Sukhoi PAK FA News

[Inst]

I was worried about PAK-FA performance after reading an article by Doctor Carlos Kopp about the potential for IR and close-range maneuverability rendering the F-35 obsolete, but the PAK-FA's subpar stealth renders it mediocre. The F-22 supposedly can spot another F-22 at 40km, so the PAK-FA will get detected and destroyed from long-range with ramjet BVRs.

[citanon]

It's a prototype, so a lot of the problems will be ironed out on production aircraft.

The third seems a good reason.

What they did on the aircarft was "marketing stealth". IE it looks like it could be stealthy and could be used to entice potential customers to put in more money.

[biteasaur]

lerx..

what about the lerx extensions on the front of both wings that open and close,supposeddly taking the place of canards for manuvering,anybody seen the pics,also heard an indian say they stole the design from lca or something like that.

[nebula82]

It's a prototype, so a lot of the problems will be ironed out on production aircraft.

Well, best of luck to the Russians with their first foray into stealth. I hope they make the right choices in the modifications.

I think their recent track record with new weapons has not been good (look at the Bulava missile!), they've lost a lot of good people over the years (brain drain, aging population) and don't seem able to generate enough creative talent to replace these losses.

If they pull it off with the T-50 (or whatever its final designation will be) in the future then the USAF will have finally found a peer competitor.

Nebula82.

[nebula82]

The T-50 would certainly be an attractive option for friendly countries that already operate the SU-27/30/35 planes too (wonder who else apart from India will end up getting it, though that's still far down the road!).

I wonder how this will affect sales of the MiG 35.

Nebula82.

[paintgun]

I can only see Brazil aside from India, purchasing Pak-Fa
Price is speculated at around 80-100 mil, and my uneducated guess that it will only get to 100++ mil price mark when all the complementary softwares+hardwares are included

And after browsing through many forums white hot discussing Pak-fa out there (with their dose of fanboys on either side) i think what Sukhoi have in mind when they design Pak-fa is to develop a 5th generation aircraft that will do its role well in outclassing current 4th or 4++gen aircraft while maintain a sufficient deterrent against a 5th generation aircraft.
What is obvious for now, Pak-fa will not be as stealthy as F-22 or F-35

[MIKEMUN]

Waiting for the "PAK-FA pwns F-22" flames to start..

[Versus]

Youtube F-22 vs PakFA discussions are pure bloodbath...Lucky for us the Wab is a civilized place. One thing that caught up my attention on youtube front is, that there is a lot of clashes between Russians and Chinese on this matter...Weird stuff.

[paintgun]

Waiting for the "PAK-FA pwns F-22" flames to start..

don't expect any kind of flamewar to last long here, to think otherwise will be an insult to the experts here
wab is the one of the few place i am confident to post such thing without making it a flamebait

no more OT pls

[Jimmy]

I can only see Brazil aside from India, purchasing Pak-Fa
Price is speculated at around 80-100 mil, and my uneducated guess that it will only get to 100++ mil price mark when all the complementary softwares+hardwares are included

And after browsing through many forums white hot discussing Pak-fa out there (with their dose of fanboys on either side) i think what Sukhoi have in mind when they design Pak-fa is to develop a 5th generation aircraft that will do its role well in outclassing current 4th or 4++gen aircraft while maintain a sufficient deterrent against a 5th generation aircraft.
What is obvious for now, Pak-fa will not be as stealthy as F-22 or F-35

Venezuela? Depending on the price, of course.

[paintgun]

Venezuela might have the money, but they might not need the fighter, better buy more Su-MK2
But this is Hugo Chavez, Venezuela with 100+ Pak-fa? Sure he can dish out 10bil dollars for them

The next customers after Russia and India will have long years in the waiting line though. Russian and Indian purchases will keep Knaapo busy for some years

[Andrey Egorov]

And what about Su-27s retrofitted with all those PAK-FA's bells and whistles, engines included? Will they capture their piece of the market?

[paintgun]

I'm pretty sure Sukhoi will come up with a new Flanker with Pak-fa flavor later
If not we are looking at Su-35BM already
Wiki says Su-35BM is at 65mil dollars price tag, i think Pak-fa will have a more interesting price/performance comparison

There will be a flanker option for the not-so rich nations, and Sukhoi will try to market it with Pak-fa's bells and whistles

If any of European/EU nation going Pak-fa, that will be big news, especially if one switches from F-35 to Pak-fa. Very slim possibility if not unprobable.
But if Pak-fa proves itself to be a capable bird with reasonable price, who knows?

[biteasaur]

pak/fa-su/30

just watched a russian video of the pak/fa with a su/30 chase plane next to it,not running the pak design down or nothing but next to each other the su/30 looks pretty radical ,like bird of prey, fixen to pounce,i"d like to see a raptor and a su/30 together,that would be my new wallpaper.

[Moroz]

just watched a russian video of the pak/fa with a su/30 chase plane next to it,not running the pak design down or nothing but next to each other the su/30 looks pretty radical ,like bird of prey, fixen to pounce,i"d like to see a raptor and a su/30 together,that would be my new wallpaper.

here is the moment: