straight fuselage and used a radar blocker, if the PAK FA T-50 has a blocker and a S duct it would not surprise me, but the S duct on the T-50 is not as curved as on the YF-23 or F-22; a radar blocker is not a thing was not used on the X-32.
But definitively i would wait in future years we will know with more detail, perhaps in future days hopefully

They don’t have access to the engines or the airframe of the J15 so the statement that they are not up to the same standards is rather mute and as I said petulent.

The Chinese are very tight lipped about aircraft development, they have shown themselves to be fairly capable in recent years and this is a project within the abilities of their aerospace industry.

i would not say that, the reason is when i compare aircraft development in other emerging markets, such a India, Brazil or my own country Mexico, i can see China has mostly invested more monies and bought more tech transfers than the former nations, you can not expect China to advance so fast when even Russia or the US take decades to develop technology in example fifth generation fighter.
the LCA and Kaveri are two good examples. the LCA has been going on for years and India has excellent designers, Brazil is struggling to build a 100 passengers aircraft too despite bthey have been successful with the E-190, now saying China can in 10 years close the gap that for russia took at least 20 years is ludicrous unless they buy the technology directly from Russia.
Besides the Russians know what level the chinese are since they have helped them in most of the chinese aircraft programs and they knew why China asked for 2 Su-33 even having a Su-33 prototype sold by Ukraine.

so even if the russian assesment might be wrong i guess they more or less know what is really going on and they guy is basicly saying he does not discard they might even want to buy Su-33s directly from Russia.

Any way this thread is really good so i won`t answer more here if you want to discussed just make a new thread about it if not it is okay if you disagree with me only time will tell.

With the constant talk of the Flanker series, I get rather bored and although I fully acknowledge the fact that the Su-27 and its cousins are superb warplanes, there is just something about the MiG-29 that has always appealed to me.

I started this thread for two reasons:

1. What lies in the future for the MiG-29? Is the Indian MRCA deal likely to be awarded to the Fulcrum with the IN adopting the MiG-29K and the IAF having a fairly sizeable fleet of Fulcrums? What else is in store for the Fulcrum? Will it continue to have a good future like its western stablemate the F-16 or will we see it phased out in favor of other fighters?

2. Please post any neat MiG-29 pictures you have…especially ones with weapons. (Where is tbzz these days? He always had great stocks of photos).

Hope to get some good discussion going on what some would consider the “other” Russian fighter of the modern day era.

If you mean the MiG name, at least for now the MiG-29 has no more future than 15 years in terms of sales, MiG will vanish eclipsed by the T-50 unless they build a new fighter.
By 2020, the T-50 will be the main russian fighter for export and only a few Su-35 and MiG-35 will be sold.
By that time the Chinese J-10, J-11 and the Eurocanards will represent their inmediate competition, but the real killer will be the F-35 and possibly a new Chinese fighter.
By 2020 most 1970s and 1980s aircraft will be utterly obsolete, the J-10 and Eurocanards will be in the same situation by 2025 as the F-4 was in 1990, today the MiG-29 is in the same situation the MiG-23 was in 1980 when the first MiG-29 were been built.
In few words why fight an F-22 with a MiG-29/MiG-35? it is like a MiG-23 versus a F-15, so basicly there is no point

Somewhat ironic you should mention the Malaysian MiG-29s. Their air force has recently been discussing getting rid of the MiG-29 as they were too expensive to maintain, as with quite a lot of other air arms (including Rumania).
The Fulcrum just isn’t as cheap as a MiG-21 to fly. The ’21’ probably already outnumbers the ’29’ in world service.

The MiG-29 is far more capable than a MiG-21, but requires maintainance, any aircraft does, many MiG-29 were sold at least a decade a go, airframes get worn, it is obvious an air force without money will make such statement, but the MiG-29 still is bought and sold, India is an example, Syria is another one .

business is business. nothing is so noble or complicated as you said…

you have the market,here comes the profit hunter, nothing more…

some news…

Airbus comes to Tianjin

Airbus Tianjin to deliver 26 A320 family jets in 2010

Bombardier CSeries Aircraft Program Reaches Another Milestone

Embraer to maintain presence in China – Suppliers Share Wrap

Boeing in China . the green stands for manufacturing partener

and the CACC arj21(70-90 seats) is test flying,CACC C-919(190 seats) is under development(but it won’t come out very soon or soomthly). so I don’t think you are ackowledge of what happening in China and using the right example comparing to china. it’s a dead end to work FOR others for ever.

——————————
back to the topic…military contract is much different and the details are kept secret well till now…none of us including the media know what exactally happened in this 200 Su27SKs TOT contract…we don’t know whether this contract was halt or changed after the 95th Su27sk was finished. the license for these jets was paid ,not for free…and I have to say there is a lot of mistake in this report.

China’s J-15 carrier-based fighter will not be able to compete with Russia’s Su-33 fighter on global markets because it is inferior to the Russian aircraft, a Russian military analyst said on Friday
China since 2001 has been developing the J-15 naval fighter, which is believed to be a clone of Russia’s Su-33 Falcon-D. China bought an Su-33 prototype earlier from Ukraine, and used it to develop the new aircraft.

The J-15 is expected to be stationed initially onboard the Chinese Varyag aircraft carrier currently being fitted in the port of Dalian. China bought the unfinished Admiral Kuznetsov class aircraft carrier from Ukraine in 1998.

“The Chinese J-15 clone is unlikely to achieve the same performance characteristics of the Russian Su-33 carrier-based fighter, and I do not rule out the possibility that China could return to negotiations with Russia on the purchase of a substantial batch of Su-33s,” said Col. (Ret.) Igor Korotchenko, a member of the Defense Ministry’s Public Council.

The Su-33 is a carrier-based multi-role fighter, which can perform a variety of air superiority, fleet defense, air support and reconnaissance missions. The aircraft entered service with the Russian Navy in 1995 and are currently deployed on board the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier.

Korotchenko said China was unlikely to solve technical problems related to the design of the folding wings and to develop a reliable engine for the aircraft, although the first J-15 prototype reportedly made its maiden flight on August 31, 2009, powered by Chinese WS-10 turbofan engines
China and Russia had been in negotiations on the sale of the Su-33 Flanker-D fighters to be used on future Chinese aircraft carriers since 2006, but the talks collapsed over China’s request for an initial delivery of two aircraft for a “trial.”

Russian Defense Ministry sources confirmed that the refusal was due to findings that China had produced its own copycat version of the Su-27SK fighter jet in violation of intellectual property agreements.

In 1995, China secured a $2.5-billion production license from Russia to build 200 Su-27SKs, dubbed J-11A, at the Shenyang Aircraft Corp.

The deal required the aircraft to be outfitted with Russian avionics, radars and engines. Russia cancelled the arrangement in 2006 after it discovered that China was developing an indigenous version, J-11B, with Chinese avionics and systems. The decision came after China had already produced at least 95 aircraft.

Last year, Russia refused again to sell the Su-33 to China even after Beijing had offered to buy 14 of them, saying that at least 24 jets should be sold to recoup production costs.
http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20100604/159306694.html