The greatest advantage I can see from 4 hard points inside MWB other than possibility to carry great variety of large caliber missiles is opportunity to carry 4 LRAAM in RVV-BD class.
Advantages:
+200km range – highest range for any current/future missile (version for MIG-31BM/SU-35S should have ~280km range)
That way PAK FA with powerful AESA radar is able to take first shot at enemy, especially at non VLO targets.
When fighting, either non or VLO targets, you have time/speed advantage because RVV-BD is hypersonic class missile. If the PAK FA and opposing VLO plane are able to see each other at about the same time/distance, faster missile should be able to cover that distance in much shorter time span.
In combination with larger ARH head with greater tracking range (especially for stealth targets) he could disengage much earlier in order to avoid incoming missiles.
In combination with side mounted radars PAK FA should give mid-course updates to the missile and at the same time he can run away from the incoming enemy missile maximizing its chances for survival.
Also, greater power of large ARH head should be able to burn through jamming more efficiently than the smaller one.
Such a big missile is maybe not as maneuverable as MRAAM`s but it can compensate that with 60kg warhead and high speed.
We all know that BVR missiles have very poor Pk but they pose undeniable tactical advantage. That way the plane that can shoot first dictates the “rules of engagement” and have undisputable advantage when entering the WVR fight. And at the ranges where VLO opponents can detect each other, you probably don`t have the time to fire all 4 missiles, so the number of missiles is not much of a concern. And judging by the potential PAK FA`s maneuverability that is the plan from the beginning when fighting VLO targets. Run your enemy down to WVR fight and finish him there with superior maneuverability.
I’m not sure about your assessment Peregrinefalcon, as a true successor to the Su-27 and its role (air-superiority/air dominance) by very definition it would have to be well armed. Five weeks prior to MAKS 2011, the T-50 was demonstrated to the then Indian Defence Minister and senior IAF staff, and Pogosyan gave an interview.
Interestingly, he talked about the design philosophy behind the T-50 and gave intimations as to what the Russian air force/Ministry of Defence requirements were. Iirc, one of his key phrases was (paraphrasing) : “the PAK-FA is a fundamentally different aircraft to those that preceded it……it is designed to remain undetected and engage the opposing targets at the greatest possible distances“. Given the huge Russian land border it would have to patrol- it certainly has the fuel capacity, so why take risks with low weapons load?
Aside from accounting for the already mentioned relatively low BVR Pks, the very function of ‘air dominance/superiority’ demands a significant load to engage multiple targets whilst being in-theatre/loitering for the greatest possible time-on-station, it will be net-centric after all.
Also, at around the time the design for the PAK-FA was being conceived, the Russian government was enjoying a boom time rolling about in petro-dollars. This gave the Russians from the top down a sense of restored pride after the dark and humiliating years of the 1990s. Although the most pressing needs were (and remain) a rebalancing of the economy away from the natural-resources primary sector, it was not lost on the russian strategy planners and the political/military elite how important and valuable such scarce resources are.
Hence, a period of nationalistic chest-beating ensued with a primary focus being the resource rich Arctic particularly as the melting ice was increasing accessibility. A flag was planted near the North Pole and, more importantly, territorial claims were made over the area extending to the Lomonosov Ridge. As early as 2001 Putin had described the urgent need for Russia to “secure it strategic, economic, scientific and defence interests in the arctic”.
So whilst it is more likely that RuAF PAK-FAs will meet the PLAAF FLANKER horde in the east and maybe skirmish with Norwegian F-35s, it is not lost on Russian planners (and PAK-FA’s designers*) that the T-50 may, conceivably, meet its greatest and most formidable adversary- the F-22, one day over the Arctic.
This is just a long-winded way of saying it’ll be 3+3+1+1. 😉
*Imho, this is why the T-50’s front elevation at least, will have a RCS comparable to the F-22.
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