Soon, the Air Force of the Russian Federation will receive the latest fighter of the 5th generation T-50. A plane is expensive, about one hundred million US dollars in terms of today's currency exchange rate, and the ordinary taxpayer may well have a question about the appropriateness of spending such a significant amount of money.
Why do we need PAK FA, and other issues
Does our military need such an expensive “toy”, is there an urgent need for it, and what will be its role in ensuring a peaceful sky over our country? What opponents will the aircraft face in supposed and probable air battles? Will he be able to get out of them as a winner and what is the likelihood of such an outcome? What tasks does this “frontline aviation complex” have to solve, and even the promising one? What are its capabilities and characteristics? And who was the first to start another round of the air race? The last question can be the key to answer all the others.
Race in the air
The arms race has always been in the history of mankind. The advantages of the army, which owns the most advanced models of equipment, if not one hundred percent, then at least significantly influenced the outcome of wars. The rapid development of jet aircraft began in the mid-forties. One after another, generations of fighter aircraft were replaced, each of which differed from the previous one in the best technical characteristics: speed, rate of climb, ceiling, maneuverability, caliber and number of small arms barrels, the presence and number of various types of missiles, detection and navigation aids. There have been five generations in total. The latter include the American F-22 and F-35, the Chinese J-20 and the Russian T-50. The fifth generation fighter immediately in appearance can be distinguished from aircraft, which until recently were considered the last word in aviation technology.
External differences
So, what are the outward signs of the latest interceptor aircraft? The first and main difference between them is a somewhat angular shape, unusual after the beautiful flowing silhouettes of MiGs, Sabers, Phantoms and Sukhoi, which everyone is used to over the past decades. Of course, aesthetics have nothing to do with it. External contours, consisting of planes intersecting at a certain angle, are due to the ability of the surfaces to reflect radar radiation so that as much as possible they do not return to the receiving antenna of the locator, but go somewhere to the side. The same requirement also dictated the absence or minimization of weapons on external suspensions, which, due to the complex geometric shape, “glow” especially brightly. People who have a little understanding in aviation will note the third sign by which the fifth generation fighter can be distinguished. PAK FA T-50, like its foreign counterparts-contemporaries, has a rotary thrust vector. If you translate this technical term into a common language, it means that the nozzles have the ability to rotate relative to the longitudinal center line in two or three planes. In all other respects, fifth-generation aircraft have about the same design as previous models.
Materials
The appearance of the technique does not allow us to judge many other parameters that are inaccessible to the eye. The new fifth-generation fighter T-50 is made not only of titanium and aluminum alloys, to a large extent (almost half) its design is made using composite plastic materials. Technological advances in chemical products have paved the way for the use of polymers to make parts that were previously made only of metal. This immediately solved many problems: the weight became lower, the risk of operational corrosion also decreased, but the main effect was low visibility for air defense systems. Polymer chains serve as a kind of damper that attenuates high-frequency radiation. Recent advances in this area have found application in T-50 materials. The fifth generation fighter should be super-maneuverable, inconspicuous and have supersonic speed characteristics. Therefore, it needs to be light, strong and reflect as little high-frequency radiation as possible.
"Raptor" - "the first pancake"
The Americans were pioneers in implementing the principles of the fifth generation of fighter aircraft. They also tasted the first bitter fruits of experience.
Low radar visibility, which has become an urgent necessity in modern warfare, has created a huge number of problems for aircraft designers. The ideas about aerodynamics had to be reviewed, which markedly worsened flight performance. Strength has also suffered. The Raptor can withstand lower loads than the Phantom, the former "workhorse" of the US Air Force during the Vietnam War (4.95g / 0.8 max for the F-22 versus 5.50g / 0.8 max for the F-4E) Its speed is also lower than that of aircraft developed in the late 50s and having gained combat experience in the 60s.
The modest flight characteristics are also due to the need for intra-fuselage deployment of weapons. MiGs, Phantoms and Tomkets carried rockets under the wings, and almost the entire internal space was occupied by the power plant, fuel tanks, crew cabin, avionics and other important components. Clear business, additional volume worsens aerodynamics. And this entails very serious consequences. If the Raptor is still detected, and the enemy launches a missile at it, then all that remains for the pilot is to eject in advance. There are few chances to get away from the blow.
It costs an American aircraft of approximately 350 million. One hour of its flight, taking into account operating costs and the remuneration of the pilot’s labor, “pulls” at $ 44, 000. It is expensive. The Raptor F-22 has already been discontinued.
Chinese black eagle
In the PRC, jet fighters began to be built late for one generation. At the dawn of the national aviation industry, there were no constructions of their own; Soviet planes were copied. Therefore, the Chinese modestly attribute their "Stells" J-20 to the fourth generation, although by world standards it is more likely to correspond to the fifth. Little is known about Cheng, but judging by its appearance, it largely remains the bearer of the ideas of Soviet designers.
The failed MiG-1.44 project inspired Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation engineers to create a similar compositional scheme. The Black Eagle, also known as the J-20, received engines from Russian aircraft. For the fifth generation T-50 fighter, the designers of the Sukhoi Design Bureau provided for dual-circuit power plants with a thrust vector that was variable in two planes. Details are unknown, but the thrust of two engines develops up to 18 tons, which, of course, is greater than that of the J-20.
Another american
In the late eighties, the US began an ambitious program to re-equip the Marine Corps. To replace the Hornet F-18, a new aircraft was required, possessing some of the features of the next generation of aircraft. The task was complicated by two requirements presented by the Pentagon: the possibility of sea-based ships and the lowest possible cost. The aircraft designed by Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning (Lightning) was the winner of the competition. In terms of its flight and operational characteristics, as well as in combat qualities, it is inferior even to Russian Su-35 interceptors. The T-50, a fifth-generation fighter, is significantly superior to it in almost all respects.
How to identify a leader?
At present, three aircraft can theoretically claim prizes in choosing the best modern interceptor. At the same time, it is not an easy task to compare the fifth generation fighters. T-50, F-22, J-20 and even F-35 are classified samples, the details of their designs are a state secret, and they can only be judged by the fragmentary information that nevertheless leaked to the press during their exhibition shows. Nevertheless, certain conclusions can be drawn.
Comparison of Sukhoi with Raptor
Due to the lack of detailed technical information, it makes sense to use the simplest assessment method, geometric. PAK-FA is larger than the Raptor, therefore more missiles or guided bombs can fit in its weapon compartments. Indeed, according to published data, it carries 10 URs in the fuselage and another 6 under the wings (for the F-22, respectively, 12 and 4). At the same time, Western experts point to a deterioration in secrecy when using external suspensions, but Russian engineers are vaguely hinting that they own the "Plasma-stealth" technology, which eliminates this drawback. It is possible to judge whose 5th generation fighter is better by the radius of combat use. The T-50 can overcome 5.5 thousand km, while the F-22 only 3.2 thousand km. The advantages of the Raptor are manifested in a special thermal trace dispersion system, as well as in a radar operating with optimal radiation power. Both of these features make it difficult to detect infrared. He also has a high supersonic cruising speed (1.8 Mach, like the T-50), allowing him to quickly arrive at the site of air combat. What next?
