Are you saying you have 22nd PAKFA thread…and you don’t even know what that inlet is for ???

😮

😀

It might be the 22nd thread, but it’s also a mostly classified 5th generation fighter project still in its prototype stages. 😉

We can be sure that it has design analogies with the Flanker though, and well:
http://references.charlyecho.com/Aviation/Sukhoi/Su-27/Cutaway/su27smk-2.jpg

#89 & 134 – воздухозаборник двигательного отсека/air intake for engine compartment, aka additional component cooling and/or to feed the APUs. The APUs are located on top of the engines, see #91 – газотурбиниый стартер/gas turbine starter. So there is absolutely no reason to assume that the PAK-FA’s inlets in the same places, with related engines represent anything wildly different.

In other words, its more than merely an educated guess to link those inlets to the APUs/starters – in fact, it’s pretty much established. Maybe they both feed the two APUs, maybe they don’t and one is dedicated to cooling something, maybe they both have double purposes… Who knows at this stage. Any Flanker mechanic around that could shed some light on it? 🙂

🙂

EDIT: Countless misspellings corrected… Hey, it’s Friday. 😀

What is the large opening at the root of the rudder in PAKFA good for ?

It fires lasers.

Nah, they’re the same kind of air inlets you normally see at the rear end of aircraft – chiefly for the APU, sometimes extra cooling.

All I’m saying is that I haven’t spotted that obvious shade discrepancy before. Might very well be something that’s been around for ages. 🙂 At any rate it does not run the whole length of the slat so logic would have it being something else than merely a structural detail showing (as the AESA thing, that Mr. Asakura elaborated on).

Oh well. Apart from details and whether or not they’re new (which I take it they’re not), it’s a great bunch of shots of a beautiful machine. Can’t wait to see the 55 and whether or not it will showcase any interesting differences.

Youngest member on duty 😉

http://russianplanes.net/id102400

Sidebay gap looks different from the others, like it’s been sealed with something.

http://aviaforum.ru/showpost.php?p=1294116&postcount=172

Some nice photos of Hellducks @ Baltimor.

Now that’s a name I’m real curious about. “Baltimore” in the anglosphere seems to be derived from old Irish/Gaelic Baile an Tí Mhóir, meaning “place/home/town of the big house”. This then went straight into the Irish town of Baltimore, the surname of Baltimore and all the places in North America called Baltimore.

So why on earth do the Russians nowadays call Voronezh-B Балтимор/Baltimor? Is there any historical reason for this? Was it coined recently, for fun? Or is the name completely unrelated to the Irish and English ones?

Sorry, I’ve been bugging this thread with etymology and such several times now but I find it interesting. 😀

I know nothing of current USAF practice in the METO but it wouldn’t surprise me if they put available Raptors into an UAV escort role. I mean, just to have them do something tangible abroad to counter all the criticism about how they’re just gulping money for no particular reason. And no, I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that myself, but in this post-CW world spenditure is a delicate question in many ways.

One thing that occurs to me as somewhat strange is the UAV part of the equation though. When your UAVs become such a sensitive asset that you have to escort them using manned fighters, it does seem like a funny twist of things.

One thing that bugs me.. Russians are said to be world class in SAM systems.. No one seems to doubt that.. At the same time, the same technology, only used in airborne applications is still considered a generation behind.. Where do these prejudices come from?

It’s just an old truth that doesn’t need be contested.