The adoption of the T-50 into service was again postponed for a year
The flight test program of the promising front-line aviation complex (PAK FA) T-50 is progressing quite successfully, but the aircraft itself is still far from being put into service. In this case, the final technical appearance of the fighter will be formed a few years after entering service. The reason for this can be partly attributed to the devastating 90s, which threw the defense industry back decades ago, as well as the lack of reliable production facilities. But all difficulties can be overcome.
Today, four flight prototypes are taking part in the T-50 flight test program, and by the end of 2013 another aircraft is to join it. All tests are relatively successful, as far as can be judged from open sources. However, the fact that not everything is going smoothly is evidenced by the following fact: out of four aircraft, only three “fifties” took part in the flight program of the MAKS-2013 air show held in Zhukovsky near Moscow at the end of August.
For the first time they showed the public a group flight, aerobatics and aerobatics, including flying in formation, flying, barrel, loop and the legendary “Pugachev's cobra”. However, it was originally planned that all four prototypes of the promising fighter would fly in the skies over Zhukovsky - they were supposed to demonstrate the "diamond" shape. However, even in the “cut down” group, the planes proved to be effective, especially in a single aerobatics program, demonstrated by test pilot Sergei Bogdan.
Difficulties are surmountable
Why only four aircraft were admitted to the flight program is still a mystery. The Sukhoi company either decided to reserve one for an expanded test program (the fourth prototype T-50 was equipped with new avionics, including a radar station with an active phased antenna array H050), or for some reason could not prepare a flight prototype of a promising fighter for demonstration flights.
An indirect indication that during the implementation of the program for the development of the T-50 "Sukhoi" is faced with various kinds of difficulties, is the next postponement of the adoption of the fighter into service. During the same MAKS-2013 air show, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force, Lieutenant General Viktor Bondarev, announced that the T-50 would enter service only in 2017.
Earlier, the leadership of the Ministry of Defense announced that the T-50 would be serially supplied to the troops from 2015, but later revised this deadline and named a new date - 2016. If, after a year or two, the military suddenly announces that the T-50, Russia's first fifth generation, will begin entering the troops in 2018 or 2019, it shouldn't be surprising. However, it is impossible to categorically assert that everything is bad with the PAK FA. According to Bondarev, the Air Force will receive the first flight model of the T-50 for testing at the end of 2013. And by the middle of this summer, all flight prototypes of the fighter had already completed more than 500 flights.
But it is also impossible to say that the program is progressing in strict accordance with the original plans. Let's just remember that back in 2010 it was asserted that in 2013 the Lipetsk center for combat use and retraining of flight personnel would receive the first ten T-50 prototypes. Now we can confidently assert that he will not receive it. If only because these ten cars were not built. There are only five T-50s in the iron, the construction of the sixth aircraft has been approved, and there is no reliable information on the remaining four PAK FA.
These understandable difficulties are partly associated with the devastating 90s, when, due to the collapse of the USSR, the need to form a new economy, and then a large-scale crisis, military programs were practically curtailed. The victims were the projects of the fifth generation fighters MiG-1.44 and Su-47. However, some of the developments obtained during the creation of the latter were used in the design of the PAK FA. In particular, the production capacity of the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aviation Plant does not yet allow for a large-scale production of the T-50, this will require significant investments.
In addition, in the 90s, there was a significant lag in the Russian electronics industry, which resulted in a long design and production of new electronic systems. Because of this, the transceiver modules of the T-50 airborne radar station are now produced not at one of the developer's enterprises (in this case, the Tikhomirov Research Institute of Industrial Problems), but piece by piece at the Istok Research and Production Enterprise in Fryazino near Moscow. Such a piece production makes the entire system more expensive and negatively affects the production time, although the radar itself for a promising aircraft shows excellent characteristics.
In general, of the entire project, it seems that only the armament for the aircraft, developed by the Tactical Missile Armament Corporation, meets all the deadlines. Some of the missiles for the new combat aircraft are ready and undergoing testing, while others are in the final stages of development. At the same time, all promising ammunition is awaiting permission to conduct tests on board its carrier. Such tests may begin as early as the end of 2013. In the meantime, the development of new weapons can only be carried out on Su-35 fighters.
There is no definite clarity about the so-called second stage power plant for the T-50. At present, the latest prototypes of the aircraft, and in the future, the first production samples, perform flights using AL-41F1 (Product 117) engines, largely unified with the AL-41F1S power plants (Product 117S) for the Su-35 … Later, if all goes according to plan, the T-50 will receive its own fifth-generation engines, known as the Type 30. The work on these engines is practically in its infancy: by the end of 2013, the Lyulka Design Bureau should only complete the technical design of the power plants and issue the technical documentation necessary for the production of a gas generator and engine demonstrator.
Development work on the Type 30 project is expected to be completed in 2015-2016. However, it should be borne in mind that the novelty of the power plants and their technical complexity will require thorough bench and flight tests. According to various estimates, Russian fifth-generation fighters will see new power plants only in 2025–2027. The power plant design includes several stages: the development of a low pressure compressor, gas generator, high pressure compressor, combustion chamber, high pressure turbine, low pressure turbine, afterburner and nozzle.
All the listed difficulties, which have not been officially confirmed, are quite surmountable and the Russian government is aware of them. In any case, during the development and adoption of the State Armament Program for 2011–2020, it was envisaged not only to finance the purchase and development of new weapons and military equipment in the amount of 20 trillion rubles, but also to conduct research and development work, modernize defense industrial complex and rejuvenation of personnel. It is planned to spend more than three trillion rubles on the last items by 2020. However, the budgetary constraints that the Russian authorities are currently confronting may make some adjustments to these plans.
But on the whole, the mood of the Russian authorities is encouraging. Positive factors include the greater openness of the authorities and, in particular, the military department on the issue of the state defense order, the provision of state loans and guarantees for debt obligations of enterprises of the domestic military-industrial complex, and the readiness of direct financial participation in risky projects that are important for the country's defense capability.
In the meantime, little is known about the promising Russian fighter (the Ministry of Defense has already acquired 60 aircraft, the Air Force's need for T-50 vehicles is estimated at 150-200 units). Despite the fact that the PAK FA, starting with MAKS-2011, has been performing public flights for three years, the project is still classified. Neither technical nor flight characteristics of the promising machine are known.
Previously, it was only officially reported that the fighter uses several stealth technologies, and composite materials are widely used in its design. The aircraft will be distinguished by a high level of intellectualization of the board, it will be able to take off and land on a runway with a length of 300-400 meters and perform combat missions in any weather and time of day. The Russian fighter will also be super-maneuverable and capable of cruising at supersonic speeds.
The main difference between the T-50 and other heavy fighters will be the presence of not only the main radar station, but also the rear and side surveillance active and passive radars. These systems will have to provide all-round visibility to the fighter. The aircraft's armament will be able to hit air targets not only in the front, but also in the rear hemisphere. The T-50 pilots will be able to receive all the necessary information about the air situation thanks to the new data display system on the helmet-mounted display. The research and production enterprise "Zvezda" is engaged in the creation of such a system. The new helmet for the system is being developed on the basis of the ZSH-10 protective helmet.
Fighters and UAVs of the sixth generation
It is curious that although the work on the fifth generation fighter project is still far from complete, the Russian defense industry enterprises have already begun to create the sixth generation fighter. In any case, General of the Army Pyotr Deinekin, former commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force, announced this at the end of August. At the same time, he nevertheless noted that "we will hardly be able to jump through generations," which means that before entering the troops of the sixth generation aircraft of the Air Force, we will have to master the fifth. Test pilot Sergei Bogdan suggested that the creation of the sixth generation of combat aircraft would be completed no earlier than 15 years later. “It would seem that technologies are developing quite quickly, but still 35 years have passed from the fourth generation fighter to the fifth generation,” Bogdan said, noting that despite the fact that promising fighters will become unmanned, manned aircraft will still survive for a long time. It is not yet known what the Russian sixth generation fighter will be like. The US Department of Defense classifies combat aircraft as the sixth generation capable of flying without a pilot at hypersonic speed (more than Mach five, about 5, 8 thousand kilometers per hour), and also operate in areas with full or partial prohibition or restriction of maneuvers.
In addition to reports on the development of a sixth generation fighter, it is also interesting that the Sukhoi company is developing a heavy attack unmanned aerial vehicle, which will use the technologies of a promising front-line aviation complex. Mikhail Pogosyan, President of the United Aircraft Corporation, spoke about this at the MAKS-2013 air show in Zhukovsky near Moscow. The mass of the new attack drone will be about 20 tons.
It is possible that drones will use only control systems, composite materials, stealth technologies and some technical solutions for the fuselage. Some experts have suggested that Sukhoi will create a smaller unmanned version of the T-50 fighter, although the feasibility of such a solution raises many questions. The empty weight of the T-50 is supposed to be 18 tons, and the maximum take-off weight is 37 tons. However, it is not yet known for what purposes such a large drone can be used and what kind of weapon it will carry.
In case of successful implementation of the strike drone project, the Russian aircraft could become the heaviest strike vehicle of this class in the world. Thus, the MQ-1C Gray Eagle attack UAVs currently used by the Americans, controlled by a satellite channel, can carry weapons and sensors with a total weight of up to 450 kilograms. The maximum take-off weight of such vehicles is 1.6 tons. The RQ-4 Global Hawk strategic reconnaissance vehicle, capable of operating at high altitude for 28 hours, does not carry a weapon. Its maximum take-off weight is 14.6 tons. The Israeli attack drone Heron-TP (in the Israeli Air Force it is in service under the Eitan designation), comparable in size to the Boeing 737 passenger airliner, weighs only 4.7 tons. It can carry weapons and sensors with a total mass of up to two tons, stay in the air for up to 70 hours and fly at speeds up to 370 kilometers per hour.
Sukhoi is developing an attack drone under a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry, signed in July 2012. The Russian aircraft manufacturing corporation MiG, which previously designed its own Skat attack drone, is participating in the project. For the Russian military department, a strike unmanned vehicle weighing up to five tons and a reconnaissance mass of up to a ton is also being developed. The last two projects are carried out by the Sokol and Transas companies.
As a result, we can say the following. The development of a fifth generation fighter is extremely important for Russia, not only because of the need to maintain the Air Force fleet at a high technological level. This project will make it possible to obtain developments and technical solutions, which will subsequently form the basis of promising projects, including drones and sixth generation fighters. It will also provide an opportunity to more actively promote domestic science and support the economy through the creation of jobs, as well as the export of new combat aircraft. According to Sukhoi's estimates, the demand of the world combat aviation market for Russian fifth-generation fighters is about 600 units. 200 of them will be bought by India as part of the joint FGFA project (creation of a fighter for the Indian Ministry of Defense based on the T-50), 200 - by Russia, and the remaining 200 aircraft will be supplied to third countries.
