The fighter of 5-th generation will rise into the air in 2009. It was at last announced on the session of Security Council in the Kremlin by the Vice-premier, Minister of Defense - Sergey Ivanov. We want to remind that only 3 years are left. Today it’s still "on hold", there is only a computer model of the machine. It required 15 years from the USAto develop similar machine F-22 "Raptor". The other figure occurs - presidential elections in 2008. Whom and who will be asked in 2009?..
Appearance of this plane (which has been already given nickname I-21 or PAC FA – Perspective Aviation Complex of Front Aircraft) will hardly raise possibilities of the Russian Air Forces in reality as it is necessary not only to work it up but also introduce the plane into mass-production, to prepare pilots, to provide them with a serious flight. Nothing from this is done now and hardly will change in the future at existing authority system.
This all – is an allure and eyewash of pure water. "The work on the complex goes on strictly according to the schedule, - the Commander-in-chief of the Air Forces Vladimir Mihajlov tells to mass-media. - Recently we have got acquainted with electronic version of PAC FA. It was a success. They have seriously gone ahead in the field of the shape formation of the future machine in “Suhoj”. Very big progress has been achieved in aerodynamics: all weapons have been put inside of a fuselage. The avionics allows finding out and distinguishing the targets effectively".
That is there is no even ready-made shape of the machine – creators "have seriously gone ahead". But the avionics "allows already finding out and distinguishing the targets affectively". Probably, it refers the targets in the Budget of the Russian Federation, in particular for the company “Russian avionics” which is close to the management of the Air Forces.
It is considered that a "new" engine 117S in NPO "Saturn" has been developed for PAC FA. However, the engine 117S represents deep modernization of engine AL-31-F, has traction of 14,5 tons that is only 2 tons exceeds parameters of a base power-plant. Moreover, it was developed for SU-35 inan export execution by that time when nothing was said in concern "Suhoj" about the order for the fifth generation. Engines are in general a weak side of domestic aircraft construction and it has been the claims for regular engines to the machines of the fourth generation from the part of foreign customers that has made ANPO “Suhoj” order modernization. Now the old order, which has been paid by the way by “Suhoj”, they try to pretend to be a new word in the domestic propulsion engineering, an exclusive working up for the fighters of the fifth generation.
The fighter of 5-th generation is also the onboard radio-electronic equipment (avionics) and armament. The cabin of a "new" fighter has been already shown within the limits of air show MAKS-2005. There are no analog devices, only liquid crystal displays. But the main secret is what part of the equipment is really made in Russiaand what is simply imported from Israeland France?
Well, there are also jokes about it. About new armament of a fighter. The newspaper "Izvestiya", probably, fulfilling the instruction "from above" told that, for example, "aircraft rockets on PAC FA would have the square form in diameter. They say that it will allow to place rockets "more densely" and thus to take aboard more of them than it could be done earlier". Probably, it was said about the profile not about the "diameter". The diameter cannot be square. One technical question is still left – will such rockets fly? Or only kept on stock?
But the most important is - if the question is about perspective working up, then no rockets have been produced to a new fighter yet? What already exists then? Modernized old "engine" with the increased resource which has only just started testing? A cabin with import displays which stop working at getting into a zone of intensive radioactive radiation?
Perhaps only catapult armchairs do not cause doubts – those ones produced on NPO "Star" are the best in the world.
