Quote:
|
Originally Posted by canoe
Replying to Garry's post:
This isen't a design for competition with the Raptor (its finicially impossible for the Russians right now even taking labour savings into account) this is a design to compete with the JSF.
As stated in the article the engine they're designing to compete with the JSF is the AL-41F, as of 2004 it was 30% complete and needed another 600-800 million to finish plus another 150 million (minimum) to prepare it for serial production.
The other MAJOR issue the Russian airforce is rapidly approaching is alot of their aircraft are ageing and will need to be replaced in the very near future, given the budget constraints of the Russian military their going to need a cheap alternative or they'll be force to ground a large segment of their airforce and reducing in the air training time for all their pilots.
Given their situation I think they're better off designing a cheaper replacement for their aging aircraft and put more money into developing better avionics and weapons immediately. The next generation of missiles are 5 years off and currently the Russians have nothing definitive coming to compete with European or Amercian weaponary.
The big issue is the Russians seem to be they're obsessed with trying to maintain numerical parity with the U.S in terms of military hardware. The realistic situation is Russia would stand to gain alot more by downsizing its military to something more the size of the British or French militaries and start focusing on quality rather then quanitity. Right now the majority of the Russian navy is in such poor shape its dangerous for them to leave dock, for any other military that would be unacceptable.
|
Sorry that I can not reply to you in full now. But looking at the size of funds which Russia can spend on Generation 5 engine and how much it actually costs I can say it is possible but a POLITICAL decision must be made. Regarding the labour differences...... look a head of orientation department for all Russian piloted program earns 10,800 rubles a month that is less than $500 = $6,000 a year. This guy is VERY VERY qualified and don't judge his quality by the amount he earns. His peer in NASA earns 50 TIMES MORE...... If NPO Saturn tenders to do int for $2.5bn they are really capable to do it and I see no point for others to doubt having nothing to measure what the cost to make such an engine might be for them..... Listen you don't know at what stage is development of this engine is now.... and how much was invested into this in a Soviet times to dudge how much is left to invest.... I don't know it as well. So that is why when Mr. Lastochkin tells $2.5bn it is probably around that.