Differential LEF is not new, F-22, superhornet and many modern fighters use it for Roll control.

I think primarily they are talking about the LEVCONs and TVC…;)

Well regarding this indian contribution topic to PAK-FA /FGFA , no offence to our indian friends, i’ve seen alot of this “HAL can contribute expertise in composites and electronics , indian money supporting this project etc. etc.”

Imho i don’t know if there was ANY indian money involved in this project since it’s start, i’ve read here before from reputable russian posters that so far PAK-FA is 100% russian money, except of course the recently signed $250 mil contract for PMI/FGFA. Please correct me if i’m wrong.

Also imho , i don’t think HAL can at this time actually really contribute much to the project itself, if one takes a look and how the Tejas , the radar and the engine for it progressed so far , or now the problems with NP1. It’s just nothing that HAL can do better than the russians, “composites” or “electronics ” or whatever. Of course they will be involved in it like with the Su-30MKI , and perhaps a little bit more , BUT it’s not like they can actually do some aspect of the design and contruction of this aircraft better than the russians.

But even participating in the design process of the FGFA and building the FGFA from ground up like aparently they do with Su-30MKI , will be a monumental step forward for the AMCA project. They will learn how a 5th gen fighter is designed and built.

Anyway that’s just my personal opinion.

F-35 is an airplane that never needs painting because there is no paint on the exterior.

It has durable, weather-resistant RAM applied by a robot, and the RAM is a gray color.

Can i ask , when they paint various emblems and artwork on some of F-35 tails ( like the navy one), or even on the fuselage, is that coloured RAM or paint ?

Also imo, surely they must respray that RAM every once in a while, innit ?

Thanks.

Thanks for the link Berkut (though for me it’s a pretty damn bad time to suddenly have a snail speed internet :()

Not sure how you can see KS-U is installed from those pictures, but ok.

Well it looks like where the EO placement were before ( white coloured ) now you can see black/dark spots, so it is possible there is ” something” there. Btw there also seem to be two of those spots on the beaver tail between the engines, about where the parachute container is. 😉

Boy i love it when i’m wrong (…not even December bla bla …yeah sure :D)
Congratulations to Sukhoi and their team for another milestone.
Now a little pic, please please !:o

Well if we take this as reference . This is regarding T-50-2 posted Feb.12 this year.

T-50-2 should make the first taxi trials at the end of next week.

So that should have happened around Feb.20 and T-50-2 had it’s first flight on March 3, right ?

Imho when we’re going to hear word of T-50-3 taxi trials, then we should start getting excited , it will probably be couple of weeks since then. In theory, of course.

My 2 cents.

I think it will fly in January or February 2012 🙂

Is that a personal estimate or do you have inside knowledge of the programme ?:)

Thanks.

From HAL Website

http://hal-india.com/futureproducts/products.asp

HAL/Sukhoi FIFTH GENERATION FIGHTER AIRCRAFT (FGFA)

The proposed FGFA will have air combat superiority, high tactical capability, group action capability in the regions even with poor communication support. The aircraft will have advanced features like

 Increased Stealth – Low radar cross-section (RCS), Internal deployment of weaponry
 Supersonic cruise and supersonic maneuvering capability
 Data link and network centric warfare capability.

Technical Parameters

Length : 22.6 m

Height : 5.9 m

MTOW : 34 Ton

Range : 3880 km

Speed : 2 Mach

Max Weapon Load : 2.25 Ton (Int.) & 5.75 Ton (Ext)

Thrust Vectoring : With Jet Nozzle (±15 º)

Engine Thrust : 2X1400 kgf

FGFA will be co-developed with Russians. Sukhoi Design Bureau (SDB) has been selected as the Russian agency for this development project.

( via BRF )

Meh, quite slack from HAL’s part to use that image …unless of course they want to suggest FGFA have absolutely nothing to do with PAK-FA T-50 and is just a slightly “stealthified” Su-30MKI.:eek:

In light of the above i guess the above technical specs should be looked at with a small reserve of scepticism , BUT if they are reasonably accurate, then for instance one can (loosely) interpret that FGFA will have Izd. 117 engines, just like the initial russian T-50s (at least that’s the word around). I’m sure they meant 14,000kgf, although still that’s not enough lol ( isn’t Izd. 117 said to be 15,000/15,300kgf?)

Also , just a theory , we know that the two seat Su-27/30 variants have usually slightly inferior airframe performance compared to the single seaters , so one can assume it might be the same case here with T-50/FGFA?