Russia’s Sukhoi Reinforces Domestic Military Platform
Jun 21, 2009
By Douglas Barrie
While Russia’s military elite have already seen the prototype – or perhaps prototypes – of the air force’s nextgeneration heavy fighter, the aircraft will likely only make its public debut after first flight, if tradition is followed.
Senior Russian government and military leaders continue to insist first flight will be this year. Up to three prototypes are thought to be in various stages of final assembly at the Sukhoi manufacturing site in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
The Russian air force’s fighter fleet replacement strategy in the near to medium term is built around two Sukhoi programs: the Su-27SM2 (Su-35) development of the Flanker and the T-50 design to meet its fifth-generation fighter project, known as PAK FA.
MiG, having lost out to Sukhoi to develop a replacement to the former’s canceled fifth-generation effort, known as MFI, has been working on a medium fighter concept, the lightweight multirole frontal aircraft (LMFS).
MiG officials have argued that while the PAK FA would replace the Su-27 Flanker, the air force will not be in a position to procure it in sufficient numbers to replace the MiG-29 Fulcrum as well. The LMFS was intended as a successor, with potentially broader export appeal than the PAK FA.
The Russian government gave Mikhail Pogosyan, long associated with Sukhoi, the challenging task of trying to sort out an ailing MiG at the end of last year.
One outcome of this move, however, is that LMFS appears to have been put on the back burner. Insiders at MiG say the LMFS project has not been included in the list of company priorities approved by Pogosyan, who also remains the general director of Sukhoi. In the nearer term, MiG has also been pressing the air force to order the MiG-35, though the status of such a purchase remains uncertain.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was shown the T-50 in May during a visit to the Komsomolsk site. He took the opportunity of the trip to confirm that the air force will procure the upgraded Flanker. Company officials suggest 48 of the Su-27SM2 will be delivered through 2015.
The Su-27SM2, known for export as the Su-35, is viewed by many in the West as the near-term high-end platform against which their own capabilities are to be measured.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Daniel J. Darnell, deputy chief of staff for air, space and information operations, suggests that the Su-35 is “equal or superior” to the F-15. Meanwhile, the RAND Corp. characterizes the latest generation of the Su-27 as “not your father’s Flanker.”
The first prototype of the Su-27SM2, No. 901, was shown at the 2007 Moscow air show (MAKS), with the aircraft’s NIIP Irbis passive electronically scanned array already fitted. A second prototype, No. 902, is also in flight tests, though the third, No. 904, was destroyed during fast taxi trials prior to flight.
The latest iteration of the Flanker will provide the Russian air force with a multirole fighter until the PAK FA eventually enters service. The purchase of 48 aircraft would allow two wings to be equipped with the type. It will also provide a platform for the development of systems and weapons intended to enter service with the PAK FA.
After stagnating throughout the 1990s and into the early part of this decade, there is renewed emphasis on the development of future air-to-air and tactical air-to-surface systems, though the extent of any actual progress has yet to be made public. An absence of funding may be why much of the work is picking up on programs that languished during the ’90s.
The Russian air force’s backing will bolster the type’s credibility in the export arena.
Russia was pitching the Su-35 at the Brazilian fighter competition, but it did not make the cut. China and India remain potential buyers, though the former is developing indigenous upgrade programs for the Flanker in the form of the J-11B and two-seat J-11BS.
The Russian government is trying to ensure the long-term viability of its aerospace sector through establishment of the Unified Aircraft Corp. (UAC) with the fixed wing military capability increasingly built around Sukhoi. The T-50 and the Su-27SM2 and Su-34 developments are tying up company resources, both in terms of funding and experienced personnel.
UAC CEO Alexey Fyodorov, former head of the Irkut manufacturing plant, has confirmed on numerous occasions that there are ambitions to develop a light fighter complement to the PAK FA. The priority for the moment, however, is the PAK FA.
It is highly debatable whether the air force will be in a position to replace its Su-27s with the PAK FA on anything approaching a one-to-one rate, not to mention also replacing its Fulcrum fleet with the same type.
Whether the option of a Su-27SM2 and PAK FA fighter fleet mix might be viewed as an alternative to a genuine medium and heavy fighter fleet also remains to be ascertained.
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