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(Jan. 23) Chinese officials recently unveiled a new, high-tech stealth fighter that could pose a significant threat to American air superiority and some of its technology, it turns out, may well have come from the U.S. Itself.
Chinese J-20 appears to be a knockoff of the Mig 1.44. it is primarily derived form a Russian prototype. The J-20 airframe appears to be almost identical to the Mig 1.44 prototype.
The Yugoslav 250th Missile Brigade was responsible for the air defense of the Beograd area. The 3rd battery employed the S-125 (SA-3) SAM system to shoot down both a US Air Force F-117 and F-16.
The battery was commanded by Col. Dani Zoltan. It however, had some key advantages over its sister units.
According to Dani, this advantage was based on their previous research into the field of the detection, acquisition, and destruction of targets with low radar cross-sections (RCSs).
He said he and his subordinates followed articles written about the F-117 calculating how systems in service with the Yugoslav air-defense forces could possibly cope with such a threat.
Finally in 1998 he proposed minor, in-field technical modifications to the SAM system.
His team modified the UNV antenna unit and the UNK-M control cabin responsible for missile control (NATO: Low Blow).
They also made another modification to the P-18 (NATO: Dry Rack or Spoon Rest D) radar that provides target acquisition for each battery.
His superiors didn't approve the modifications.
He finally went ahead and made the modifications within his own unit without higher approval, taking full responsibility.
Although he still declines to discuss particulars of the "quick fix." The only specific Col. Dani would provide was that the modifications did not involve the use of the auxilliary Karat TV target-tracking system.
Dani added that the survivability of the VHF P-18 from US HARM missile launches is the single biggest reason for the command-guided Neva system's success compared to the semi-active Kub (SA-6) system.
The Russians also suggested that older continuous wave (CW) radars could detect the US stealth aircraft. There are also indications that the USAF was not varying the flight path of the F-117A's either in the Yugoslav theatre.
China's confirmed it's conducted a successful test flight of its new 5th generation stealth fighter. Following on the heels of the U.S. and Russia, it is now the third country to put a stealth prototype into the air.
Now Russia will have its own stealth jet fighter-bomber. Sukhoi promises to have it ready this year and start producing it in 2010.
They tell that the design of the plane is still kept secret and those sketches are the only clue that people have, but as it is known it would be a decent F-22 competitor.
PAK FA literally means Prospective (promising) Aircraft System of Frontline Aviation.
It is being developed by Sukhoi OKB, which refers internally to the project as the T-50. The PAK FA is intended to replace the MiG-29 Fulcrum and Su-27 Flanker in the Russian Air Force. It is scheduled to have its first flight in 2009 and enter service with the Russian Air Force. The PAK FA was designed to compete with the USA's F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II, the world's first fifth-generation fighter jets.
Russia is also developing a customized, twin-seater variant of the Sukhoi PAK FA, named Sukhoi/HAL FGFA, with India.
In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union outlined a need for a next-generation aircraft to replace its MiG-29 and Su-27 in frontline service. Two projects were proposed to meet this need, the Sukhoi Su-47 and the Mikoyan Project 1.44. In 2002, Sukhoi was chosen to lead the design for the new combat aircraft. The PAK FA will incorporate technology from both the Su-47 and the MiG 1.44.
The Novosibirsk Chkalov Aviation Production Association (NAPO) has begun construction of the fifth-generation multirole fighter. This work is being performed at Komsomol'sk-on-Amur together with Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association.
The enterprise's general director, Fedor Zhdanov reported during a visit to NAPO by Novosibirsk Oblast's governor Viktor Tolokonskiy on 6 March 2007. "Final assembly will take place at Komsomol'sk-on-Amur, and we will be carrying out assembly of the fore body of this airplane," Zhdanov specified. The fifth-generation fighter, which will replace the MiG-29 and Su-27 airplanes of the previous generation, was developed by the Sukhoi design bureau.
NAPO Chkalov is one of the country's largest airplane-building enterprises and is included in the Sukhoi Holding Company, ITAR-TASS notes on 8 August 2007, Russian Air Force Commander Alexander Zelin was quoted by Russian news agencies that the development stage of the PAK FA program is now complete and construction of the first aircraft for flight testing will now begin.
Maiden flight
It was announced on 5 May 2007 by Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov that the first flight of the new aircraft was expected in late 2008, almost a year later than originally expected. Sukhoi CEO Mikhail Pogosyan stated at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) 2007 exhibition in Malaysia on December 6 that the prototype will not fly until 2009. On 28 of February 2009 Mikhail Pogosyan announced that the airframe for the aircraft was almost finished and that the first prototype should be ready by August 2009.
Derivative project with India, The Sukhoi/HAL FGFA
Russia and India agreed in early 2007 to jointly study and develop a Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft Program, FGFA.[12][13] On October 27, 2007, Asia Times quoted Sukhoi's director, Mikhail Pogosyan, "We [India and Russia] will share the funding, engineering and intellectual property [of the new project] in a 50-50 proportion."[14] The Indian version, according to the deal, will be different from the Russian version and specific to Indian requirements[15].
While the Russian version will be a single-pilot fighter, the Indian variant will have a twin-seat configuration based on its operational doctrine which calls for greater radius of combat operations. The wings and control surfaces need to be reworked for the FGFA. Although, development work has yet to begin, the Russian side has expressed optimism that a test article will be ready for its maiden flight by 2012 induction into service by 2015.
Brazil in the project?
Brazil is officially out of project PAK-FA. The recent trip of Russian president Dmitri Medvedev to Brazil on November 25, 2008 did not result in the signature of any agreement related to the project. The Commander of the Brazilian Air Force, Juniti Saito, justified: "I do not want to blacken the image of Sukhoi, but the project did not fit into our necessities".
Russian sources allege the opposite, that the sales of the Su-35 fighters for Project FX-2 would not only result in technology transfer, as well as it would include Brazil in the development of project PAK-FA.
Design
Although there is no reliable information about the PAK FA's specifications yet, it is known from interviews with people in the Russian Air Force that it will be stealthy, have the ability to supercruise, be outfitted with the next generation of air-to-air, air-to-surface, and air-to-ship missiles, and incorporate an AESA radar.
The PAK FA will use on her first flights 2 Saturn 117S engines (about 14.5 ton thrust each). The 117S is an advanced version of the AL-31F, but built with the experience gained in the AL-41F program. The AL-41F powered the Mikoyan MFI fighter (Project/Article 1.44). Later versions of the PAK FA will use a completely new engine (17.5 ton thrust each), developed by NPO Saturn or FGUP MMPP Salyut.
