Enough about the rivets…

She’s a beauty!

Franco-Russian UCAV? Apparently the French have approached the Russians over the possibilities of JVs in UAVs. What next? Armée de l’Air PAK-FAs?

Legible GT:

http://www.arms-tass.su/?page=article&aid=88138&cid=25

lol, when you say 10 years behind, what area are you referring that they are 10 years behind in? Electronics? Engines? Aerodynamics?

I can only think of 2. GaN t/r mods. and Monolithic Thermal Imagers i.e.dual band Quantum Well Imaging Photodetectors (QWIP).

The former is down to infrastructure & cost issues, and the latter will soon be available COTS- besides, I’m sure their best buddies the French (Thales) will help out ;).

I’d expect some novel (non-metallic composite) features for the new stage 2 engine also, the AL-41F (and the tech derived for 117/117S engines) is almost 25 years old.

A recent technical publication co-authored by the Head of Salyut, Eliseev (Russian only):

http://salut.ru/rus/section_1/chapter_4/topic_804/Eliseev.pdf

‘Indian officials get up close to new-look PAK FA fighter’

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/09/07/347018/pictures-indian-officials-get-up-close-to-new-look-pak-fa.html

I’d expect contracts to be signed during Medvedev’s visit to New Delhi in December.

If the Su-34 is anything to go by, expect only the last few pre-prod. T-50 examples to be production representative. The same goes for the Su-35S.

The Russian Air Force plans to receive its first Sukhoi T-50 fifth-generation fighters in 2012-2016. It could be a pre-production batch of six to 10 aircraft, Vladimir Popovkin, deputy defense minister on armaments, said in June. The production of this batch will be launched in 2012 after the new fighter gets a preliminary approval from the military. Most of the trials should be completed by 2015, while serial production is to start in 2016. At the first stage the Air Force may order more than 50 aircraft, said Popovkin (cont.)

http://ato.ru/content/preparing-service

изд.117 (АЛ-41Ф1), pic c/o QuadroFX

Are you sure it’s not M15.0+? :rolleyes:

But actually what matters for supercruising aircrafts like F-22 or PAK-FA is high dry thrust.

I thought supercruising with the lowest possible [dry] power setting, is what matters (i.e. in conjunction with efficient aerodynamics).

Austin, I read somewhere that the 117 meets the requirements (somewhat controversially, according to Salyut) for the Stage 1 engine, but falls short by 1T (min) to 1.5T (max.) for the Stage 2. Hence, a ‘clean sheet’ design is required. I see no problem with the 2-D nozzle for the 117. All the bits ‘n pieces are coming together nicely ;).