Russian aircraft will be able to compete with overseas "Predators" and "Lightning"
On January 29, 2010, an experienced Russian T-50 fighter from the Sukhoi Design Bureau took off for the first time. The flights of the new aircraft marked the next stage in the long history of the fifth generation domestic aircraft, which began more than 30 years ago.
The requirements for the future machine for front-line aviation were initially formulated by the leadership of the USSR Air Force at the turn of the 70s and 80s, when the fourth generation fighters, the MiG-29 and Su-27, were still being tested. In fact, work on a promising aircraft in the Soviet Union and the United States began at the same time, and our designers tried to endow it with approximately the same qualities that are listed in the material by Konstantin Bogdanov about American cars.
FAILURE START
The first domestic project of a fifth-generation fighter was the I-90 theme of the Mikoyan Design Bureau (autumn 1979). It should be noted that at this stage, the customer, as in the United States, has not yet prepared a tactical and technical assignment for this aircraft. It was clear that its capabilities would be radically different from the machines of previous models, and before developing the TTZ, the military on both sides of the ocean wanted to understand what the latest technologies embodied in the upcoming project could give them.
The tactical and technical assignment for the I-90 was issued in 1983, when it was possible to determine the characteristics of the future aircraft, its avionics and weapons. In 1987, the stage of protection of the preliminary design was passed, in 1991, the preliminary design of the MFI (multifunctional front-line fighter, the theme received this name) and the layout of the fighter were defended.
The machine, unlike the previous combat aircraft of the front-line aviation of the Mikoyan Design Bureau, was bulky: the maximum take-off weight of 35 tons placed it between the Su-27 and the MiG-31 heavy air defense interceptor. It is characteristic that a competing project of the Sukhoi Design Bureau, as well as the American projects YF-22 and YF-23, created under the ATF program, turned out to be plus or minus in the same weight category.
The most convincing explanation for such a "heavy weight" of promising machines is the desire for the versatility of new aircraft and the desire to increase their combat capabilities due to both a high combat load and the deployment of more powerful (and therefore larger) electronic equipment.
The Mikoyan fighter waited a long time for its first flight: after taxiing back in the winter of 1993-1994, the aircraft, which received the MiG 1.44 index, took to the skies only in February 2000 - after the collapse of the USSR, the pace of development of new technology extremely slowed down.
This slowdown became fatal in the fate of the MFI: during its revision, aviation technologies advanced, the approaches to ensuring the stealth of the machine, ideas about the most optimal layout, etc., changed. As a result, this aircraft of the Mikoyan Design Bureau was prepared for the role of a flying laboratory.
A little later than the I-90, in 1983, simultaneously with the issuance of the Air Force TTZ, the Sukhoi Design Bureau launched a project, which finally completed the most difficult work on redesigning the T-10 / Su-27 machine. Already burned due to excessive conservatism when choosing the T-10 layout, which led to a deterioration in the flight characteristics of the aircraft compared to competing aircraft and required an almost complete redrawing of the project, the OKB engineers decided to rehabilitate themselves on a new fighter, adopting an unconventional layout with a reverse swept wing and using composite materials as widely as possible.
This aircraft was developed for five years as part of the Air Force's forward-swept aircraft research program, and after the program was closed in 1988, the creation of the aircraft continued for the USSR Navy aviation, which needed a carrier-based fighter.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, work was carried out at the expense of the Design Bureau itself, which managed to lift the car into the air in 1997. The aircraft, designated S-37 (later changed to the Su-47 "Berkut"), made a very big impression on both Russian and foreign specialists. The Su-47 was much closer to the specified requirements, and it was the extraordinary capabilities of this machine, combined with the much better state of the design bureau as a whole, that ultimately predetermined the choice of Sukhoi as the lead developer of the new fifth-generation fighter project, which was launched in 2002.
PAK FA: PASSWORDS
The beginning of the 2000s was marked by the growth of the Russian economy and, as a consequence, an increase in military spending. In these conditions, the issue of the future winged combat vehicle again came up on the agenda in the RF Ministry of Defense. This is how the PAK FA program was born - a promising aviation complex of front-line aviation. The fighter, which since the middle of the decade has become an invariable hero of the military-technical press, was known by many names: product 701, I-21, T-50. The prospects for its creation were very doubtful, aggravated by the postponement of the first flight, which was first expected in 2007, then in 2008 and, finally, in 2009 … The unclear situation with the engine for the promising car also added nervousness.
In the meantime, the project was developing, and it must be said that in comparison with previous programs, the PAK FA had the most solid foundation: it was based on the already existing considerable reserve accumulated during the creation and testing of two prototypes of the Mikoyan Design Bureau and the Sukhoi Design Bureau. At the same time, "Berkut" was actively involved in the development of the PAK FA to test a number of layout solutions and approbation of new systems. Foreign experience also had a significant impact on the development of the aircraft: in particular, many experts see a lot in common between the Sukhoi aircraft and the American prototype YF-23, the unlucky rival of the YF-22, which, despite losing the tender, earned very high marks from specialists.
The example of the Raptor was also taken into account. Acquaintance with foreign experience was greatly facilitated by the extensive contacts of the OKB engineers, which turned into AHK Sukhoi, with colleagues from other countries, in particular during the implementation of the Sukhoi Superjet civil aircraft project.
As a result, the creators of the T-50 could go forward with open eyes. An additional method of safety net was the development in the second half of the 2000s of the Su-35BM (Su-35S) fighter equipped with equipment similar or close to what is planned to be used on the fifth generation vehicle.
Successful tests of the Su-35S and the beginning of their serial production for the Russian Air Force demonstrated the correctness of the chosen path. In addition, the reliability of the T-50 project increases the availability of redundant options for each of the key aircraft systems. So, to achieve the afterburner cruising supersonic T-50, the already existing "intermediate" engines "117" are sufficient, which makes it possible to calmly wait for the completion of the development of their new generation counterparts, designed specifically for the T-50.
The engines "117" of NPO Saturn are based on the AL-31 family. They differ from their predecessors in increased traction and resource.
By the way, the power plant itself cannot serve as a criterion for assigning a car to a particular generation. Suffice it to recall, for example, the main fourth-generation fighter-interceptor of the US Navy F-14 Tomcat. It first took off in 1970, and serial production of specially designed F110-GE-400 engines began almost 20 years later - in 1989.
As a result, only 37 cars were built with these engines and 50 more received them during modernization. All other fighters for almost 20 years of serial production were equipped with TF30-P-414A engines, which were initially considered as a temporary measure, but eventually turned into the main engines for this aircraft. This "substitution" led to a slight decrease in flight characteristics compared to the calculated ones, but did not prevent the F-14 from becoming one of the best aircraft of its generation.
Other key components of the T-50 also have "duplicate options", which makes it possible with a very high probability to count on the success of the program as a whole and speaks of the possibility of upgrading the aircraft in the future.
As a result, the fighter undergoing tests is already today called by many experts, including foreign ones, as a very promising platform. In the future, the T-50 is able to serve as the basis for a whole galaxy of aircraft, like the previous development of Sukhoi - the T-10, which gave rise to the branchy tree of the Su-27 and its modifications.
We can safely say that the PAK FA project was saved thanks to the participation of Sukhoi's firm. The creators of the most commercially successful family of winged combat vehicles of the last 20 years were the only specialized structure in Russia capable of “pulling out” the development of a fundamentally new fighter and possessing the scientific, financial and production resources, as well as the level of organization, necessary for such a project.
SELECTING A CONTRACTOR
The Indian Air Force became interested in Russian work on promising fighters very quickly. Such close attention to the fifth generation aircraft is easily explainable: a country claiming leadership among the states located on the shores of the Indian Ocean and a leading position in the Asia-Pacific region, having not very friendly neighbors (Pakistan and China), is forced to support its military aviation in the proper level.
At the same time, the Russian version was and, by and large, remains uncontested. There are no projects of fifth generation fighters in Europe and are not foreseen in the near future. The American F-22, even if we do not touch on the issue of its cost, is not exported, and the promising F-35 still cannot escape the growing tangle of problems - technical, financial, etc.
It should be noted that initially India's sympathies were inclined towards the project of a lighter and simpler fighter of the Mikoyan Design Bureau, which proposed two variants of the machine for the new competition - the twin-engine I-2000 tailless, which is a creative development of the MiG-29 platform, and the single-engine aircraft, the closest analogue of which can be called the JSF project (F-35) that appeared at about the same time.
However, soon the project of a lightweight fighter of the fifth generation was declared secondary and India, wanting to get the latest car in the foreseeable future, had to join the PAK FA program, choosing a Sukhoi aircraft for the role of FGFA (fifth generation fighter aircraft).
The Indian version of the aircraft, according to available information, will differ from the Russian fighter in a two-seater cockpit, a number of electronic systems and other secondary equipment. These aircraft are expected to replace the Su-30MKI in 2020-2030. It is expected that licensed production of machines will be established in India. At the same time, according to available information, Delhi intends to attract foreign manufacturers for the modernization of aircraft, including the largest Western companies, which theoretically could make FGFA a more successful system on the market than the original T-50.
WHO T-50 COMPETES WITH
In total, India intends to acquire at least 200 FGFA vehicles within 10-12 years. Several large batch of fighters should enter the Russian Air Force (including 60 - by 2020). In general, the Sukhoi Design Bureau estimates the need of the world aircraft market for aircraft of this class at about 1000 units, while the T-50 has every chance of satisfying it. The closest competitor of the T-50, the American F-22, is currently not being produced, and the export of the Raptor, as mentioned above, is prohibited by law.
Comparison with another fifth-generation aircraft undergoing testing, the F-35, which, on the contrary, is supposed to be actively sold abroad, clearly demonstrates the advantages of our fighter. At a lower price, the T-50 has much broader capabilities due to superiority in combat load and the range of weapons. In addition, the T-50 as a whole is a machine designed with much less technical risk compared to the F-35, which, especially in the F-35B variant, is built literally "on the edge of technology."This edge is felt very well in more and more new problems of Lightning - from design (in the form of "busting" in the mass of a fighter) to production ones that pop up on the sly (for example, frequent and sudden breakdowns of seemingly worn-out aircraft components).
But even in the absence of restrictions similar to those imposed on the export of the F-22, the free acquisition of American military equipment at an affordable price is the lot of the main allies of the United States, to which, for example, India cannot be attributed.
FLYING TIGERS OF THE CENTRAL
Just like Russia and the United States, the PRC realized the need to develop a fifth generation fighter quite early - in the 80s. Chinese engineers began conceptual studies on this program in 1989. Specialists from the country's leading aviation research institutes were involved in the work: 611 in Chengdu and 601 in Shenyang.
The normalization of relations between Moscow and Beijing, which took place during the late 1980s and 1990s, opened the PRC access to Russian reserves. The Chinese used the knowledge and experience of SibNIA employees (Siberian branch of TsAGI, Novosibirsk). By the way, in addition to providing practical assistance in the design of a new aircraft, they participated in the modernization of machines produced in the Celestial Empire, as well as in the alteration to the Chinese requirements of the Israeli project Lavi, launched into series under the J-10 index. Representatives of other developed aviation powers, including the Antonov Design Bureau, Boeing and Airbus Industry, also did not stand aside.
Information about the Chinese fifth generation aircraft is extremely contradictory. According to one of the versions, a twin-engine heavy fighter is being developed in the PRC, which is "in the same category" with the F-22 and T-50. In 2008, however, information appeared that a light fighter was also being created in the Celestial Empire - something like an analogue of the F-35. True, the prospects for success are being questioned here: work on this machine in the United States is going on with difficulty, and therefore one cannot expect that China will be able to quickly resolve a complex set of technical and economic issues.
LAYOUT OF A POSSIBLE FUTURE
Apart from the United States, today only Japan has become a post-industrial state, intent on acquiring its own fifth-generation car. The only information available to the "broad masses" about the project is a photograph of the model of the new aircraft in the factory shop. At the same time, Tokyo is one of the customers of the F-35 fighter, which should be based, in particular, on promising light aircraft carriers of the Japanese Navy.
The Land of the Rising Sun certainly has the potential necessary for the design and creation of promising aviation complexes, but here the question of the economic feasibility of such spending arises. Obviously, work on a fighter similar in capabilities to the T-50 and F-22 will be very expensive.
Meanwhile, there is no special need for such a "feat" - the United States is ready to come to the aid of its Far Eastern ally if Japan is attacked. As a result, the development of a fifth-generation aircraft could be a somewhat political step for it, which would mean Tokyo's desire for greater independence from Washington.
INSTEAD OF EPILOGUE
The division of post-war combat aircraft into generations may not be the most successful way to classify, but it is very visual. There is, perhaps, no better illustration of the approach of modern industry to the technological barrier than the narrowing of the circle of countries independently developing and building combat winged vehicles belonging to the next new generation. An even more vivid evidence is the reduction in the number of manufacturing firms and, accordingly, projects.
Each next generation of combat aircraft requires more development time (despite the tremendous growth in computing power) and costs several times, if not an order of magnitude, more than its predecessors. Currently, every minor improvement in performance characteristics requires huge costs and is not always possible in principle.
The last time such a barrier faced piston aviation was in the 40s of the last century and was overcome by the transition to jet aviation. It could take tens of years "in the usual way", but it took five years in the military aviation of developed countries, and in the civilian - in 15 years thanks to the tremendous impulse that the Second World War gave to the development of technologies.
Today, an armed confrontation of the same magnitude is unlikely to give such an impulse, rather it will lead to the destruction of an industrial civilization, so the barrier will have to be overcome manually. How long it will take, as well as how it will end, until no one undertakes to predict.
