Today we will speak about the jet fighter Sukhoi PAK FA (T-50).
The Sukhoi PAK FA is a fifth-generation fighter programme of the Russian Air Force.
The T-50 is the name of the prototype aircraft designed by Sukhoi for the PAK FA programme.
The aircraft is a stealthy, single-seat, twin-engine jet fighter, and will be the first operational
aircraft in Russian service to use stealth technology.
It is a multirole fighter designed for air superiority and attack roles.
The fighter is planned to have supercruise, stealth, supermaneuverability, and advanced
avionics to overcome the prior generation of fighter aircraft as well as ground and
maritime defences.
The PAK FA is intended to be the successor to the MiG-29 and Su-27 in the Russian Air
Force.
The T-50 prototype first flew on 29 January 2010 and the first production aircraft is
slated for delivery to the Russian Air Force starting in late 2016 or early 2017.
The T-50 has a blended wing body fuselage and incorporates all-moving horizontal and
vertical stabilizers; the vertical stabilizers toe inwards to serve as the aircraft's airbrake.
The aircraft incorporates thrust vectoring and has adjustable leading edge vortex controllers
designed to control vortices generated by the leading edge root extensions, and can
provide trim and improve high angle of attack behaviour, including a quick stall recovery
if the thrust vectoring system fails.
The advanced flight control system and thrust vectoring nozzles make the aircraft departure
resistant and highly maneuverable in both pitch and yaw, enabling the aircraft to perform
very high angles of attack maneuvers such as the Pugachev's Cobra and the Bell maneuver,
along with doing flat rotations with little altitude loss.
The aircraft's high cruising speed and normal operating altitude is also expected to give
it a significant kinematic advantage over prior generations of aircraft.
Closely related to the Saturn 117S engine used by the Su-35S, the 117 engine is a highly
improved and uprated variant of the AL-31 that powers the Su-27 family of aircraft.
Production T-50 from 2020 onward will be equipped with a more powerful engine known as the izdeliye
30, a clean sheet design engine that will supersede the 117.
Maximum speed: At altitude: Mach 2.0 (2,140 km/h)
Supercruise: Mach 1.6 (1,700 km/h)
Range: 3,500 km subsonic
1,500 km supersonic Ferry range: 5,500 km
Service ceiling: 20,000 m
The T-50 has two tandem main internal weapon bays each approximately 4.6 m long and 1.0
m wide and two small triangular-section weapon bays that protrude under the fuselage near
the wing root.
Vympel is developing two ejection launchers for the main bays: the UVKU-50L for missiles
weighing up to 300 kg and the UVKU-50U for ordnance weighing up to 700 kg The aircraft
has an internally mounted 9A1-4071K 30 mm cannon near the right LEVCON root.
For air-to-air combat, the T-50 is expected to carry four beyond-visual-range missiles
in its two main weapons bays and two short-range missiles in the wing root weapons bays.
The primary medium-range missile is the active radar-homing K-77M, an upgraded R-77 variant
with AESA seeker and conventional rear fins.
The short-range missile is the infrared-homing K-74M2, an upgraded R-74 variant with reduced
cross-section for internal carriage.
The main bays can also accommodate air-to-ground missiles such as the Kh-38M, as well as multiple
250 kg KAB-250 or 500 kg KAB-500 precision guided bombs.
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