I’m just wondering how the Russians will be able to catch up on the USA in Stealth technology, although I’m not saying they won’t.

Firstly, I think by now the Russians will be well versed on the stealth intricacies of the F-22. The wind tunnel model of their replica has probably been on the radar ranges, acoustic chambers, software models, and I bet they’ve been following the F-35 programme very closely- F-35 style DSI intakes for China’s JF-17 were reportedly developed by RAC MiG.

The RuAF must have had some pretty stringent demands to have rejected MiG’s 1.44 totally out-of-hand (and, after Le Bourget ’07, it seems a lightweight variant primarily for India- is dead in the water) despite huge development costs & efforts.

Even if PAK-FA trickles into service as late as 2015, a few years after non-US F-35s, it will be still considered it’s (2nd generation stealth) contemporary, considering the time-lines for stealth aircraft projects.

Also, the PAK-FA appears to have taken on the guise of a national prestige project, particularly by Sergei Ivanov (prime candidate for future PM) who oversaw the consolidation of UAC- and would be informed of it’s status.
If he promises a late ’08 first flight- I don’t doubt him, especially coming from a man who likes to be photographed atop brand-new SSBNs.

Levsha, the 10yr Soviet ‘technology gap’ you tout is hardly applicable today.
The traditional Soviet lag was in microprocessor/integrated circuits, which required huge central investments to facilitate the ‘post-industrial revolution’. Soviet central planning was grossly inefficient and corruption rife, hence these ‘gaps’ were perpetuated, not to mention dooming the USSR.

Today, most commercially available computers/ chipsets (COTS), are significantly more advanced than their military counterparts, due to redundancy requirements.
The only significant Russian (military aerospace) technology lags that immediately spring to mind are thermal imagers and Helmet Mounted Displays.

TsAGI has embraced market forces better than most in Russia, last year it’s deputy head was quoted as saying it was working on various European civillian designs, two Chinese military and two Russian military designs.
I don’t see any lag in composites (either design or application) if Sukhoi’s Superjet or S-37 are anything to go by.

As for the need or affordability of PAK-FA, I’m not repeating myself (and others) time & time again.

Levsha, the PAK-FA programme is a long-term investment for the Russian Air Force. The whole idea of having a 5th Gen. fighter is to have fewer numbers acting as force multipliers, replacing various other types (i.e. MiG-29, Su-27, MiG-31), hence initial operating costs will be high, but in the long-run they will diminish in comparison to maintaining 3 different types.

Other cost reductions will be achieved by increasing MTBFs & MTBOs (e.g. engine/airframe, AESA radar components etc.), unit costs will fall with economies of scale, especially when an export variant is developed to succeed foreign Su-30/35s.
As far as I know, India’s still on-board, despite US ‘signals’ with the F-35 (which may ultimately prove too tempting, though I fear- too good to be true).

You surely can’t expect the Russian Defence Ministry to be content with upgraded 4th Gen. fighters when even China will be introducing their 5th Gen. J-12/13 within a decade.
As for pilots, you aren’t implying that the RuAF can’t train a couple of hundred pilots on glass cockpits in the coming decade?! What’s the Yak-130 & ground based simulators for? What will Su-34 crews do on their 5 LCDs?

I think the Su-35 has good export prospects. Rumour has it China is interested- reason why they cancelled Su-30MK3 & Pero, also Irbis could not be retrofitted to Su-30MKs due to insufficient power generation.
Brazil, Venezuela, Iran?

MiG, I believe, is finished as an independant fighter design house- being rendered as Sukhoi’s sub-contractor (what humiliation). There was a possibility that India would buy MiG-35, but that is increasingly remote especially after the ‘Vikramaditya’ debacle.

For Russia, PAK-FA is a military necessity, not an expensive luxury.

Video of S-400 ceremony:

http://en.rian.ru/video/20070807/70484278.html

Talking to someone who works in the Russian aerospace industry here in Moscow, who gave me his impressions upon “PAK FA” (don’t ask whether he’s really in the know or not). He explained to me that there is no 5th generation fighter]

I don’t think Russia’s PM-in-waiting would have made bold statements about a late 2008 first flight of an aircraft that didn’t exist. That would be rapid prototyping indeed!

Also I don’t think M. Pogosyan would have resigned directorship of Sukhoi Design Bureau, to concentrate on managing Sukhoi Aviation Holding Company (who confirmed a late ’08 first flight) of an aircraft that didn’t exist.

I don’t think there would have been a senior Sukhoi delegation visit to New Delhi last month to shore-up Indian EMD involvement of a project that didn’t exist (especially after Sukhoi totally rejected an Indian proposal that the project be scrapped & restarted with Indian involvement from inception, as it was too advanced, some years before).

The real question is how soon will the [definitive] engines be ready, and from whom? NPO Saturn, MMPP Salyut or both?

RAC MiG expressed their disdain at the RuAF tender selection procedures after Sukhoi’s victory in 2003, and made some interesting revelations when they tried to attract Indian AF to their design, allbeit unsuccesfully.

The Su-35 is seen as a stop-gap for PAK-FA, and MLUs for MiG-31s (many of which were mothballed for a decade) are long overdue.

The Devil is in the (Industrial) Detail. So as Wolfgang Pauli once said- you’re “Not Even Wrong”.

Satorian, people like you & sferrin are probably still livid that the US failed to Saudi-Arabia-ise the Russian Federation, as all was going to plan until Putin assumed power. Oh dear, no secure, cheap oil & gas for the yanks, the ‘scramble’ for Central Asia’s natural resources- all but lost, and I won’t even start on Iraq (still, you could always invade Canada, I hear they have huge reserves).
Oh, went-off topic. I’d like to remind you that the MiG 1-44 project flew when the company was in the black, and Sukhoi managed a similar feat with their S-37. However, those dark days have gone, IMF loans re-paid, Govt. finances looking quite ‘chirpy’, Sukhoi’s order books full (even moreso once some sort of Iranian order materialises), so it won’t be long before the PAK-FA flies, under the auspices of UAC.

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Leaked 2TsNII CR RCS study screenshot taken from ‘Channel 1’ Russia (highly credible/ Govt. friendly), add ‘super hornet’ style intakes to the ‘Paralay’ artist’s impression and you’re nearly there, Savy?

Some sites are reporting this [Su-30 et al] ‘Defence Purchase’ as a done deal, using the past tense. Things are starting to make sense now, with US multi $ billion ‘aid package’ to mid-east ‘friendlies’- they must have been listening-in to Rosoboronexport’s phone calls. Anyways here we go again, back to the good old days of cold war by proxy.
I would like to congratulate M. Pogosyan, V. Putin & the Russian Government in general on a job well done!:)
Just one question, does the US-Saudi deal effect/ usurp the Eurofighter deal?