Russia unveils new stealth fighter

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Russia showed off its first stealth fighter jet today, immediately proclaiming it a challenger to American military dominance of the skies.
The Sukhoi T-50 prototype, a “fifth generation” fighter, completed a 47-minute maiden test flight in Russia’s Far East. The project, three years behind schedule, has been shrouded in secrecy during almost two decades of development and aims to rival the F-22 Raptor flown by the US Air Force, which began flight tests in 1997.

Military chiefs hope to put the jet, also known as the PAK FA, into service in 2015, making it Russia’s first new warplane since the collapse of the Soviet Union. India is also due to take delivery of the stealth fighter in a development partnership with Russia.

Russian television showed a film of the jet undergoing its trial flight from an airfield at Sukhoi’s production plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. A company statement quoted test pilot Sergei Bogdan describing the T-50 as “easy and comfortable to pilot”.

The test flight was a welcome boost for the Kremlin’s efforts to modernise Russia’s creaking, post-Soviet defences after embarrassment over the repeated failure of its new Bulova sea-launched ballistic nuclear missile in submarine trials. The most recent missile test in December ended in an explosion that cast a spiral of white light over Norway, the seventh failure in twelve launches.

“All the tasks set for the first flight have been successfully met,” Olga Kayukova, a spokeswoman for Sukhoi, said. “The aircraft’s stability and controllability during the flight were rated as good. All systems and the engine of the aircraft worked smoothly.”

Many of the aircraft’s capabilities remain secret but officials have described the T-50 as the first Russian fighter equipped with radar-evading stealth technology, a key component of so-called fifth generation jets. It is believed to combine supersonic cruising speed, an operational ability of more than three hours and a range of up to 5,500km (3,430 miles), nearly twice the distance of the American F-22.
The F-22, which entered service in 2005 after a $65 billion (£40 billion) development programme, is the only fifth generation fighter currently in operation. Its developers, Lockheed Martin, claim that it has a radar signature “the size of a bumble bee” and a top speed in excess of 1.5 Mach, or one-and-a-half times the speed of sound.

Sukhoi said that the jet’s stealth capabilities represented a “significant increase in military effectiveness”. It is armed with advanced air-to-air, air-to-surface and air-to-ship missiles and two 30 mm cannons.

Anatoly Kornukov, the former commander of Russia’s Air Force, said that the new jet would be “no worse than an F-22”, adding: “I’ve been in an F-22 and I know.”

He told Interfax news: “Our SU-27 and MiG-29 planes are good but have aged. They are 20 or more years old and it’s time to have something as a replacement.”

Some experts expressed scepticism, however, that the T-50 really represented a great leap forward for Russia’s Air Force. Alexander Golts, an independent military analyst, said that it relied on old engines and the only major advance was the shape of the airframe, which made the fighter less visible to radar.

India is Russia’s sole partner in the development project and is likely to acquire a twin-seat version of the fighter for its Air Force. The prototype is a single-pilot aircraft.

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Sergei Ivanov, announced last month that test flights would begin in 2010. The T-50 is now expected to undergo intensive trials at research institutes near Moscow and in the southern Astrakhan region.

The maiden flight has been repeatedly postponed since early 2007 as the T-50 encountered unspecified technical problems. Air Force chief Alexander Zelin admitted as recently as last August that problems with the engine and in technical research remained unsolved.

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What does that mean for Ukraine or even Pakistan? A plus or negative?