double post.

There are a hundred different reasons why the X-32 lost to the JSF and politics probably played more of a role than any technical issue. The intake design was probably the least important of them all. The X-32’s STOVL problems are usually cited as the single biggest reason for why it lost.

If the Russians wanted an S-duct arrangement, all they would have had to do was give the Su-47 a conventional wing and call it a day. That they shelved everything about the Su-47 kinda says it all. They’ve only been flying the Su-47 for a decade now.

The patents on the T-50’s intakes kinda tell you they are not the same intakes as on the Su-27. They are not reusing anything.

What happened is technology changed and better coatings for fan blades were developed that coupled with a blocker give you better aerodynamic performance than S-ducts without sacrificing stealth. Funny enough, but it seems Boeing has come to same conclusion — see the X-32.

We have open source papers talking about performance degradation owed to curved inlets. What I have never found is papers talking about performance degradation owed to blockers. Link please?

All curved ducts on the J-20 prove is that its a conservative design and they hint at the fact that the Chinese may not have have developed the same blade coatings Sukhoi has access too — the ones they’ve been bragging about since the Su-35 first flew — the ones they claim gots its RCS down to 1^2 meter.

If you add the 10 billion in development costs the Indians are actually paying 120 million an airframe already, and not 100. Given how everything in Russia is over-budget these days that 100 million number is far more likely to be BS than the 5 radars.

You really wont find anything worth reading on Russian datalinks in the open source. The most interesting stuff you can get good info on is on the CPU’s you would find in the datalinks.

For military systems the chip most commonly used in Russia now is the 500mhz Elbrus-S basically 1998-1999 Pentium 3 level performance. The datalinks are thus at that level today, but a new chip is in the pipeline.

A 65nm 8 core 2ghz chip called the Elbrus-PF installed on a new motherboard featuring the first Russian unitary south bridge (previous Russian south bridges were on 2 or more chips) is almost ready for production. By Western standards it brings them roughly to 2006 levels. Its also being pitched for use on a new 100% Russian supercomputer.

These are not commercial products, that’s what you have to understand. The Elbrus line are fabbed on order of the Russian MoD in Taiwan or Israel (depending on the batch and year in question). There is really no limitation on the fab technology available to Russia. As long as MCST keeps designing the Russian MoD’s vital chips and controllers there wont be any STUXNET type threat to Russia, and that’s all they care about.

There is funding going to a new generation of Russian SAR sats. The first one is supposed to be launched in 2012-2013. Its meant to be the Russian counterpart to the German SAR-LUPE.

On the carrier side of things, they are still designing a new one, and will build one after 2020. They are delaying the plan a bit, but its only a delay as they still want a carrier fleet. In the mean time they will get 4 Mistrals and the Kuz will be entirely gutted and rebuilt like the Gorshkov. For the price of those 4 Mistrals they could have built a new carrier or at least gotten a good way towards one.

How many navies out there are upgrading 67,000 ton carriers and buying 4 25,000 ton helicopter carriers? Good enough for Russia. The GPV kicks up defense procurement to 67 billion a year on average for the next 9 years. Even if the GPV fails (and the portion of the GPV set for 2011-2013 will almost certainly fall through in large part) some of that spending will materialize. 3 billion in additional spending in the form of loans to the OPK in 2011 is already a reality. Almaz-Antei is looking at, at least a billion of that.

This in the face of +/-20% cuts in the US, and similar cuts all over Europe, makes Russia look damn good, and second only to China in defense spending growth.

Have you not seen the OLS system on the MiG-35? They were a hair away from an EODAS system in 2007. You think there will be no improvements for the PAK-FA? Really? You really dont think you are being just a tad intellectually dishonest?