New Robotic Russian T-50 Fighter Jet Fit for Star Wars
Sputnik. Alexei Druzhinin Russia 18:57 25.05.2015(updated 19:33 25.05.2015)
http://in.sputniknews.com/russia/20150525/1014582641.html

Russia's new fifth-generation T-50 fighter jet, currently in the testing
phase, incorporates elements of automation which make it more like a robot
than a fighter plane, explains a representative from the Rostech
corporation.

The Sukhoi PAK FA fighter jet, also known as T-50, is ready to go into
production next year, and boasts innovative technology which renders the
pilot one part of the plane's whole control system.

"The PAK FA is already to some degree a flying robot, where the aviator
fulfils the function not only of pilot, but is actually one of the
constituent parts of the flying apparatus," explained deputy head of the
Concern Radioelectronic Technologies [KRET] unit of Rostech, Vladimir
Mikheyev. "That is, the reaction of the aviator is a part of the control
loop."

Mikheyev explains that "smart paneling" is another of the jet's smart
features. "If we take the wingtip, from one perspective it functions as a
wing, but from another it's also a part of the Himalaya active defense
system."

In October KRET stated it had delivered the first batch of Himalayas for the
aircraft, which were developed by a KRET subsidiary in Kaluga and
constructed at the Stavropol Radioplant Signal.

"The unique system of active and passive radars and optical rangefinders is
integrated into the aircraft body and acts as a 'smart skin'. Its use not
only enhances the aircraft’s protection against jamming and its
survivability, but also counters, to a great extent, the effects of
low-observability [stealth] technology of enemy aircraft," explained KRET.

In January KRET lifted the lid on a number of the T-50's stealth
capabilities, announcing that "the aircraft company Sukhoi managed to
greatly reduce the effective surface scattering of the PAK FA, which is the
basic element for visibility on aircraft radars."

"In order to achieve this level of stealth, designers moved all weapons to
the inside of the plane and also changed the shape of the air intake
channel, also lining its walls with a material that absorbs radio waves."

"Thanks to these new design solutions, the T-50 is now ahead of not only all
other fighters of the Russian Army, but also foreign models. For example,
the visibility of the American fifth-generation F-22 fighter is 0.3-0.4
square meters," said KRET, while the value of this indicator for the T-50
fighter is between 0.1 and 1 square meters.

"The T-50 is the first Russian combat aircraft made from a high proportion
of composite materials, making up 25% of the mass of the aircraft and
covering 70% of its surface," explained KRET.

The T-50 is set to replace the Sukhoi Su-27 fourth generation fighter jet,
known also by its NATO name Flanker B, which entered service with the Soviet
Air Forces in 1985, and the Mig-29, known by NATO as Fulcrum which entered
service in 1983.

Work on the conception of fifth generation fighter jets began in the late
1980s in the USA and USSR; though there is no universally agreed set of
features for the title of fifth-generation fighter jet, many hold that the
only combat-ready fifth-generation fighter is the US Air Force's Lockheed
F-22 Raptor, introduced in 2005.

In December Russia's United Aircraft Corporation announced that production
of the fighter is ready to begin in 2016, following the completion of the
testing phase. According to spokesman Vladislav Goncharenko, 55 PAK FA jets
will be delivered to the Russian Air Force by 2020.