Russia showed off its first stealth fighter jet yesterday, 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.