first public flight of Sukhoi T-50

[jamesdevice]

yesterday apparently Russian stealth 1st public flight sukhoi pak fa t-50 at maks airshow | (http://www.izlesene.com/video/russian-stealth-1st-public-flight-sukhoi-pak-fa-t-50-at-maks-airshow/4321531)

[Buster Hyman]

So, if the Raptor's not for sale....:ooh:

[STANDTO]

Is that all it does?

[Wander00]

Obviously did not take a lot in entry fees for the show!

[hval]

It's a very dark night when I go to that link. Must be very quiet also as I can't hear it :O

[jamesdevice]

takes a long time for the video to load - must be a slow server

[ACSfirstfail]

Me thinks he wasn't really trying! It also hasn't got vectored thrust nozzles yet.

[Gocatcomplete]

Not much of a stealth fighter, you can see it.:hmm:

[jamesdevice]

Pravda like it!
Sukhoi PAK FA T-50 much more powerful than USA's F-22 Raptor - English pravda.ru (http://english.pravda.ru/russia/economics/18-08-2011/118783-pak_fa_raptor-0/)
I like the statement "The technical specifications of the missiles for the jet exceed the analogues of the US aircraft. In addition, the T-50 can fire the missiles hidden in internal departments at hypersonic speed. The US fifth-generation aircraft can not do this and has to decelerate for the purpose."

I hope they don't really mean that..

[glad rag]

BBC News - Russian stealth plane shown off at Moscow airshow (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14568093)

[stumpey]

Leading edge slats? Shirley they should have adaptive shape technology by now?

And wouldn't the camo be better the other way round with a dark centre leading to feathered lighter edges?

The display lines no closer than ours is it? Long range air displays, why not just wait for U tobe and UKAIR?:p

(Nice to have in the hanger for an afternoon flit round though)!:eek:

[Bubblewindow]

As ACS said didn't look like he was trying very hard. Early days yet I suppose.
Doesn't seem to puff much vapour?? Was the air just really dry or is it the design?? Or as above , not pulling much G

BW

[zero1]

Looking at the video, the pilot was not trying much on the tight turns and G loading but what I saw was:
• Aircraft deployed slats through most of the turns
• There appears to be kugger flaps deployed on the leading wing edge above the engine intakes and these appear to be at different angles through the video
• Engine reheat appears to be contained within the jet pipe with no sonic shock waves aft of the aircraft, but I could be mistaken due to the blight sunlight
• Interesting that the engines did not have vectored thrust, plus the engine area as seen from above was not painted
• Agree the paint job is a standard distraction scheme but the wrong way round
• Hypersonic they are having a laugh... Having said that I suspect the aircraft could maintain super cruise without reheat, if not they are stuffed
• Worry.... Will be who they sell it to and the avionics/weapons fit

[FoxtrotAlpha18]

Waiting for Low Observable to post about how crap the F-35 is compared to the T-50.

Shirley they should have adaptive shape technology by now?

You'd think so, and don't call me Shirley!

[LowObservable]

Trollfail.

[Reinhardt]

I was myself at Zukovski three days ago - and it was so beautiful !

Very long and flat bird, unusual profile - yes, I agree, not pulling a lot of high g - but quite decently anyway

At least it will fly better than a F117 (only the poorest pilots were assigned to this one)

Some nice displays there ( couples of Mig 29, SU-27 teams, combat helicopters in pairs...)

The most agressive and simultaneously soft was the FAF-displayed Rafale - what a bird, one deck above all the others...

[henra]

Looking at the video, the pilot was not trying much on the tight turns and G loading but what I saw was:
• Aircraft deployed slats through most of the turns
• There appears to be kugger flaps deployed on the leading wing edge above the engine intakes and these appear to be at different angles through the video


That seems to be part of the aerodynamic concept.
The Flaps above the intakes (a bit like blended canards) are also deflected significantly Nose Down at the low speeds shown in the Display.

What is remarkable and fits to this obervation is the fact that the Elevator / all moving Tailplane is very neutral or even Nose down through most of the turns pointing to a rather relaxed/negative longitudinal stability. Altogether a design leaning on a closed coupled canard tri-plane config which is from a lift/drag perspective close to optimum.

Compare this for example with the MiG35. That one uses a lot of Nose Up tail plane in the turns. Will shed loads of energy in turns compared to a setup like the T-50. Light years behind T-50.

With the massive wing area, 'blended canard' and wing sweep I would not aerodynamically undersestimate the T-50. Will likely be an excellent High speed/high altitude turn performer. Not so much Air Show aerobatics focussed like the Su-27ff, more real world combat speeds.
With the small frontal area and high wing sweep and big engines that thing can't possibly avoid being able of significant supercruise. Combined with probably excellent maneuvering performance in that regime.
Re: Thrust Vectoring: Looking at the general design/layout and the intended mode of fighting (high speed) I would say: Who cares?
Could easily make it without them (except maybe for the small Vertical stabilizers, might require TVC to recover yaw at high AoA).

So much for visually dissecting the aerodynmic design approach.

That said, the Low Observables performance of that bird is not so clear to me. Personally I have the strong feeling it will not be on the same level as F-22 and F-35. Frontal RCS may be quite OK, all aspect RCs I would personally doubt.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

You would be surprised at how poor performing the PAK-FA actually is in terms of manoeuvrability and RCS.

[henra]

You would be surprised at how poor performing the PAK-FA actually is in terms of manoeuvrability and RCS.

Re Maneuverability:
At the moment, being in prototype status with surely very restricted envelope of the FCS that is absolutely conceivable.
However, looking at the design principles and features ('blended' Canard Tri- plane layout, seemingly high instability, huge wing area, strong emphasis on fuselage lift between engines) I'm quite convinced that in final config it will be very maneuverable, likely especially at higher speeds and altitudes.

Re: RCS:
We simply don't know. (Or do you have obtained classified information by SUKHOI ?).
That said, the external apperance does not scream Stealth as much as the F-22 and F-35 do, for whatever that is worth.

[John Farley]

In my view anybody who understands the aircraft development business would consider a technical malfunction (of any sort) where the aircraft (any aircraft) is not lost as pure development gold.

Such an event makes it less likely that the same thing will go wrong in service - which is what development programmes are all about.

Mind you PR types or reporters do not see life the same way as engineers.

[galaxy flyer]

Breitling face, Seiko guts,

GF

[matelo99]

If you search Youtube there are some nice videos of the plane. There also happens to be one that shows if not full thrust vectoring at least limited. Unless I'm being a slightly dense rotary pilot again. Interesting to see how much detail they are allowing to get out about this new aircraft in this video.


2010 - NEW VIDEO - Russian Stealth Fighter - Sukhoi T-50 PAK FA - HD - High Definition Trailer - YouTube