T-50
At the recent Air Show in Paris, Yuri Slyusar, President of the Moscow-based United Aircraft Corporation revealed to the media that its subsidiary Sukhoi plans to deliver three more prototypes of the advanced stealth fighter jet the T-50 PAK-FA, a fifth-generation stealth fighter, to the Russian Air Force for testing early 2016. That will bring the total number of T-50 prototypes to eight, according to a factsheet distributed at the Air Show. The company plans to deliver the first batch to the customer at the end of 2016 or by the beginning of 2017. The PAK-FA first flew in 2011 and is designed to compete against US military aircraft as the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, both of which are made by Lockheed Martin Corporation.
Compared to the previous generation fighters, the PAK-FA combines the functions of a strike and air defence aircraft thus offering a number of unique capabilities. While the T-50 has experienced some development challenges such as engine flameouts, the aircraft is performing well in tests, according to Slyusar. He also said the company expects to sign a contract this year to sell 24 Su-35s for the Chinese military and is in talks to ink a deal to provide maintenance support for Russia aircraft on their inventory. Russia and India are jointly developing an export version of the T-50 aircraft. The Indian version will be customised to meet with the specific requirements of the Indian Air Force.
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