As i alluded to, KS-V will be able to turn its back when not used. That will save maintenance and it will be covered in RAM. Will it give as low RCS as a faceted design? Probably not but lets assume for the sake of argument that IRST covered in RAM is 3% of the RCS in frontal section and lets assume that a faceted design is half of that. Is it a huge difference in RCS? I dont think so.

But what if faceted is 0.015% and not 1.5% ?

I am extremely curious about the final RCS of the T-50. If it is on par with the US designs, then the people at Sukhoi have really came up with something. It is extremely unconventional for a VLO design. That is why I put my 2c in a while back and said it probably is an LO design and not a VLO design. But what do I know?

Also if I remember correcty, serrated engine nozzles on the T-50 where called blasphemous as the “new research in ceramics makes their use moot” ..or something along those lines.

You are right on the sawtooth panels, I do remember you said that once the final prototypes start coming out, panels will get the saw tooth treatment, but people here mentioned gaps and fitment as well. Something that particularly bothered me was the adoption of a double hinged slats leaving a prominent dog tooth. People responded with images of the YF-23. I personally don’t see how panel fitment is bad, when it only affects the creeping wave effect, while a dogtooth is OK when it affects both the creeping wave, the incident signal and adds to the scattering effect, but then again, what do I know?

Don’t be naieve, swerve..

For some people it is unfathomable that the “democratic” and “free” west operates with ulterior motives and more often than not is responsible for most of the mess around the world.

An astute analysis. Had Russia done nothing in the wake of the Euromaidan events, just sat back and shrugged, the ‘revolution’ would have simply crumbled under the weight of its own internal contradictions. Worst case scenario, Russia would have had to tolerate a couple of years of Poroshenko. Not a big deal.. after all five years of Yushchenko didn’t really change the status quo.

And now.. Russia’s de facto control of Crimea changed into de jure control and some parts of Donetsk & Luhansk oblasts might become autonomous territories. But Ukraine has been lost to the West forever (irrespective of whether its admitted into the NATO or EU). Russo-Ukrainian relations will take decades to heal. A fact that would be unchanged even if Poroshenko were to lose power tomorrow.

Was it worth it? I don’t think so, though opinions vary. If, as many allege, all this was the result of an insidious Western plot to rupture relations between Ukraine & Russia, well.. it worked. Mostly because Putin played along.

You are forgetting the bigger picture. Ever since the fall of the USSR the west (US) is pushing harder and harder into affairs that are really at Russia’s doorstep.

How far can you keep pushing your garden fence towards the bear’s cave before the bear comes out and shows you were enough is enough?

With hands down, second to none, the Ka-52 is such a looker

I much prefer the original Ka-50 tbh..

such a shame that project didn’t move forward as it was ..

The Mi-28 is a knight, the AH-64 is an archer!

I am so glad these mindless “bigwigs” are getting tours at those facilities and we get high res pictures and video from that. I cringed so hard when looking at the video and seeing him try to ask a meaningful question…

I noticed that went too. I think it is a heat dump vent for electronics and whatnot. Better to dump there, close to the exhaust than to create another “hot spot” by dumping it somewhere else. It is hot there anyway.

Can someone take the photo and draw some arrows of the things you mention please?

Scar never said that everybody believed the Earth was flat. Even today a lot of people like to believe the earth is flat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_flat_Earth_societies

And some people believe the earth was made 6000 years ago! See where this kind of thing leads us. That’s why I said we gotta stop playing with words.