I would like to initially say that quite often the hype in the media does not always correspond to the real state of affairs in such difficult issues as the export deliveries of 5th generation tactical aircraft from manufacturing states to third countries. Contracts for the sale of these aircraft usually go directly through the government of the state in which the corporation that manufactures the fighter is located.
Before the conclusion of the contract, specialists from the Ministry of Defense are working very closely to assess the feasibility of such a sale, i.e., whether such a contract will bring military-political and strategic benefits, or some unique indicators and design features of the avionics of unique aircraft will be at risk of leakage and further copying. … In the second case, the manufacturer refuses to conclude a contract with the customer. A similar situation developed with Japan's attempt to conclude a contract for the purchase of 5th generation F-22A "Raptor" fighters: the Americans refused to supply the Japanese Air Defense Forces with even light modifications of the "Raptors" with simplified software, or to develop a version with a simpler AN-type radar. / APG-79 or AN / APG-81, borrowed from the Super Hornet.
This refusal is quite predictable, because the US Air Force has several airfields in the Far East and the Asia-Pacific region in the Far East and the Republic of Kazakhstan, to which they can independently overtake at least a Raptor regiment from Alaska in a matter of hours and control the situation in the region … And this is understandable, the F-22A was not intended for export, the price of supplying such an advanced machine to another country could be very serious, which cannot be said about the simpler "incubator" F-35A / B. The characteristics of these machines are very mediocre, the speed does not even reach 2 sound, the range is quite normal, the maneuverability is slightly better than that of the F-4E (except for the angle of attack provided by the computerized EDSU) and only the DAS and reduced thermal / radar signatures give some advantages in long-range confrontation with fighters of the "4 ++" generation, not counting, of course, the Su-35S, which, with the help of the "Irbis", with the "Lightning" and in 150 km will be disposed of.
It is no coincidence that F-35A / B are exported to the UK, Australia and Turkey, their parameters are no longer of particular value to the States. For their Air Force, they plan to stamp more than one and a half thousand cars, and, believe me, with the best software. The Turkish will definitely not get this on their F-35A. But the most maneuverable deck F-35C (large wing area, turning speed, etc.), the Americans stockpiled only for their own fleet and are not being exported.
But there are also a number of other controversial issues that are spreading on the Internet spaces of the Russian and Western Internet, some examples of which we will now consider.
Last week, on Russian information Internet resources, information was again published that at the end of 2016, the Celestial Empire will receive 4 of our 4 ++ Su-35 generation fighters. In this regard, many experts expressed concerns that the PRC will use the technology of this machine in the further development of its fifth generation fighter
I partly agree with this point of view. Signed in 2015, through Rosoboronexport, the contract for the supply of 24 super-maneuverable multipurpose fighters Su-35S to China also provides for the transfer of a standard set of avionics, which will include the world's most powerful airborne radar for tactical fighters N035 Irbis-E, and complex for communication and exchange of tactical information S-108, and ground air communication complex NKVS-27. The on-board data exchange system S-108 can be fully attributed to the equipment of the transitional generation: it allows the Su-35S to work harmoniously both in pairs and in units, squadrons and regiments, coordinating information with ground and air points of RTR and air defense through channels encrypted by various methods communication (from pseudo-random tuning of the operating frequency to the Reed-Solomon code). The current level of development of Chinese electronics makes it possible to produce similar C-108 complexes, and therefore sending it to China does not cause any particular concern. The T-50 PAK FA, which is unlikely to be exported, will be equipped with a more advanced S-111-N tactical communications complex with qualitatively more advanced methods of encoding the transmitted information. In addition, the S-108 uses a simpler antenna-feeder system of the Potok type, and the S-111-N for the PAK FA has a more complex Aist-50 system. So on the basis of the C-108 communications complex of the Chengdu and Shenyang corporations, Russian secret technologies for the 5th generation will not be able to copy.
Another thing is the N035 Irbis-E onboard radar. Although modern Chinese fighters J-10B and J-15S are equipped with advanced radars with AFAR, the element base of the PFAR Irbis continues to be of great interest to the Chinese, since its energy capabilities are even 20% better than that of the American AN / APG-77 radar. … In addition, PFAR-radars have their own advantages, one of which is the mechanical rotation of the antenna array for viewing the side and rear hemispheres around the fighter. In a radar with AFAR, for such a review, it is necessary to install additional smaller side-looking radars, which, at least slightly, but makes the weight of the vehicle heavier.
Despite everything, we should take it easy on the probable copying of the Irbis-E technology, and most of the experts' fears are far-fetched. China today is "in the same harness" with us in confronting the global military-strategic domination of the United States and its allies. Both Russia and China, for several years now, have been in a dense ring of American naval / air bases and missile defense position areas in the APR and the Atlantic, and our common task with the Chinese is to prevent this ring from becoming even smaller, or break it quickly if necessary. Therefore, I believe that the Irbis-E technology, which makes it possible to "talk" on equal terms with the 5th generation American aviation, may well be transferred to the PRC for our common security, because we did not transfer to China the secret technologies for the production of gallium nitride airborne antipersonnel mines. Radar N036 "Belka", which are installed on the T-50. All technology transfer is carried out within a strict framework consistent with external threats and self-interest.
Many news agencies claim that the F-22 was not widely used due to its high cost. As you know, another "fifth grader" F-35 is much more widely used. But they do not strive to express accurate and intelligible information about the difference between the two machines
Despite the fact that both promising fighters belong to the 5th generation, their functionality, technical characteristics and purpose, as well as cost, are completely different. The F-35A can be considered a standard, stealthy front-line fighter-bomber "for every day", which will carry out a variety of strike missions in theater of war XXI, as well as conduct long-range aerial combat with the vast majority of enemy fighters of the "4 + / ++" generation. This fighter is not intended for super-maneuverable air combat, and in exercises it was inferior even to the F-16C and F-15E "Strike Eagle". The low maximum speed will not make it possible to perform high-speed interception of targets in pursuit, and the less powerful AN / APG-81 radar (range on a fighter-type target is about 165 km) does not give absolutely any advantages even over such a machine as the Su-30SM. The F-35A's radar signature is also 3 - 5 times greater than that of the Raptor, which leaves even a 4th generation fighter with a more or less powerful radar, for example, the Su-30MKK, an opportunity to win.
F-35A / B "fifth graders", sold out by Asia and Europe as "hot cakes", will soon be thrown into various smoldering military conflicts in Front and Southeast Asia, where they will become very formidable air combat units against the outdated Iranian Air Force fleet and North Korea. For several years, Israel has been developing tactics for using the F-35Is it is acquiring today against Iranian MiG-29A and F-14A fighters, as well as with the aim of overcoming Iran's air defenses. But if the Israeli Lightnings have no problems with the outdated Iranian tactical aviation, then the actively updated air defense based on the S-300PMU-2 and Bavar-373 will put the F-35I pilots in a terrible situation, and their prospects for a lightning strike on nuclear facilities. Iranian power engineers will come to naught. This will be even clearer after the delivery of new generation 4 ++ fighters to the Iranian Air Force, which may be Russian MiG-35, Su-30SM or Chinese J-11A / B.
In the Far Eastern theater of operations, 42 Japanese and 40 South Korean F-35A will have much greater prospects, in particular, against the DPRK Armed Forces. North Korea, despite a large number of different classes of short-range ballistic missiles (OTBR) and medium-range missiles in service with the ground forces, have primitive air defense, unable to cope with a massive missile and air strike even a pair of squadrons of South Korean F-15K (F-15E variant for the Air Force of the Republic of Kazakhstan). But there is a small nuance here: if there is a serious aggravation of the confrontation for the island archipelagos of Diaoyu and Spratly, with the active participation of the American fleet, Beijing can transfer more or less advanced anti-aircraft missile systems and fighters to Pyongyang, and then the anti-Chinese / anti-Korean coalition, even taking into account 80 F-35A, a good problem is brewing.
As for another "fifth grader" - F-22A "Raptor", the situation here is many times more interesting and serious. The cost of one F-22A today ranges from 150-200 million dollars, which is about 2 times more expensive than that of the F-35A. If the JSF program, which got its start thanks to the "collaboration" of "Lockheed Martin" with the OKB im. Yakovlev, was intended to "capture" the world arms market, cost more than 1,300 billion dollars, the YF-22 project was originally intended exclusively for the long-term renewal of the US Air Force with a fighter capable of maintaining air supremacy for at least 20-25 years. And so he became.
For 15 years of testing (until 2005) and 11 years of service (until now) in the US Air Force, the Raptor met almost all the flight crew and developers' expectations regarding the most maneuverable, high-speed and stealthy serial fighter of the 5th generation. In terms of the aggregate fighting qualities, the F-22A is several times superior to the ill-fated "Lightning". If we take as an example the use of "Raptors" in the Syrian theater of operations, then you can see only the reconnaissance and deterrent functions of these machines. They fly, most likely, with Luneberg lenses installed in order to hide the true effective scattering surface from the 91N6E surveillance radars of the Russian S-400 air defense systems and Su-30SM fighters deployed at the Khmeimim airbase. Only the 10-15% potential of the F-22A is used here. When a serious conflict escalates, where the Raptors will have to prove themselves 100%, it will be a completely different picture.
Long-range aerial combat with these fighters will be an order of magnitude more difficult than with the F-35A. An EPR of 0.05 - 0.07 m2 will not allow it to be detected at a distance of more than 120 - 150 km by any of the known radars installed on enemy aircraft. In most episodes of air battles with the F-22A, we will see a picture when the pilots of the opposing fighters will be able to understand that they have been attacked by a stealth fighter only after the alarm of the radiation warning station has been triggered, notifying of the capture of the active radar homing head of the AIM-120D missile. And only such masterpieces as the Su-35S will be able to detect it thanks to more advanced airborne electronic and electronic reconnaissance equipment.
At the moment, there have not yet been such critical situations where the F-22A might be needed, but in the future they will certainly arise. The Raptors will be used mainly as aviation for gaining air supremacy in areas with dense and powerful enemy air defense, ie. destruction of enemy aircraft over its own territories, and only the strongest - Russia, China and Iran - can prevent this domination. The range of their tasks will also include the targeted suppression of the enemy's ground infrastructure, including air defense systems, using a compact missile-bomb WTO, the basis of which is the GBU-39 SDB (Small Diameter Bomb) guided gliding bomb. In the bays of weapons, the F-22A can deliver up to 8 such bombs to a ground target.
The F-22A, equipped with SDBs, will pose the greatest threat to the anti-aircraft missile systems of the military air defense. Possessing low radar and moderate infrared visibility, they will be able to discreetly approach self-propelled air defense systems with weaker radar detection and guidance only 25-30 km, and then drop several GBU-39s. It is also not entirely easy to intercept these bombs, since their RCS does not exceed 0.015 m2. It will be impossible for such systems as Osa-AKM or Strela-10 to intercept these bombs, and only Tor-M1 / 2, Pantsir-S1 or, in extreme cases, Tungusska-M1 will be able to shoot down objects.
In wartime, the Raptors can operate both at supersonic cruising speeds up to 1900 km / h and at afterburner speeds up to 2450 km / h, which gives important advantages over most other Western fighters. And, of course, an important role is played by the super-maneuverable qualities of the F-22A, realized by the excellent bearing characteristics of the wing and vertical OVT, setting it almost on the same level as the Su-30SM and Su-35S in the BVB.
The Russian promising aircraft complex T-50, according to many Russian and Western experts, surpasses American competitors F-35A and F-22A in a number of technical parameters. But US projects were implemented much earlier. The T-50 are going to be put into service only next year. In view of this, numerous bloggers and experts in the field of military aviation are wondering whether our T-50 PAK FA will lose its solid niche in the Asian arms market, and also speculate about possible sales markets for this unique machine in the third decade of the 21st century. …
Speaking about the sales markets for the domestic promising aviation complex of front-line aviation T-50 PAK FA, it is worth remembering that the purpose of this fighter exactly coincides with the purpose of the American F-22A "Raptor". The T-50 in the most advanced versions will only be in service with the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation, and most likely will not receive numerous export modifications, as is the case with the F-35A, F-15C / E or Su-30. The only serially produced version of the T-50 for a foreign customer will be a simplified modification designed in conjunction with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, FGFA. The single and two-seater vehicles of the program will enter service with the Indian Air Force by about 2025. There is a small fraction of the likelihood that in the future, a similar FGFA version can be delivered to the Iranian Air Force, but today it is minimal.
A number of experts expressed the opinion that the T-50 may be in demand in Turkey (a NATO member) and Saudi Arabia (a longtime US ally), which means they are considering the possibility of close military-technical cooperation between Russia and these countries.
To put it mildly, this information looks not just delusional, but, I apologize for the expression, senile. And in order to assess the extent of the thoughtlessness of such data, it is necessary to imagine the conclusion of a contract between the Ministry of Defense of Belarus (a member of the CSTO and the Union State) and Lockheed Martin for the purchase of a batch of 24 F-22A or F-35A, looks very funny.
As for the grounds for such bold predictions, they do not exist at all. Even if we take into account such facts as the normalization of political and economic relations between the Russian Federation and Turkey, or military-technical cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia, which at one time bought BMP-3 from us, and can sign a contract for the acquisition of Zelenodolsk patrol ships of the ocean zone Project 22160, none of the probable few modifications of the T-50 PAK FA can enter service with the main American ally in the whole of Western Asia. As for the mention in the report of JSC Zelenodolsk Plant named after A. M. Gorky "of the possible sale to the Saudis of long-range patrol ships (PC), pr. 22160" Vasily Bykov ", then this is still" written with a pitchfork on the water."
But even if such a contract gets a real advance, then at Rosoboronexport there are also not stupid people on the ground: the Saudi Arabian Navy will receive an export modification of a patrol ship with a multifunctional illumination radar for the ship's Shtil-1 air defense system completely different from the version for our fleet. … Recently, on the Russian Internet, one could see several versions of the prototype of the project 22160, some of which are intended for the Russian Navy, others for sale on the foreign arms market. Our fleet will receive a promising multifunctional 4-way MRLS for controlling the Shtil-1 complex based on 4 AFARs built into the antenna post on the main superstructure of the ship, while the Arabian version will receive the simplest single-channel version of the Shtil-1 air defense missile system with one illumination and guidance radar 3P90 "Nut" on the front of the superstructure roof.
As for the sale of promising T-50 fighters to the Turkish Air Force, this alignment is also canceled, and even if the latter leaves the North Atlantic Alliance. From the long experience of Russian-Turkish relations, one can single out many periods of military confrontation, cooling of cooperation, as well as "aggressive play" on the side of the United States, when in 1961 the launching positions of medium-range ballistic missiles PGM-19 "Jupiter" were deployed near Izmir. And all this happened during the period of active financial assistance and the provision of billions of dollars in loans from the Soviet Union. Now relations have normalized a little, but as before, Turkey continues to sponsor the Majlis units of Crimean Tatar militants and other extremists who are preparing a "springboard" for aggressive actions by the Ukrainian army. And we didn’t talk about NATO AWACS E-3C / G aircraft AWACS (based on Turkish airbases), which regularly monitor the airspace over the Crimea and the Kuban. What deliveries of a 5th generation fighter jet for the Air Force of this country can we talk about ?!
Even if we remove the military-political aspects, and rely purely on the technical information of the Western and Turkish media, we can say that now they are focusing on the purchase of the F-35A, and also promoting their own project of the 5th generation light multifunctional fighter TFX-C100 / 200, in the design of which the British company "BAE Systems" has already been involved. The T-50 PAK FA will remain an advanced 5th generation fighter designed primarily for the Russian Aerospace Forces, with a small and tightly controlled sales market in Asia, mainly spreading to India.
