The Sukhoi company press service reported that flight tests of the T-50 PAK FA fighter are continuing.
“At present, the flight and ground tests of the PAK FA (a promising aviation complex of front-line aviation) are being successfully continued. In the very near future, the second flight copy of the fighter will join the tests,”the press service reports.
The press release also talks about plans for the further development of the program of cooperation on a new generation airline complex with Indian partners.
In December 2010, within the framework of President Medvedev's visit to India, a contract was signed for the development of a preliminary design of a promising multi-functional fighter between the Indian company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, FSUE Rosoboronexport and Sukhoi. The new aircraft will be developed on the basis of the PAK FA.
“The PAK FA program brings the aircraft industry of the Russian Federation and related branches of the military industry to a qualitatively new technological level. These aircraft, together with the upgraded fourth-generation airlines, will determine the potential of the Russian Air Force over the coming decades,”said Mikhail Pogosyan, CEO of Sukhoi, also quoted in the press release.
PAK FA is a unique airline complex not only for Russia, but for the world as a whole, has a number of first-time applied features and combines the functions of a fighter and an attack aircraft.
The aircraft of the fifth generation is equipped with the latest, promising radar station with a phased antenna array and a fundamentally new complex of avionics, with the function of an "electronic pilot". These promising, unique innovations are designed to significantly reduce the workload on the pilot, thereby allowing him to concentrate on solving tactical tasks. The onboard equipment of the fifth generation fighter will allow pilots to exchange data in real time, both within the air group and by ground control systems.
The new fighter will use all the latest innovative aviation technologies, composite materials, a new aerodynamic layout and measures to reduce the engine's signature, all this will provide an unprecedented low level of optical, radar and infrared signature. Which, in turn, will increase the combat effectiveness of the aircraft in operation, at any time of the day, in any weather conditions, both for air and ground targets.
