News 1st Russian stealth fighter's maiden flight

[Urwumpe]

Is it just me, or does this design resemble the F-22

You are very likely right, but it also has a lot in common with the YF-23 design.

 

[Andy44]

YF-23 is what it reminded me of.

 

[Jarvitä]

Is there any vacant F-word for it?

Wikipedia says NATO's calling it Firefox, but the only source I can find for that is internet speculation.

Would be pretty awesome though.

 

[RisingFury]

Looks like a mix between a F-22 and YF-23 with some Su features thrown in. Nice looking, I must say.

If it plane is a response to the F-22, then a twin 30 mm cannon is a good feature. It's likelly that a dogfight between those two would come down to bullets, not missiles. Let's hope we never find out.

 

[kevinvr]

Looks like a mix between a F-22 and YF-23 with some Su features thrown in. Nice looking, I must say.

If it plane is a response to the F-22, then a twin 30 mm cannon is a good feature. It's likelly that a dogfight between those two would come down to bullets, not missiles. Let's hope we never find out.

Dogfights? two stealth fighters that can't see one another, sounds to me like another incident or is it accident:rofl::rofl::rofl:

---------- Post added at 11:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:56 PM ----------

Wikipedia says NATO's calling it Firefox, but the only source I can find for that is internet speculation.

Would be pretty awesome though.

Firefox... Impossible, Clint Eastwood stole that one and hid it in a bunker in the USA in the Eighties:lol:

 

[triplepogi2009]

Somebody make this for orbiter? Pleaseeeeeeeee?

 

[anemazoso]

Very cool looking plane but as much as Russian Aerospace companies have spent on prototypes like SU-37, MIG 1.42, Su-47 Berkut and now this T-50 they could have updated there GPS/radar and materials tech so they could have a 5th gen fighter that could actually challenge the F-22. Not that the F-22 would ever be exported though.

 

[Ark]

I think it's no secret they set out to make a ripoff of the F-22. However, just by looking at it, I doubt it's at the same level. The engines don't appear to tone down their exhaust the way the F-22 and other American stealth planes do, and the massive intakes are going to make for a much larger head-on cross section. I have no way to know, but I doubt it has the F-22's stupidly powerful radar/jamming system and other electronic warfare goodies that make it cost so much. The Russians figured out thrust vectoring a while back, so it's hard to make any judgments off a few photos of which one can outmaneuver the other. Would be interesting to see.

 

[SiberianTiger]

YF-23 is what it reminded me of.

Here are several up-to-scale comparison images which confirm a grain of similarity is there:

Comparison against YF-23:

The overall feeling it gives: a sturdier, cheaper, Orkish alternative. :lol:

Comparison with an F-22 (much less similar):

Optical radar station from an F-23:

ORS from the PAK-FA (assumingly):

The control panel might look similar to the one of Su-35, but with much larger HUD:

 

[T.Neo]

To me, at least at first, it simply appeared like a Russian gen-5 fighter.

IMO a lot of the similarities with other gen-5 fighters is simply down to the fact that this is a gen-5 fighter.

YF-23 is a genuinely odd looking plane. Both the F-22 and this thing (Firefox? :lol look more similar to their respective fighter aircraft heritages.

 

[Dambuster]

Just out of interest: would the similarities between those planes (PAK-FA, F-22 and YF-23) be due to the Russians basing the PAK-FA on the American designs, or would it be because the two different groups/computers designing them both independently arrived at the best possible design for the planes' roles?

 

[Urwumpe]

Just out of interest: would the similarities between those planes (PAK-FA, F-22 and YF-23) be due to the Russians basing the PAK-FA on the American designs, or would it be because the two different groups/computers designing them both independently arrived at the best possible design for the planes' roles?

Likely both. Of course the YF-22 & YF-23 had been known to Russian designers. But the detail work had to be done by them themselves. The plane still has many similarities to the Su-27.

 

[T.Neo]

The Russian designers probably looked at the US designs, and decided "they did it this way, they must be doing something right, let's make it similar to theirs."

Then again, this thing also has a lot of similarities with previous Russian fighters- fighters which themselves have similarities to previous American fighters.

So I don't think Sukhoi copied the design of the F-22, just that what they wanted to do with the aircraft resulted in the aircraft having a similar appearance, and that they observed other fighters somewhat.

And btw, computers don't design things- people do. Computers are tools only.

 

[Urwumpe]

Also: The rules behind the propagation of radar signals are known already for at least 70 years, the tricky part is just bringing them together with the rules of aerodynamics.

 

[Andy44]

I'll bet this thing is balls fast.

 

[Urwumpe]

I'll bet this thing is balls fast.

Mach 2.5 according to the usual propaganda (Wikipedia). I would say Mach 2.3+ conservatively estimated.

EDIT:
http://warfare.ru/?lang=&linkid=2280&catid=255

According to this "only" 2.0, but definitely with TVC.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Some thought food here: comparing the looks of the original T-10-1 (the would-be Su-27) back in 1977 to the mass produced Su-27 (since 1990):

T-10-1

Su-27

T-10-1

Su-27

 

[SiberianTiger]

Some more visual info on the subject...

A sketch drawing made by the available pictures:

Dimensions:

Length (with no pitot) 21.0 m
Wingspan 14.8 m
Height 5.45 m
Wheel base 6.9 m
Wheel track 5.85 m

A side-by side comparison with American counterparts in overhead projection:

"Flat vs Fat", the speculative missile bays cross section comparison with F-22:

An attempt to analyze the possible radar cross section by pictures. The maker of the following sketch believes the most reflecting engine's parts are well hidden by radar beam deflecting surfaces:

Some speculative info-graphics on the electronic measures and armament of the subject (couldn't find it in a better resolution).

What kind of thing is a visible light jammer, by the way?

 

[Urwumpe]

What kind of thing is a visible light jammer, by the way?

If it works the same as a IR jammer, it is a bright more or less directed pulsed light source, that confuses or blinds missiles.

They are more effective as flares today, especially when the missile uses UV light as secondary input.

 

[SiberianTiger]

They've completed painting the aircraft:

A diagram of guts: