Rossiiskaya Gazeta: “Stretching its wings”
Vladimir Putin inspects the new fifth-generation T-50 fighter plane
Vladimir Putin inspected the fifth-generation T-50 fighter plane at its Sukhoi design office and was so impressed that he suggested that the aviation luminaries next turn their attention to a fifth-generation bomber.
The main test flights of the T-50 will begin in April of this year in Zhukovsky outside Moscow, and the armed forces will begin receiving them in 2015. Before it goes into serial production, the fighter plane must make about 2,000 flights, Mr Putin said and noted that he saw no reason why all the work should not be completed on schedule. In the next ten years, the government will buy more than 1,500 planes and helicopters and 200 air defence missiles in addition to the T-50. As a result, Mr Putin calculates, the share of modern aircraft in the Air Force will rise to at least 80% and to 75% in air defense systems, increasing the capability of Russian Armed Forces many times over.
The Sukhoi General Designer Mikhail Simonov compared the process of creating a new fighter plane to a pregnancy. "The water has broken and the childbirth will now take place in several years' time," Mr Simonov, who has held his job for almost thirty years, told RG.
Sukhoi emphasizes the fighter's unique features: it combines the functions of an assault plane and a fighter and has a new avionics complex that eliminates mechanical control, allowing the pilot to guide the craft through a smart integrated control system. The T-50 can take off and land on strips as short as 300-400 m long, and it will have a speed of up to 2,100 km an hour and a range of up to 5,500 km.
However, the Prime Minister believes that there are new heights to be scaled by the Russian aviation industry. "We will not confine ourselves to developing a single model; after the fifth-generation fighter, work will begin on a future long-range strategic bomber," Mr Putin said.
The government has allocated more than 93 billion roubles to support the industry. According to the prime minister, the United Aircraft Building Corporation received 34.6 billion, the MIG corporation 30 billion, the unified industrial corporation Oboronprom 11 billion, the engine building holding company more than 10 billion, the air defence concern Almaz-Antei 5.4 billion, and the Sukhoi company 3.2 billion roubles.
Pier Petrov
