First prototypes: a long road to the future
Recently, the chief designer-director of the Sukhoi Design Bureau, Mikhail Strelets, announced that a version of the Su-57 aircraft under the number T-50-11 in the so-called "pixel" color would be launched into serial production. Let us recall how the T-50 was transformed during its now rather long life.
The first prototype, made as part of the PAK FA program, took to the skies on January 29, 2010. Following the early flight prototypes, the so-called prototypes of the second stage appeared: the first of them was a copy of the T-50-6. This version was already closer to the serial appearance, but was still far from the capabilities that a combat aircraft should receive. By the way, the last of the prototypes - T-50-10 and T-50-11 - are sometimes also called "early pre-production".
All these metamorphoses mean little to an ordinary aviator. In the end, the set of equipment installed on these machines was not disclosed in detail. As well as the capabilities of individual samples of on-board electronics. In turn, people interested in this topic distinguished the built cars, first of all, by their color. It is worth recalling that the first flight prototype, the T-50-1, at first had no camouflage at all. However, even in its "naked" form, it looked no less impressive than the American F-22, with which they love to compare the Russian car.
Soon, air enthusiasts saw the T-50 in "broken" gray-and-white camouflage, which was very similar to the one used on the Su-35BM fighter, the pre-production version of the Su-35. One can, of course, assume that this is a purely commercial solution. However, in all likelihood, this is not entirely true. Back in the First World War, the English artist Norman Wilkinson proposed a new painting for ships, based on new areas of visual art, such as Cubism. He realized that by drawing unexpected lines, you can create illusions, which can make it difficult to detect an object. This approach was called Dazzle Camouflage: it did not hide the ship, but, as it were, distorted the outlines, which made it difficult not only to detect, but also to determine the distance to the target.
By the time the T-50 first flew, the Russian Air Force already had its own analogue, the Dazzle Camouflage. The MiG-29SMT received a "broken" color, which Algeria had previously abandoned due to a defect found on these aircraft (some emphasized the "political component" of the rejection of fighters). As for the T-50, then, obviously, on a fairly large aircraft, this color did not look very good. Perhaps it made it difficult to visually detect it, but it certainly did not emphasize aesthetics: and this is important when we talk about the promotion of weapons on the world market.
"Drying" becomes "shark"
It is difficult to describe the enthusiasm with which the air amateurs greeted the new "shark" camouflage, in which the aircraft 055 appeared, which is also a copy of the T-50-5. The white bottom smoothly "flowed" into the dark blue color, which was painted on the upper part of the fuselage. Because of this, the contrast between light and dark colors did not appear as sharp. In addition, camouflage had a purely practical application. On the runway, the plane seemed to merge with the surface when viewed from a height. At the same time, it was difficult to see it in the sky when viewed from the ground. Alas, the attractive camouflage did not last long, and the T-50-5 survived the fire, after which it was named T-50-5R.
The next version of the coloring, which was seen by aviation enthusiasts, was "shark number two". This is, of course, a very conventional name. First of all, the color gradient disappeared, and there was a clearly defined border between the white bottom and the dark top. At the same time, the practical meaning of such a solution has been preserved.
Pixel: a tribute to the times
The next turning point in the evolution of the Su-57 camouflage was the T-50-9. He got a blue and white pixel coloring. By that time, a number of countries had already taken a similar approach. Previously, the pixel was chosen as a camouflage for the MiG-29 of the Slovak Air Force, but in the CIS, a similar solution is associated, first of all, with the Ukrainian Air Force.
In the case of the T-50-9, the contrast between light and dark colors was somehow too striking. This is probably why the last prototypes built - the T-50-10 and T-50-11 - received a much more attractive combination of gray and dark blue colors, with which the PAK FA program is now firmly associated. It should be noted that initially these cars had a white radio-transparent fairing, which only emphasized the fidelity of the chosen color scheme.
For the 2018 Victory Parade, some of the older sides were also repainted in "pixel" camouflage, only the gray color was made much lighter than that of the T-50-10 and T-50-11, so that the vehicles began to look more like the T-50- 9, albeit without such dramatic color transitions. It is also worth noting the use of a rather spectacular scheme with a gray radio-transparent fairing on the latest prototypes. Today it is difficult to say which solutions are used on the T-50-10 and T-50-11: at different times the fairings had completely different colors.
Is the choice justified?
In conclusion, I would like to note that if the words of Mikhail Strelets are taken literally, then, obviously, the production cars will be outwardly similar either a) to the final prototypes, or b) to the early prototypes that received a "number" on the eve of the Victory Parade.
It is rather difficult to judge the practical benefits of all of the above camouflage schemes due to the fact that optical signature for a fifth generation fighter is a much less significant indicator than radar signature. "Pixel coloring gives the effect of a blurred outline, which allows you to distort the clear boundaries that the aerodynamic layout of the aircraft has," Strelets told Zvezda TV channel.
Perhaps there is common sense in such a decision. However, the fact that close air combat almost completely disappeared into oblivion, and radar and OLS began to almost completely determine the outcome of a clash in the sky, prompted the leading countries of the world to choose a minimalist approach. More often than not, it is an economical "monotonous" gray paint, like the one we see on the Dassault Rafale or Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft. So the aircraft of the Russian Air Force, obviously, will continue to contrast with the winged aircraft of other powerful countries in the world.
