Posted on February 6, 2010 - by Venik

Sukhoi Stealth Fighter’s First Flight

As many of you already know, last week the Sukhoi T-50 stealth fighter prototype – Russia’s long-awaited answer to Lockheed-Martin’s F-22 – completed it’s maiden 47-minute flight from the manufacturer’s test airfield in the Russian Far East. The single-seat aircraft features low-observable geometry, two widely-separated engines with 3-D thrust-vectoring nozzles,  internal weapons bays, all-movable angled vertical stabilizers, and variable-incidence LERX. The official Sukhoi video of the first flight is available here.

A total of three prototypes have been completed so far: static, runway testing and flying. Photos of two of them have been published.  The black lines on the vertical stabilizers visible on some photos are pressure feedback sensors used to fine-tune the aircraft’s fly-by-wire system. The large internal weapons bays are about six meters long. A very large HUD can be seen on some photos.

The Sukhoi T-50 (aka PAK FA) has a large proportion of all-new systems and components. The aircraft uses new Saturn engines, new integrated fly-by-wire system, new APAA radar, and a new optical detection pod. The aircraft is expected to enter service in 2015. Nothing is known at the moment about the aircraft’s target production cost. The PAK FA is expected to be produced jointly with India.

Even though most of T-50’s technical characteristics remain classified, some performance figures can be estimated based on the Russian Air Force requirements for the PAK FA project, the engine diameter, the size and key features of the airframe. The question currently burning holes through many aviation-related forums is: how would T-50 compare to its main rival – the F-22 Raptor? It is important to keep in mind that F-22 has been flying for a number of years now. The T-50 was deigned to outperform the F-22 is certain aspects considered to be key by the Russian Air Force.

The new Sukhoi fighter is about the same size and weight as the F-22, but T-50’s new Saturn engines are more powerful. This would give the Russian fighter higher thrust-to-weight ratio, faster climb rate, and higher top speed. Because of T-50’s 3-D thrust vectoring, all-movable vertical stabilizers and large variable-incidence leading edge root extensions the aircraft is expected to be more maneuverable than the F-22. The Sukhoi plane also has a higher-caliber cannon and more weapons stations – both internal and external.

Having said this, it is definitely too early to seriously compare the F-22 to the T-50. Nothing – not even the model name – is known about T-50’s new engines. Very little is know about the airframe materials and their proportions. These two missing key pieces of information make estimating T-50’s performance a highly theoretical exercise.  Superimposing the basic shapes of the F-22 and the T-50, it is apparent that, while similar in size, the Russian fighter has a much greater combined area of control surfaces. The T-50 also has more internal space for weapons and fuel, as well as larger air intakes for its more powerful engines.

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5. Jane’s is Jumping to Conclusions