The main tests of the fifth-generation Russian fighter known as T-50 are due to start in April. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the Sukhoi design office yesterday to look at the progress in creating the fighter plane. He said that the number of the country's strategic enterprises will be cut by more than half.
This meeting at the Sukhoi design office was the sixth after the Defense Ministry sharply criticised the quality of defense industry products. Earlier, the prime minister held similar meetings with the producers of missiles and artillery weapons, space, armour, naval ships and combat control systems. However, the prime minister began this meeting not with criticism but with congratulations.
"First of all, I would like to congratulate all those who contributed to the creation of the fifth-generation fighter," Putin said. "This is a major success; it has already made three flights. But, it has to make at least 2,000 flights before serial production can begin. Judging from the way the work is progressing, there is no doubt that we will succeed."
However, one should not be complacent. The prime minister believes that the Russian defense industry, following the creation of the fifth-generation fighter plane, must start developing a new strategic missile carrier.
The prime minister recalled that "we have a good reputation" in the sphere of aviation and air defense, with war planes and aircraft missiles accounting for over 60% of our exports. Supply for the Russian armed forces is increasing. In 2010, we plan to buy 27 planes, more than 50 helicopters and five anti-aircraft systems. As a result, the portion of modern weapons used by the Air Force will increase to 80% and of air defense weapons to 75%. This will increase the combat ability of the Army many times over.
"The main problem is to stick to the deadlines for research and development and the schedules of supply and pricing," claims Putin. And, according to him: "Next in order of importance is ensuring uniformity and improving the performance of weapons and military equipment."
Serious changes are being contemplated in the defense industry. The government proposes to drop 240 companies (joint stock companies and unitary enterprises) from the list of strategic companies. A presidential decree to this effect is ready. After the cut, the list will include more than 200 strategic enterprises. "All the main defense industries and major infrastructure companies are included," the prime minister stressed.
The government expects that this "pruning" will help to bring about quick decisions on the further fate of many companies (whether to attract investments, make them part of holding companies or hand them over to the regional authorities).
"Today the Sukhoi company is the most dynamic enterprise in the military-industrial complex," a member of the defense industry's Citizens Council, Igor Korochenko, told Izvestia. "Its design potential puts it on a par with leading foreign firms and in some cases above them. The main outcome of the meeting with the prime minister is that Sukhoi's priority projects must have political as well as financial support.
Sukhoi is putting great hopes on the fifth-generation fighter project. The maiden flight took place in January 29. By now the fighter plane has made three trial flights. The plane is to be our technological answer to the American F-22 fighter and proof that Russia can produce high-tech, modern planes. It is in many ways a ground-breaking machine with some unique features, specialists say.
"We have abandoned arrowhead instruments in favour of liquid crystal displays," deputy managing director for the cabin equipment of the fighter plane, Viktor Polyakov, told Izvestia. He continued: "This is the first time we are showing it to the prime minister. The pilot will get most of the flight and combat information in the shape of symbols and signs. That will make them easier to read."
We asked the fighter plane's chief designer, Alexander Davidenko, whether the plane would be superior to the American F-22.
"We are somewhat behind schedule. We are not in a hurry. We have the time to make the kind of fighter plane we need. We can safely say that we have made great progress in the field of maneuverability and stealth. Its on-board radar equipment is being tested. Even the engine that some consider to be outdated, is a deeply modernised product which uses a fundamentally new digital control system," Davidenko said.
Dmitry Litovkin