No espionage required.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B8H0X-4SSRK5P-3&_user=10&_coverDate=06%2F30%2F2008&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1591148387&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=13cbf34d67b543d729e78c59004505cc&searchtype=a

If we extrapolate from this paper and make a rather UNSUPPORTED leap you can say that it looks like they are optimizing it for transonic flight with non-AB max speeds in the Mach 1.5 range. There is actually no question that DSI will hamper max speed — which is probably the reason Sukhoi looked at it and passed. but you have to make sacrifices somewhere.

This type of intake starts to hurt performance at any speed over mach 1.

How is this 3x faster a development cycle than the PAK-FA when development started in 1997? 13 years to get to high speed runway trials means the PAK-FA would have had to be in development for some 39 years for them to achieve that wondrous 3x rate.

The PAK-FA program in its modern incarnation only started in 2002. Only in 2002 were the Su-47 and MiG-1.44 officially shelved. Remember, the MiG-1.44’s first flight took place in 2000. Up until 2002 there was still some hope for the 1.44 and Su-47.

“The Mig-29K is inferior to both the Rafale and Super Hornet. “

Based on what exactly?

Keep in mind force cuts. The VVS is going to be cut by another 1/3 in the next 2 years, same goes for the navy. It’s not as hard to modernize 80% of the force if you first cut 1/3 of it out of existence.

Ukraine today announced that there will be no funding for the An-70 program in any Ukrainian defense budget through to AT LEAST 2013. They have no money for anything. Ukraine is looking at a procurement budget of $200 million a year. If the Russians want the An-70 they will be paying the whole bill, and export prospects are basically zero even within the CIS. Russian defense exports in general are about to hit a serious soft patch. Rosoboronexport’s order book this time last year was $40 billion and today its $30, and the dollar aint anywhere near as valuable as it was last year. The next few years wont be pretty on the export side — all the hope for Russian aerospace now is in renewed domestic orders.

Il-76 production has resumed. There are a handful of orders (Jordan) and still the potential of a sale to China if the Russians can get their act together, and the Russian Air Force itself is content with the Il-76/476 line as is, and ultimately that’s all that matters. You cant say anything halfway as positive about the An-70.

They are looking for a light corvette in the 1,000 ton range. It wont be a 20380 replacement.

Gorshkov is in no way an evolution of the Talwar/Krivak line. It wouldnt take this long to build if it was merely an upgrade and they wouldnt be ordering 3 of the older type for the BSF if it was.

I also question the conclusion that this ship was built without modular design in mind. Russian tankers are most certainly modular builds today, no reason they would build warships to a lower standard than the Mikhail Ulyanov their newest 70,000 ton arctic tanker. In fact, most of the open source stuff about this class seems to throw out the “modular construction” term a lot.

The 20380 corvettes are an entirely new class. Some 130 patents came out of the design and production of the lead ship.

It shares no direct legacy with the Talwar/Krivak line.