Stealth Saga #17

META:

Who will win Asia's fifth generation fighter race?


UCAVs:

South Korea is developing a UCAV, that in the concepts looks a lot like the German Barracuda demonstrator.

The US Navy CNO has stated the UCLASS needs to be accelerated.

The British Taranis has completed a third round of test flights, but it is unclear if it will be tested further.

TF-X:

Rolls Royce has offered its EJ-200 engines for the Turkish TF-X program. 

KF-X:

South Korea's KF-X may not be a F-35 peer like South Korea originally wanted.

The US government has approved 21 technologies from the F-35 to be transferred to South Korea for the KF-X.

Sukhoi PAK-FA/T-50:

Supposedly the flight tests for the PAK-FA are virtually complete.  The procurement seems to be incredibly scaled back: only one squadron, the report states, is going to be bought.  Su-35s will be purchased instead.

Will India actually buy all 154 PAK-FA they originally were signing up for?

J-20: 

Supposedly, the Chinese military, despite significant changes to the latest prototype of the J-20 and the Su-35, is stating the flight testing for the J-20 is nearly complete.

F-35:

Denmark has, again, postponed the start of the procurement of its replacement fighter due to budget issues.  The F-35 is competing for the procurement.

South Korea has added diplomats to its negotiating team for its F-35 contract. 

Apparently, the F-35 office canceled a realistic cyber security test and now they are getting huge amounts of flak for the decision.

Lockheed will get all 45 of the F-35s planned for production this year done by December 31st.  43 are already done.

Northrop has delivered the center fuselage of the first Japanese F-35 to Lockheed.

Pakistan getting the F-35 would be India's worst nightmare, but its highly unlikely to happen any time soon.

The F-35A will begin flying 'Heritage Flights' at airshows.  

India Seeks to Build FGFA Fifth Generation Fighter at Hal's Ozar Plant

The Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) may use its Ozar facility to manufacture fifth generation fighter aircraft, for which it is already in talks with Russia for co-design and production.

T Suvarna Raju, chairman and managing director, HAL said, "We are co-developing the fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFAs). We have completed the first phase and are in talks with Russia for detailed design and manufacturing of the aircraft. We are planning to manufacture the FGFA at our Ozar facility.

link.

Russian Air Force Cuts Procurement of PAK-FA: Serious Problems With the Sukhoi T-50 Program?

Defense Ministry will cut the first purchase party fifth generation fighter T-50, will be purchased only one squadron of the first trial, he told reporters on Thursday in St. Petersburg, Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov.

"Yes, we are reducing the purchase of fighter PAK FA, it will be purchased in the coming years one squadron. At the same time we will increase the purchase of Su-35 fighters, which are cheaper, but their tactical and technical characteristics of a head taller than their foreign counterparts," - Borisov said.

link.

Russian Militaria: PAK-FA, FGFA, PAK-DA's Engine & Claims of a High Power Microwave Weapon

United Aircraft Corp. plans to deliver three more prototypes of an advanced stealth fighter jet to the Russian military for testing as early as next year, a company official said.

The president of the Moscow-based company, Yuri Slyusar, said three more of the T-50 PAK-FA, a fifth-generation stealth fighter made by United Aircraft subsidiary Sukhoi, will be transferred to the Russian air force in late 2016 or early 2016 as part of a test program.

“We can say that we are in the schedule and these three additional prototypes will allow us to greatly expand the testing program and do it faster,” he said through a translator during a briefing with reporters Monday at the Paris Air Show. “What we’re speaking about in the schedule is to deliver the first batch at the end of 2016, beginning of 2017 to the customer, the ministry of defense, so the aircraft demonstrate all necessary and design characteristics.”

That will bring the total number of T-50 prototypes to eight, according to a fact sheet distributed at the event. The PAK-FA first flew in 2011 and is designed to compete against such U.S. military aircraft as the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, both of which are made by Lockheed Martin Corp.

link.

Ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia on July 7, the Defence Ministry is toning down points of conflict about the joint Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) program to reach final agreement with Russia, said an MoD source.

FGFA is proposed to be jointly developed and produced by India and Russia and a preliminary development agreement was signed in 2011 between Russia's United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) and India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) when India paid its 50 percent share of US $250 million toward initial development cost.

However, a final agreement, which will release a payment of about $6 billion as India's share in FGFA development, has yet to be inked because of conflict over issues relating to work share, a firm aircraft order from the Indian Air Force, its desired mix of single- and double-seat aircraft, and changes demanded by the Indian Air Force.

The Defence Ministry wants to reach an agreement, will not insist on the Indian work share at this stage and will agree to delivery of single-seater aircraft as against the earlier demand of two-seaters, the source added.

A firm order of 154 FGFAs will also be included in the draft agreement, the source said.

Defense analysts said that despite the delays, the FGFA project will not be dropped.

link.

The first engine test bench (LED), created for the PAK DA (PAK DA) showed almost complete compliance with the required specifications, told RIA Novosti CEO of "United Engine Building Corporation" (UEC, is a Rostec) Vladislav Masalov at the air show Paris Air Show -2015.

link.

Russia’s United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation (UIMC), part of Rostec Corporation, has announced that it developed a super-high-frequency gun for BUK missile systems.

The newly-developed equipment is capable of deactivating the radio electronics of UAVs and the warheads of precision weapons, according to a representative of the corporation.

The equipment, informally named the microwave gun, has been developed for the needs of Russia’s Defense Ministry and will be demonstrated during the closed part of Army-2015, an international event organized by the Russian Defense Ministry, the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and state technology corporation Rostec, which will be held on June 16-19.

The UIMC representative has not revealed all the technical characteristics of the equipment but has mentioned that the impact range of the equipment is ten kilometers and that its defense perimeter is 360 degrees.

“The new system is equipped with a high-power relativistic generator and reflector antenna, management and control system, and a transmission system which is fixed on the chassis of BUK surface-to-air missile systems. When mounted on a special platform, the ‘microwave gun’ is capable of ensuring perimeter defense at 360 degrees,” the representative said.

link.

Flight Global questions the Russian military modernization plans.

Breaking News: India Considering Scrapping Russian PAK-FA/T-50 Participation

The programme for India and Russia to jointly develop a Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), long touted as the flagship of a time-tested defence relationship, has run into a stone wall.

Documents available with Business Standard indicate India's defence ministry is cold-shouldering Russian requests to continue the negotiations on a "R&D Draft Contract", which will govern the partnership to develop a futuristic, fifth-generation fighter.

A letter from Russia's powerful export agency, Roso-boronexport, points India's defence ministry has not responded to Russian requests dated February 9 and March 3, which "suggested holding of the negotiations in February and March of 2015."

"(W)e have not received any data regarding readiness of the Indian side for the negotiations," the letter says. It goes on to request holding the next round of negotiations between April 6 and 9.

The letter refers to Project 79L, the code name for the FGFA project.

This is a precipitous fall from grace for a co-development project considered so strategic that an Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) that New Delhi and Moscow signed in October 2007 exempts it from normal procurement rules. Indian defence planners have long held that co-developing the FGFA would help India build its own fifth-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).

Following the IGA came a General Contract in December 2008, which stipulated details like work share and cost, and the conditions under which the FGFA could be sold to other countries. Under a Preliminary Design Contract (PDC) in December 2010, New Delhi and Moscow contributed $295 million each to finalise the fighter's basic configuration, systems and equipment.

With that completed in June 2013, the R&D Contract is now being negotiated. This would govern the actual design and development of the FGFA, and is estimated to cost $3-4 billion each. Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has turned cold to the FGFA proposal. Sources tell Business Standard this is because air marshals fear the FGFA undermines the rationale for buying the Rafale fighter from France, a $18-20 billion contract that is sputtering through so-far unsuccessful negotiations.

The first sign of the air force's eventual volte-face on the FGFA came in October 2012, when then IAF boss, Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne, announced the IAF would buy only 144 FGFAs instead of the 214 that were originally planned.

In December 24, 2013, top IAF officials alleged the FGFA would not meet Indian expectations. Business Standard reported that air marshals at a high-level defence ministry meeting (January 21, 2014, "Russia can't deliver on Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft: IAF") claimed the FGFA has "shortfalls… in terms of performance and other technical features."

The IAF claimed the FGFA's current AL-41F1 engines were underpowered; the Russians were reluctant to share critical design information; and the fighter would eventually cost too much.

On January 15, 2014, at a MoD meeting to review progress on the FGFA, the deputy chief of air staff (DCAS), the IAF's top procurement official, said the FGFA's engine was unreliable, its radar inadequate, its stealth features badly engineered, India's work share too low, and the fighter's price would be exorbitant by the time it enters service.

link.

not a joke, so it had to wait until the 2nd.

Russian Sukhoi T-50 Stealth Fighter First Order cut From 52 to 12

Russia's ambitious T-50 fighter plane project was meant to develop a rival to two futuristic US jetfighters, the F-22 Raptor and the planned F-35 Lightning-II.

But now, the T-50 appears to be rivaling the F-35 another way: in development troubles. The Kremlin is slamming the brakes on its "fifth generation" fighter program and cutting its initial rollout to a quarter of those originally planned.

The decision seems a setback for Vladimir Putin's sweeping $800 billion rearmament program, a vital component of the wider effort to restore Russia to its Soviet-era status as a major global superpower. However, the sharp slowdown in plans to procure the sophisticated new jet may represent an outbreak of wisdom on the part of Russian military chiefs, who will remember how the USSR was driven into bankruptcy by engaging in an all-out arms race with the US.

Financial constraints are the key reason cited for cutting the military order from 52 to 12 of the planes over the next few years, according to the Moscow daily Kommersant.

"Given the new economic conditions, the original plans may have to be adjusted," the paper quotes Deputy Defense Minister Yuriy Borisov as saying. The project to build a cutting-edge fighter plane, which is partly financed by India, will not be canceled, but held in abeyance while the Russian Air Force makes the most of its existing "fourth generation" MiG and Sukhoi combat aircraft, he added.

No one knows whether technical problems may also have played a role in the decision to shelve the fighter.

link.

India may try to Accelerate Joint IndoRussian PAK-FA Derived Stealth Fighter due to Rafale Negotiation Problems

India's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reportedly become so frustrated with the impasse in negotiations with Dassault over the contract for the Rafale fighter aircraft that it has decided to accelerate the timetable for the localised production of Russia's PAK-FA/T-50 fifth-generation fighter.

The contract for this programme, in which India has a subsidiary role in the development of a version of the aircraft tailored to their requirements, is in the final stages of negotiation.

link.

Met With Skepticism: Russian Air Force Plans 55 PAK-FAs by 2020

The Russian Air Force (VVS) will have received 55 Sukhoi PAK-FA (T-50) fighter aircraft by 2020, according to Vladislav Goncharenko, the deputy director of the United Aircraft Corporation's (UAC's) combat aircraft department.

The first PAK-FA deliveries are scheduled for 2016.

"The number of prototypes is increasing; the state trial programme is being conducted as per schedule," Goncharenko told Echo of Moscow Radio on 16 December.

Five PAK-FAs have been produced and three more are now being constructed at the Sukhoi Aviation Holding Company Y.A.Gagarin in Komsomolsk-on-Amur (KnAAZ).

link.

PAK-FA New Engine has Slipped two Years to 2017 at Earliest

Lenta (citing Interfaks) says a source close to ODK General Director Vladislav Masalov says a PAK FA with the “second phase” engine will fly in 2017.

He reportedly said the “second phase” engine will replace “item 117″ and give PAK FA supercruise capability while being 15-18 percent more fuel efficient and cheaper to maintain.

Lenta notes the developmental engine is “item 30″ not “item 129″ as cited previously in Russian media.

The AL-41F1 is “item 117.” Current PAK FA prototypes and the Su-35S have “item 117S” (AL-41F1S) engines.

link.

Russia Orders Seven More Su-30SM Strike Fighters

The Russian defense ministry has ordered seven more Su-30SM two-seat fighters worth 13 billion roubles ($331 million), boosting the total to be acquired to 72. Of these, the Russian air force is getting 60 and naval aviation 12. An initial contract for 30 was placed in 2012. Some have reportedly been deployed to the disputed region of Crimea.

Signing the latest order at the Girdoaviasalon 2014 show, deputy defense minister Yuri Borisov said, “The Su-30SM is a modern multirole aircraft that can be used against aerial, ground and sea-going targets. It can considerably boost the potential of naval aviation.”

The latest contract comes with an option for 10 more aircraft and is timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the founding of IAZ, the Russian acronym for Irkutsk Aviation Plant. To date, the enterprise has shipped 29 Su-30SMs to the Russian defense ministry. This year Irkut is to deliver 15 Su-30SMs, according to IAZ plant general manager Alexander Veprev.

link.

More Details Why India is Unhappy With the PAK-FA Program

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has expressed concerns to Russia over technical problems and delays plaguing the USD10.5 billion Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) programme, which is based on the Russian Air Force's Sukhoi T-50 PAK-FA platform.

Official sources told IHS Jane's that the IAF's primary objections to fighter's preliminary design features included the inadequacy of its AL-41F1 engines, its stealth features and its weapons carriage system.

Differences also emerged over the operational capability of the Byelka active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. Additional IAF concerns include the overall development cost of the aircraft, its maintainability and safety features, the sources said.

link.

Russian "Stealth" Fighter Prototype Catches Fire

A prototype Sukhoi T-50 PAK FA fifth-generation fighter aircraft caught fire on 10 June following landing, according to Sukhoi.

"While the plane was landing, smoke above the right air intake was observed, then a local fire broke out," Sukhoi stated. The incident occurred at the Zhukovsky test centre, near Moscow, where the T-50 prototypes have been conducting flight trials.

The aircraft involved in the incident is the fifth flying prototype, aircraft T-50-5 (side number '055'), which was delivered for tests at Zhukovsky in November 2013.

link.

Russian Stealth Fighter Begins Weapons Tests

Russia’s Sukhoi T-50 stealth fighter program entered a new phase on May 20 as two of the twin-engine prototypes took off for external weapons integration tests.

Aircraft numbers 053 and 054 are involved in the testing. “Alazan” at Russianplanes.net shot this striking photo of the flight.

Noteworthy, the two T-50s on the May 20 test flight were still wearing the standard color scheme and not the brand-new “shark” camouflage. Between them, 053 and 054 carried R-73 short-range air-to-air missiles, R-77 medium-range air-to-air missiles and KH-31 anti-ship missiles.

link.

Indian Air Force Planning 272 Su-30MKIs

The Indian Air Force’s backlog of orders for Russia’s Su-30MKI fighters makes up 272.

The fighters are assembled by India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) that has received a license from Russia’s Sukhoi aircraft maker.

“Since India received 50 assembled planes from Russia, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited had assembled another 134 fighters in India,” a source close to the Indian company told Itar-Tass on Monday. “We hope to form 14 squadrons of Su-30MKI fighters by 2018. By this time we will have 272 such planes in service.”

After this India might enlarge its backlog of orders, if the Sukhoi/HAL fifth generation fighter project or introduction into service of India’s own light fighter Tejas were delayed, the source said.

link.

Sukhoi Seeking to Sell Su-35, T-50/PAK-FA to South East Asia

Sukhoi is targeting its most advanced combat aircraft at existing customers in Southeast Asia, Mikhail Tyukhanov, Sukhoi marketing director, said on 11 February.

Sukhoi has three prime customers in the region - Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia - and Tyukhanov said that they are all potential purchasers of two of the company's most modern fighter platforms: the Su-35 'Super Flanker' and the T-50 PAK-FA.

"Southeast Asia is an important combat aircraft market for us because we have sold many aircraft already to Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia," said Tyukhanov. "But it is also true that [these countries] are now becoming an important market for other fighter aircraft manufacturers in the world so we have to be competitive."

link.

India Says T-50 is Junk

Russia’s new T-50 stealth fighter is fast, maneuverable, heavily-armed and hard to detect on radar. In theory.

But according to Indian air force officials, in practice the Sukhoi-made stealth jet is also too expensive, poorly engineered and powered by old and unreliable engines.

The Indians’ complaints illustrate the yawning gulf between stealth warplane design and the actual production of radar-evading jets. In other words, it’s one thing to sketch an advanced warplane on paper. It’s quite another to build one and get it to work.

All new aerospace development is difficult and many planes get poor reviews early in testing. But the gripes coming out of New Delhi are particularly worrisome for the Russians.

[...]

But that hasn’t stopped the Indian air force from voicing its unhappiness with the T-50. According to transcripts of December and January meetings obtained by Business Standard, air force and defense ministry officials listed at least four “shortfalls … in terms of performance and other technical features”:

The AL-41F engines currently fitted to the T-50 are unreliable. The radar is inadequate. The airframe is poorly built, with serious implications for the jet’s stealth profile. And in light of these defects, $6 billion is too much to pay up front.

According to Business Standard, Russian officials countered, saying the AL-41F engines are a temporary fit until brand-new and more powerful motors can be developed. The radar, too, is temporary—pending new sensors being developed specifically for the Indian version of the warplane.

But the allegations of sloppy construction appear to be particularly serious. Besides posing an accident risk, low-quality construction can result in gaps and mismatched angles that elevate a plane’s radar signature.

Press reports in 2013 indicated that Sukhoi was having problems with quality control in the T-50 effort. At least one of the prototypes needed patches on its wings to keep from falling apart during high-stress maneuvers.

link.

Sukohoi Patents Filed for T-50/PAK-FA Outline Stealth Technologies

Details of the Sukhoi Design Bureau's work on the stealthy aspects of the T-50 PAK FA fighter aircraft emerged in late December 2013, when the company's patents were published.

According to the patent paperwork, taken together, all of the stealthy measures offer significant improvements over legacy fighter designs. The papers claim that the radar cross-section (RCS) of an Su-27 was in the order of 10-15 m 2 , with the intention being to reduce the size of the RCS in the T-50 to an "average figure of 0.1-1 m 2 ".

In common with other low observable aircraft designs, this reduction is achieved throught the use of radar-absorbing and radar-shielding materials and coatings, panel shaping (especially around the air intakes) and in the design of the junctions between moving elements, such as flaps and hatches.

In particular, the patent spells out the benefits of internal weapons carriage, s-shaped engine air ducts, (which were considered but are actually not implemented in the production PAK FA), and the use of radar blockers. It adds that the inlet guide vanes of the engines' compressors generate "a significant portion [up to 60%] of the radar cross-section of the airframe-powerplant system in the forward hemisphere" and that this is reduced by using radar-blocking devices and radar-absorbing coatings in the walls of the air ducts.

The shape of the airframe reduces the number of directions that radar signals are reflected in with the angles of sweep of the wings and the tail plane's leading and trailing edges, the edges of the air intakes and hatch covers being reduced and deflected from the aircraft's axis. Viewing the aircraft from the flank, the fuselage sides, lateral edges of the air intakes and vertical empennage are all deflected at the same angle.

Some openings and slots on the airframe's surface - such as the boundary-layer bleeds on the sides of the air intakes and the openings on the upper fuselage immediately aft of the cockpit - are covered with a thick grid, featuring a mesh of less than one quarter of the wavelength of a search radar, which reduces the reflections from these uneven surfaces. Gaps between the airframe elements are filled with conducting sealants, while the glazing of the cockpit canopy is metallised.

The surfaces of the PAK FA's own five radar arrays are also angled off from the vertical plane, helping to 'deflect' enemy radar signals. The covers of the radar arrays are selective, letting through their own signals, but blocking other frequencies. Additionally, the array compartments are edged with radar-absorbing 'curtains' to reduce possible leaks of these amplified signals.

Antennas are recessed from the surface of the skin to reduce protuberances (the vertical empennage serves as a communications antenna), while the turret of the aircraft's nose-mounted infrared search-and-track (IRST) sight is rotated backwards into a cruise position, exposing its rear hemisphere, which is covered with a radar-absorbing coating.

The release of this list of patents follows the July 2013 release of documentation covering the configuration of the fighter's integrated avionics suite.

link.

India Concerned About 5th Gen Fighter Work With Russia

Indian government officials are expressing concern over the country’s work share in its Fifth-Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) collaboration with Russia.

“We have a major opportunity in the FGFA program,” Indian air force (IAF) Deputy Chief Air Marshal S. Sukumar says. However, “at the moment it is not very much in favor of Indian development. We are flagging it through the government. It should be much more focused towards indigenous development capability.”

India’s work share in FGFA research and development and other aspects of the multi-billion dollar project at the moment is only around 15%, even though New Delhi is bearing 50% of the cost. The total program is expected to cost India about 1.5 trillion rupees ($25 billion).

Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony is expected to discuss the progress of the FGFA program and the IAF’s concerns with Russian defense authorities during his visit to Moscow on Nov. 15.

“Apart from the cost factor of the FGFA project, the defense minister is expected to take up the issue of India’s share in the project, since it will have an impact on the country’s indigenous capabilities to develop such an advanced fighter aircraft,” a defense ministry official says.

India and Russia signed a preliminary design contract worth $295 million for the FGFA in December 2010, and the design phase of the joint venture program was completed in June. Currently the final design and research and development contracts are under negotiation between the two countries. “These talks are expected to be concluded next year,” Sukumar says.

The final design contract now being negotiated is pegged at $11 billion, with India and Russia sharing $5.5 billion each towards the cost of design, infrastructure build-up, prototype development and flight-testing. Each fighter is expected to cost over $100 million.

The IAF intends to buy around 300 stealthy FGFAs, made jointly by Russia’s Sukhoi and India’s state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL). The fighter should be ready for induction from 2020 onwards.

link.