Russia's new stealth fighter jet made its public debut Tuesday, according to state-run news source RIA Novosti.
The Sukhoi T-50, developed collaboratively by Russia and India, appeared at the MAKS 2011 air show in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow.
Gen. Alexander Zelin, head of the Russian air force, told RIA Novosti he expects the T-50 prototype to be ready in 2013, with "mass-produced aircraft" arriving in 2014 or 2015.
The aircraft is expected to become a staple of airborne defense for both Russia and India, Mikhail Pogosyan, head of Russia's United Aircraft Corp., told RIA Novosti.
"The T-50 will be the newest main plane both for the Russian and the Indian air force," Pogosyan said.
The article from the state-run media source says the Sukhoi T-50 cost the two governments about $6 billion to develop, with India shouldering about 35% of the cost. It is intended to match the U.S. F-22 raptor.
Umm.. Yeah... Let's keep cutting U.S. military funds while other countries build better weapon that matches ours...
The future is pretty much wrecked at this point for humans
It's a cost effective way for India to get technology that is comaprable to the F-22 Raptor or in some cases even better than that at a fractionth of the price.
Hvaing said that, it's ONLY NOW we Americans are tacitly admitting that the Russians NOT only had matched Western technology but were DECADES ahead in certain areas. Some of the finest examples of Russian technological prowess were in the Russian Space Shuttle Program (their remotely operated Buran craft which was far more advanced than our Space shuttle!), the TU-144 program (even though it was allegly sabotaged by the west at the height of the cold war), the Russian robotic exploration of the Moon, and Venus which was COPIED totally by our own Mars rover programs, the Russian energia rocket which even today remains the most powerful delivery vehicle unmatched by us, and several others including arctic Ice breakers, Nuclear Submarines etc.
It's really a pity that the entire Russian scientific community were left in the lurch after the Soviet Union collapsed. Truly US space program would have benefited even more had we cooperated with them.
It's only now we are making a desperate search for such canned Russian technologies that we ourselves are finding it hard/prohibitive or even impossible to develop!
It's time we engage with the Russians again at least in the space arena to bring back the glory of space exploration and in the process re-energize our sagging morale, and infuse greater confidence in US technology & science.
Amit-Atlanta-USA
No thrust vectoring, likely outdated avionics and radar, primitive stealth. It could probably put a fight against the F-15 but not the F-22.
In soviet russia, fighter Jet flys You!
So our allies in India go and build stealth fighters with Russia, to bolster their capabilities while their hated neighbors to the NW in Pakistan, bring our secret Blackhawk to show and tell with China. Iran and Russia are buddy buddy these days helping each other out with various concerning things. Somehow in all of this we... the USA, are the bad guys.
We really need to get out of this region, the whole region. No doubt in my mind tensions between India and Pakistan would get hotter in the years to come. The fundamentalists are too short sighted to look past the USA. Iran can expand the Persian Empire pretty much at will for if we engage Iran, they will unleash Hezbollah in our country.
Lets just get out of the region all together including the Persian Gulf. There is enough oil in North America and South America to sustain our way of life and if done right, improve the quality of life in the Western Hemisphere. Boots on the ground in Venezuela over oil seems like such a better option.
Sometimes tactfully retreating if not just leaving strategic posts that have become hopelssly lost is a victory in itself. We can pull back, focus our attentions more on the homefront, at the same time REFLECTING just how and where we went wrong. Clarity and Integrity on a national level are KEY.
Well God gave us Nukes for a reason didn't She? Begin at the Mediterranean and turn the surface to glass for as long as we can go. This will do mankind the greatest possible good for eternity.
Running away from the enemies NEVER brings peace in general and peace of mind, in particular. To the contrary, such actions ALWAYS encourage the victorious enemies to follow you to your own back yard.
"such actions ALWAYS encourage the victorious enemies to follow you to your own back yard."
When has that ever happened? Vietnam? Korea? I don't see them knocking on our doors since we ditched them.
they're just trying to scare you folks!!! Vote Ron Paul 2012!!!!
OK, for one – "GOD" did not give us nukes. Scientists did that. Some people are so ignorantly stupid. Nuclear weapons were probably the worst thing to happen to humanity, and could very well the the END of the human race. Lemme guess, that would just be your sadistic God's "judgement" right? Retreat IS good, especially if you we spending WAY more than we are profiting from being there in the first place, AND by being there we are only making MORE enemies. Why do you think they hate us in the Middle East in the first place? Anyone who answers something like "they are jealous of our freedoms", or "muslims want to rule the world" is just a hairbrained simpleton with an overinflated ego, with no knowledge of the REAL world past third grade Weekly Reader propaganda.
"Boots on the ground in Venezuala over oil" What Maroon!
If the Russian/Indian as well as the Chinese stealth aircraft truly are capable of evading the tracking systems of American long-range interceptors and anti-air missiles, then someone is going to have to re-open Top Gun and start teaching US pilots how to dogfight again.
Topgun never closed it just goes by a different name.
That is all our pilots do is train. Make sense next time you post. We own several MIGs that we use to train against. Our spy agency is the best in the world; we probably already know everything we need to take on these planes, eventhough there would probably never be a need to. We have had stealth technology for decades and I'm sure we are way ahead of any other country in developing stealth detection.
USA and India are allies. However till now Russia has been the keener among its allies to go for technology transfer purchases. To add to the woes the representatives from Boeing , when not confident enough that India could build fighter aircrafts locally after tech transfer, to add to the problems they offer F-16s which are more than a decade old.
I think if the F-35 deal goes through that would be awsome. India will always be an ally of the USA, you cannot put it in the same category as China or pakistan
America Air Defense non intier wold come to close forget It-50
I have been reading a lot of posts on the common misconception that America has Air superiority. This is far from the truth, Russian pilots are career pilots witch means they are pilots forever. Americans are pilots for a few years. Many Americans have shot down Migs throughout the years, but there were always against a Asian pilots. Asians are just bad when it come to flying, if you get someone from Russia in a dog fight and there going to hurt someone.
Probably hurt someone just as bad as your use of grammar/spelling.
I don't see how Russian pilots are necessarily better; When was the last time they fought in a long-term air war with anyone worth mentioning?
Unfortunately, you are correct; Russian pilots are in fact just as "good" as North American pilots. It all comes down to training, and the Russians do not train with any less skill or intensity.
I hate to tell you this, but Russia has one of the worst organic depot maintenance capabilities of most militarized nations, not to mention they do not fly even close to the hours that U.S. pilots do with regards to flight training or time in the simulators. Does the US have a superior AF? We sure do! Employing pilots who fly for life does not make better pilots it just provides our younger pilots more targets to shot at....
Wow you are truly an idiot. Russia and China put together could not hold a candle to our Air Force. We invented the airplane, and also the internet you are acting a fool on.
Haaaahahahahhaha! American pilots don't get kicked out. They don't fly for only a few years. They have the right to fly for as long as they want. They use 21st century technology to train; the Russians don't. The US pilots train MORE than any other nation in the world. The US has BY FAR the greatest airforce in the world. The Russians haven't finished testing their stealth technology, even though I'm sure it will be an excellent jet. We have had the technology for DECADES. As of today, Russia would admit they couldn't touch our airforce. There are also many other things that go into the airforce where we are decades ahead of them. Radar, satellites, communications, command and computer systems,.......
To Joe
Sure, India must be friends with the US. The same Us who entered its neighbour Pakistan without any authorization in order to kill someone. The same US who now expects Pakistan to take care of its downed chopper so its technology is not stolen.
Only idiots like yourself think the US is a worthy partner.
Reread your post and say again who the idiot is.
It was believed that the Pakistan government wasnt to be trusted and Bin Laden was living in the country after the Pakistan government said numerous times he was not living there.
Do not be so closed minded.
Yes, nice plane . . . but can it kill a toyota pickup loaded with "insurgents" ? No one is making a P-47 or P-51 replacement.
India will have 2 billion population and buys russian air force plans. DOOMED...
Which one would you buy Sukhoi T-50 or J-20?
I said J-20... Sukhoi T-50 looks pretty plane. J-20 is really fast on radio control toys. It's got gyroscope.
"match the U.S. F-22 raptor." – you mean equally useless?
$6B to develop. Given that it was jointly developed between two of the most corrupt countries in the world that split is more like $1B to develop and $5B in graft, bribes, and russian mafia payments.
Considering the raptor program cost the US tax payers $66B (Source Wikipedia), that still aint a bad deal now, is it?!