Posted on 02/14/2010 6:52:06 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Within a span of days, Russia's fifth generation fighter aircraft developed by Sukhoi Corporation under its highly secret PAK FA project Friday made its second successful flight in the country's far east.
The flight carried out from the KNAAPO plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur lasted 57-minutes, ten minutes longer than its maiden flight on January 29 and the fighter was painted in the combat colours of the Russian air force, according to Interfax.
This time also it was piloted by test-pilot Sergei Bogdan, who expressed satisfaction at the performance of the aircraft to be inducted by the Russian Air Force in 2015.
Indian Air Force, which would acquire 50 single-seater fighters of the Russian version, would induct another 200 two-seater fighters beginning from 2016, according to reports.
Under the 2007 intergovernmental agreement Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has been identified as the nodal agency in the project and a commercial deal on setting a JV is expected to be finalised during Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit in mid-March.
Chief of the Russian General Staff, Army General Nikolai Makarov said the new fighter, in which India is a partner, would be superior to the US F-22 Raptor- the only flying fifth generation fighter.
"It would have an artificial intellect, almost at the level of human intellect," General Makarov was quoted as saying by agencies.
(Excerpt) Read more at brahmand.com ...
ping
What idiots these liberals are.
Yeah, but you have to have Clint Eastwood speak to it in Russian...
"It would have an artificial intellect, almost at the level of human intellect," General Makarov was quoted as saying by agencies.
I guess they finally moved on from vacuum-tube electronics.
Russia and China have been holding joint war games every other year since 2005. The latest apparently took place on July 22-27 of last year.
"Russia and China will hold their joint military exercise on July 22-27 on the territories of the two countries. About 3,000 military men, 300 units of military hardware, over 40 planes and helicopters will take part in Peace Mission-2009 drills. About 1,500 servicemen, T-80 tanks, BMP-1 and BTR-70 armored vehicles, 22 aircraft, including two Il-76 cargo planes, five Su-24, five Su-25, five Su-27 fighters and five Mi-8 helicopters will represent Russia in the drills."
http://www.russiansentry.com/?area=postView&id=1409
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[2009] Russia, China plan new joint military exercises
By MARTIN SIEFF, UPI Senior News Analyst
Published: March 26, 2009
WASHINGTON, March 26 (UPI) -- The continuing tensions over Russia's refusal to sell its state-of-the-art land warfare advanced weapons systems to China hasn't interrupted the rhythm of major joint military exercises between the two major land powers on the Eurasian landmass. The latest in the regular, biennial series of exercises between the two nations has been confirmed for this summer.
The next in the now well-established series of exercises called Peace Mission 2009 will be carried out in northeastern China, the Russian Defense Ministry announced March 18, according to a report carried by the RIA Novosti news agency.
The first bilateral Peace Mission maneuvers -- described at the time as counter-terrorism exercises -- were held in Russia and the eastern Chinese province of Shandong in August 2005. As we reported at that time, they were a lot bigger than mere counter-terrorism exercises. Warships, squadrons of combat aircraft and more than 10,000 troops were involved carrying out landings against hypothetically hostile shores. The maneuvers also involved large-scale paratroops drops. The scale and nature of those exercises suggested a trial run for a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan with Russian support. ..."
http://www.upi.com/Security_Industry/2009/03/26/Russia_China_plan_new_joint_military_exercises/UPI-25021238094858/
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Russia, China flex muscles in joint war games
August 17, 2007
CHEBARKUL, Russia (Reuters) - Russia and China staged their biggest joint exercises on Friday but denied this show of military prowess could lead to the formation of a counterweight to NATO.
"Today's exercises are another step towards strengthening the relations between our countries, a step towards strengthening international peace and security, and first and foremost, the security of our peoples," Putin said.
Fighter jets swooped overhead, commandos jumped from helicopters on to rooftops and the boom of artillery shells shook the firing range in Russia's Ural mountains as two of the largest armies in the world were put through their paces.
The exercises take place against a backdrop of mounting rivalry between the West, and Russia and China for influence over Central Asia, a strategic region that has huge oil, gas and mineral resources.
Russia's growing assertiveness is also causing jitters in the West. Putin announced at the firing range that Russia was resuming Soviet-era sorties by its strategic bomber aircraft near NATO airspace.
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-29030120070817?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
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War Games: Russia, China Grow Alliance
September 23, 2005
In foreign policy it’s critical to “know thine enemy.” So American policymakers should be aware that Russia and China are inching closer to identifying a common enemy — the United States.
The two would-be superpowers held unprecedented joint military exercises Aug. 18-25. Soothingly named “Peace Mission 2005,” the drills took place on the Shandong peninsula on the Yellow Sea, and included nearly 10,000 troops. Russian long-range bombers, the army, navy, air force, marine, airborne and logistics units from both countries were also involved.
Moscow and Beijing claim the maneuvers were aimed at combating terrorism, extremism and separatism (the last a veiled reference to Taiwan), but it’s clear they were an attempt to counter-balance American military might.
Joint war games are a logical outcome of the Sino-Russian Friendship and Cooperation Treaty signed in 2001, and reflect the shared worldview and growing economic ties between the two Eastern Hemisphere giants."
Our adversaries are starting to catch up with us. It was ridiculous to discontinue the F-22 because we aren’t using them in the War on Terror. I certainly hope this isn’t a trend we will continue to see. In the U.K., Gordon Brown wants to cut the fleet of nuclear submarines from 4 to 3. Part of having a capable deterrence is being prepared for unforeseen threats. Then again with the Chinese military-industrial complex growing leaps and bounds while resource scarcity may be a challenge in 10 years, I don’t see how anyone could rule out Wars between major powers.
LOL
They'll probably wait until their comrade in the White House is out of office. After he finishes crippling our defenses.
Sorry, I screwed up and italicized my comment as well as yours.
lol “superior to the F-22..” in what way? Cost maybe? ;-D
That Russian bird is still in development. Nothing on that plane is gen V yet...it uses recycled equipment and engines. It’s still vaporware until a real production unit actually takes flight.
I agree. The Russians are way behind the United States in regards to stealth technology
Really doubt it has almost human level intellect. IT could have expert systems running, it could have certain heuristics, but that ain’t “almost human level intellect”.
You need to have ‘almost consciousness’ to be able to say ‘almost human level intellect’.
I thought the new MiG was supposed to deal with the raptor....
A couple of thoughts: for one the new MiG you might be referring to is the MiG-35 'Super Fulcrum,' which is an evolution of the MiG-29 Fulcrum using work done on the MiG-29 OVT, which gives the -35 an AESA radar, longer legs, a much superior avionics suite, better engines, new weapons (such as an evolution of the R-77 for long range, and an evolution of the R-73 for short range) and true 3D thrust vectoring. However, it was never meant to deal with the Raptor ...instead it is intended for the Indian MRCA contract, where the Indians are looking for around 126 multi-role aircraft to match their SU-30MKIs. The craft is not meant to match up against Raptors but rather to be better than anything the Pakistanis have (which it does ...easily, even against the Pakistani F-16s), as well as be a good backbone against the Chinese (debatable ...most of the Chinese warbirds are quite old, but the planned SU-35 purchases, the under limited production J-10s, and the SU-27/30MKK/J-11 would not be an easy laugh for India). Thus, if this is the new MiG, then it is meant to be a counter for India against any 4th generation (and some Gen 4.5, though not all) that India may bump into in the region. Note that the other contenders for the Indian MRCA program are the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Dassault Rafale, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the F-16IN 'Super' Viper, and the Gripen NG.
Now, there was meant to be a MiG 5th generation platform (actually several, with one that flew called the 1.42/1.44 MFI; and a proposal for a smaller version of the PakFa to be to the PakFa what the F-35 is to the F-22), but none of them were pushed forward. The Russians decided to go with the PakFa project after realizing that the 1.42/44 wouldn't be competitive, as well as due to cost constraints during the dark days of Yeltsin. The wait seems to have paid off for them since the PakFa by coming out quite some time later benefited from better technologies, more knowhow, and a fatter Russian wallet due to oil and natural gas.
Now, as for the PakFa dealing with the Raptor, that is also not what the real function of this plane is. It is just that the media and Cold War warriors always tend to see things that way.
To start with, the plane is not as good (let alone better) than the Raptor. The Raptor was built with far stricter tolerances when it comes to stealth ...for instance it is all-aspect stealth (as opposed to the far less stealth to be found in - say- the F-35, which is only optimized towards frontal aspect X-band, has a far weaker stealthiness aspect to IR which becomes atrocious to the rear, and would be easy to track by L-band and quite possibly S-band radars ....which is why ORIGINALLY BEFORE THE RAPTOR WAS SEEN AS 'USELESS' BY THE BUSH AND OBAMA ADMINISTRATIONS the purpose of the F-35 was to come in once the Raptor and the B-2 have pounded any of the really bad defences present). The F-22 was intended not only to be superior to future stealthy Russian planes, but also as a deep advanced IADS (integrated air defense system) networks. The PakFa is not that.
What the PakFa is is an advanced 5th generation airframe that stems from a defensive point of view, and that is oriented towards defeating any future CHINESE fighters. This is easy to see when viewed from a Russian AND Indian context. Quite similar to why the Indians developed the BrahMos supersonic (soon to be hypersonic) cruise missile with the Russians, and why it is not being offered to the Chinese. China is the major nation threat to both India and Russia, and where their defensive budgets are oriented towards. It is not Pakistan for India, nor the US for Russia ...it is China. There are some huge tracts in Siberia that China believes belong to it (and that it 'lost' while it was too busy engaged in the Opium wars), and ofcourse the issues and wars fought between India and China. If you look at the area, all around China there are nations that are forming affiliated 'blocks' (e.g. Viet Nam, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Russia, India ....the US).
The PakFa is primarily a Chinese centered solution, particularly now that the Chinese are now working on their own 5th generation program (the J-12/13/XX program).
Is the PakFa 5th generation?
Well, yes! It is stealthy (in the frontal hemisphere mostly, and against X-band in particular, but then again so is the F-35), it can supercruise (like the Raptor ...and unlike the F-35 which cannot), has a powerful advanced X-band AESA (like the Raptor and the F-35), has other AESA radars in its chin and the leading edges of the wingtips (Ka and L band AESAs, which the Raptor is capable of carrying in the 'cheeks' but currently does not have, and which the F-35 does not have ...these can be used to track lower stealth aspect planes like the F-35 and JXX), an advanced OLS infra-red tracking and targeting (which can be used to track stealthy planes that are not too careful about their IR signature), has internal carriage of weapons in bays, has good fuel fraction, etc. It is definitely 5th generation, just not as strictly all-aspect like the F-22 Raptor (but then again, neither is the F-35).
I think calling this plane a Raptorski, as some in the media have been doing, is not appropriate. It is not a Raptor analogue, in as much as the F-35 is not a Raptor analogue. The only way it would stand up against the Raptor is if the Russians and Indians were to go to war against the US (highly unlikely), were to have over a thousand of these jets against the 187 Raptors (unlikely too since the planned production is 500 ...250 for the Indians and a similar number for the Russians), or were to sell it to the Chinese and the Chinese crank them out in large numbers (Russia has been smarting after selling planes to the Chinese and having illegal copies made ...e.g. the SU-30MKK into the J11 thing, and just a couple of months ago refused to sell to the Chinese the SU-33 naval Flanker. There are some doubts that the SU-35 will be sold to the Chinese as well, but that remains to be seen. Jointly developed with India weapons like the BrahMos are not on offer to the Chinese, and neither will the PakFa). The PakFa would not be able to deal with the Raptor 1 on 1, but may be a real threat to the F-35 ....but the two will not meet up.
It is the PLAAF that needs to be worried here rather than the USAF.
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