The F-35’s Fibre Mat is totally different and brand new, from the RAM used on either the B-2, or the F-22. Its capability is classified…

Some of the CNT Patents by Lockheed date back to 2007, 2008 & 2010. As far RAM and Fibre MAT goes, capability is classified so you can only guess where Lockheed has been able to take it vis-a-vis its competitors…

Yeah, those would be consistent with an on-going development programme. The all-encapsulating patent for the final & completed article is very recent indeed. Also, recent delamination glitches for the F-135’s cowlings may be indicative of something new being added to the composites in the latest LRIP batches, as would be expected in their concurrency model.

I dont think anyone is questioning the quality and capability of the RAM produced nowadays. As Jo showed there are already public data on Russian RAM materials that on UCAVs can offer a >-30dB RCS reduction. The only problem is the heat resistance of +85 deg C meaning the top speeds would have to be closer to mach 1,5 at altitude…

Maybe I should’ve been clearer. The CNT RAM in the link above is the vanilla version and is commercially available for space, air, sea & land applications both civil and military. There’s a line @ the bottom that reads:

Возможно изготовление образцов по техническим требованиям заказчика.

It is possible to produce designs for the technical requirements of the customer.

The actual developers, Ioffe Intitute RAS, have long worked on the RCS reduction of fighters- particularly of the ‘Flanker’ family. Their material (which I will not link), states at the very least (не менее) -30dB absorption (6mm) over 8-12GHz. There’s actually a chart and it averages out @ -31.5dB.
Importantly, it also states an operating temperature of -100°С to +200°С. Hence, there can be little doubt what this version is for.

The thing about CNT RAM is that it’s one of those technological breakthroughs that resulted from a chance or accidental discovery such as penicillin or radioactivity (in this case Japan, 1991 for MWNTs). As such, it has revolutionary attributes that are a major departure from the RAM materials that preceded it, as already intimated by BIO.
It came too late to be applied to the F-22, but would have been a major design consideration for the F-35. This was definitely the case for the T-50, along with the ‘stealth compressor’ about which I’ll post my latest speculations sometime next week (a small thing called work gets in the way).

What you need to appreciate is the lead times for such developments and the maturity of the technology to facilitate incorporation, again BIO has already covered this. F.e. recently a GKN Aerospace executive played down major graphene applications in airframes even in the medium term, despite all the jumping for joy over this ‘wondermaterial’. He said the lead times may be up to 2 decades if the example of CFRP is anything to go by or, more recently, thermoplastic composites.

Then there was the lauding of graphene as a stealth material- if the graphene layers were rolled-up…which would make them carbon nanotubes :D. First and foremost, the US DoD (and others) will be looking to governments and academic institutions worldwide to do all the R&D, then they’ll look to industrial giants such as Samsung Electronics and Intel Corp. to make the material commercially viable and attain economies of scale before it’s embraced by the aerospace & defence industry as COTS (particularly the capital tooling). A situation recently exemplified by the telecoms industry adopting GaN technology waaay before the military. The latter haven’t called the shots for over 2 decades now.

Of course there are agencies such as DARPA whose raison d’etre is to remain ‘ahead of the game’ and much of the hush-hush stuff they’re developing now will debut on the LRS-B- but let’s keep things in perspective.

Video reportage from UMPO on production of the 117 engine:

http://www.vesti.ru/only_video.html?vid=524038

*facepalm*

“In terms of system/subsystem performance, Su-34 is a very impressive aircraft, but from a PLM perspective I see it as one of the last members of the previous era.”

Orko_8, you make some important and valid points and you are absolutely correct in describing the Su-34 as from a previous era. Remember that high level political and military review @ an airfield in Minsk when the USSR fell apart? It was to ascertain which ‘new’ projects would live and which would die.

I myself view the Su-34 as a ‘Cold War’ relic, however I’m beginning to understand the rationale behind it’s purchase. Firstly, an urgent supplement and to some extent replacement is needed for the Su-24. The ‘cheap and cheerfull’ Su-34 provides that stop-gap, it also acts as a stimulus package for NAPO Chlakov to protect skills and knowledge base and eventual overhaul of design and manufacturing technologies.

However, what the Su-34 does give the RuAF is considerable (cheap) upgrade and growth potential such as a future EA-18G dedicated EW type and also a perfect forward aircraft to act in conjunction with stealth UCAVs (or to use the term ‘mothership’, as coined elsewhere in this forum).

Even comparing the fit and finish of the new Su-34s with KnAAPO’s serial Su-35S’, shows much is found wanting in the former- and supports your contention of Soviet era operational support and maintenance methodology. Notwithstanding, PLM design solutions have been used on the Su-34 and even on the assembly floor @ NAPO (these photos were pulled shortly after ‘livejournal’ uploads). The latest CAD/CAM tools such as ‘SolidEdge’NX have already been adopted by the less well known Soviet era component manufacturers.*

However, it is not the Su-34/NAPO and the AL-31F that you should look to as representative of the current state of the Russian aero industry. Instead look into T-50, MS-21, Ka-62, Mi-38. Aero engines (particularly military) are indicative of a nation’s intellectual & scientific-technical prowess- given their development is somewhat of a ‘black art’ and requires considerable pedigree. Needless to say the ‘Type 30’ is a World beater (by some margin).

Comparisons with Turkey are not relevant because [Turkey] has never had an organic and established aero industry (no offence). Russian imports & licensed production of civil engines, avionics and subsystems is not peculiar to them, it is done the World over, and itself is a major shift away from compulsory indigenous production of often substandard/inferior substitute components of Soviet doctrine- when COTS choices were not an option.

*http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/CaseStudyWeb/dispatch/viewResource.html?resourceId=31004
http://zavodfoto.livejournal.com/1109894.html

Speaking @ a press conference last week, NPO Saturn’s director Ilya Fyedorov states the new gas generator (combustor) for the Stage 2 engine has exceeded [the customer’s] performance requirements.

Ignore the supposed pic of the *117* -it’s not.

http://vpk.name/news/93188_presskonferenciya_npo_saturn.html

Russian big wigs inaugurate the brand new OAO «КАПО-Композит» (JSC ‘KAPO-KOMPOZIT’) plant in Kazan. It will make CF composite components not only for domestic programmes but also Boeing and Airbus.

I love a girls with brains!!…(or is she trying to figure out where to plug in the charger for her iPhone?)

http://zavodfoto.livejournal.com/1109894.html

http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6715/9104257.f8/0_b8ac1_6a56e80_XXL.jpg

SSJ’s boring!!

http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/9103/122475510.18/0_7fd8a_195d9795_orig

T-50-1, yesterday. What is the “thing” on the inside of the right intake trunk?
http://russianplanes.net/id111660

Given that the instrument is attached to the auxiliary intake and ’51’ is undertaking spin recovery trials, it’s purpose may be to measure [subsonic]airflow speeds & pressures of the variable cross-sectional area (Venturi) intakes which are detailed in the patent as acting as flow diffusers.