Russian "5th Gen" Fighter/PAK-FA Flies

The great big militaria news is...the T-50/PAK-FA has flown. First off, let me state congratulations to the Russian engineers and techs that got this off the grown. Not so easy to do, especially working where and what you have. Let's see how easy it is to transition into production.

Some very good posts on the subject are here, here, and here. A video in that last one.

That said, let me make a few observations.

Let me state that unless this is a first iteration of multiple prototypes, do NOT expect this to be as stealthy as the F-22 or probably even the F-35. The reason being that if you noticed that the contours are not quite right for it. If there are multiple iterations of prototypes (for the air frame) then this could end up very stealthy.

Shaping is not the only issue here. Composites are also important, but it is really, truly important that they get their material science right. On the one hand, composites have come down in price and pretty easy to work with as we are about to with Team Phoenicia (c'mon tax return!). On the other hand, composite MatSci is not a field that the Russians are noted for...at all.

Furthermore, those nozzles. Dude. IR signature from hell.

Equally important for a 5th generation fighter is the sensor suite and integration. The Soviets, for their time, were pretty good with sensors. Not the best, but enough to cause heart burn and nervousness. A lot of tech has changed since the USSR went poofta.

The side view of the T-50 reminds me of the YF-23 for some reason.

Those renderings from some time back, well, looks like they were damned near spot on. At least for one of the designs. Interesting that.