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January 29, 2010
Prospective (Promising) Aircraft Complex (System) of Front line Aviation
Russia tests the Sukhoi T-50, a fifth-generation fighter developed in collaboration with India.
The Sukhoi T-50 prototype took to the skies for a 45-minute flight from an airfield at the company's production plant in the Far Eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur on Friday, Sukhoi spokesman Alexei Paveshchenko told The Associated Press.
Russian officials have spent two decades trying to build the so-called fifth-generation fighter and hope the T-50 can challenge the U.S. F-22 Raptor, which first flew in 1997. The Russian project has been veiled in secrecy and no pictures of it had been released before the maiden flight.
If the prototype bearing a close resemblance to the Raptor goes into production, it will be the first major new aircraft design built in post-Soviet Russia. Officials have expressed hope that the T-50 will enter service in 2015.
Russian officials have spent two decades trying to build the so-called fifth-generation fighter and hope the T-50 can challenge the U.S. F-22 Raptor, which first flew in 1997. The Russian project has been veiled in secrecy and no pictures of it had been released before the maiden flight.
If the prototype bearing a close resemblance to the Raptor goes into production, it will be the first major new aircraft design built in post-Soviet Russia. Officials have expressed hope that the T-50 will enter service in 2015.
More on the Sukhoi PAK FA and Sukhoi/HAL FGFA.
Posted by Ghost of a flea at January 29, 2010 08:04 AM
Comments
Don't worry, the US only needs 180 odd F-22s. Remember, the Raptor is a plane without a mission. [/sarcasm]
Posted by: dpatten ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.ghostofaflea.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at January 30, 2010 10:35 AM
... And yet it's also too valuable to export to anyone else.
If anyone in Congress had a brain, they might have recognised the contradictory positions and sought to clarify them.
Posted by: Chris Taylor at February 2, 2010 08:46 AM