The closer the opening of the MAKS-2021 air show is, the more recklessly our and foreign aviation specialists are trying to guess – a “fundamentally new” Russian combat aircraft is being created on the basis of the Su or MiG concerns? Sometimes even Yakovlev's design bureau is mentioned!
A representative of the Russian military-industrial complex, who did not want to be named, says:
– The development of a new aircraft is carried out by the MiG aviation concern. He does this on the basis of one of his developments. It will be a light multipurpose aircraft capable of operating against both air and ground targets. Its single-engine layout will be its principal feature. Now the reliability of engines allows one to create single-engine machines – they require less fuel consumption and are more economical with the same weight and size characteristics. At the same time, the aircraft will have a developed control system based on artificial intelligence, which will allow the pilot to minimize his participation in piloting. “Unmanned technologies of behavior in space will be actively used, so that in the event of, for example, a pilot's injury or loss of consciousness, the plane will continue its flight and will be able to safely return to the departure airport.
In addition, all existing technologies for reducing radio signature will be used in the creation of the machine, including the special geometry of the hull and a special coating.
The MiG aviation concern has so far refused to comment on the new aircraft – “Wait until July 20, when the premiere of the new aircraft will take place. Then you will find out everything,” they say there.
Mikhail Barabanov, Senior Researcher, Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST):
– I suppose that the Sukhoi Design Bureau will participate in the creation of the new fighter. The new vehicle will be similar to the smaller, single-engine Su-57.
Oleg Panteleev, employee of the Aviaport agency:
– The new aircraft will occupy the niche of the MiG-29 light fighters. We have a fifth-generation Su-57 fighter – a heavy one, and until recently there was no light fifth-generation fighter. Therefore, the creation of a machine of the F-35 class and dimension, which will be focused on the domestic market as a replacement for the MiG-29 and on the external one as a replacement for the MiG and a competitor to the F-35, is, in general, quite a logical niche. But at MAKS we will most likely be shown only the concept of the aircraft, and not the flying version.
Andrey Taranov, aircraft design engineer:
– As far as I know, solutions for a promising fighter were collected from the best manufacturers of aviation equipment in Russia – the firms “Sukhoi” and “MiG”, as well as the OKB im. Yakovleva. What can this give? And the fact that the new aircraft can receive both advanced mechanization, including the forward horizontal tail, and promising new generation avionics. The design of the new fifth generation fighter is a smaller version of the Su-57 fighter.
Viktor Boev, test pilot:
– I heard that the new aircraft will be built on the basis of proposals from several aviation companies. The Sukhoi can produce a “second stage” engine on the new fighter – the so-called product-30, a unit from the “senior” Su-57 fighter. With its help, the car will be able to reach cruising supersonic speed without using the afterburner and will be able to stay in the air longer without refueling.
From “MiG” the car can get the aerodynamic scheme and some elements of the airframe. They: as far as I know, could have been made as part of the work on the MiG LMFS fighter.
What will be the appearance of the new fighter, no one can say yet. I can only assume that some similarity with its predecessor, the MiG-31, will still remain, because this is the development of the Design Bureau named after. Mikoyan, which adheres to certain traditions in the creation of aircraft.
Aviation experts from Newsweek magazine (USA):
– We assume that on the first day at MAKS there will be shown a reduced version of the Su-57, or a lightweight fighter of generation 4.5 – a competitor to the American F-16 and the Sino-Pakistani JF-17. But according to our colleagues from Popular Mechanics (American popular science magazine – WB), we are talking about the MiG-35 – the development of the Soviet bestseller MiG-29 with updated avionics, radar with AFAR and new weapons. The only thing that the MiG lacks for the fifth generation is built-in low-signature technologies (here Newsweek is mistaken: in our new combat vehicle, such technologies are used – these are radio signature reduction, special hull geometry and a special coating – VB).
Aviation specialists of the military magazine MilitaryWatch (USA):
– We are betting on Sukhoi. Here it is worth recalling the development by this design bureau of a supersonic fighter with one engine, super-maneuverability and low radar visibility. For it, the technologies of the already built fifth-generation Su-57 machine and its unmanned slave, the S-70 Okhotnik heavy strike drone, can be used.
Experts of the military portal of China “Zhongguo Junwang”:
– Most likely, this is an updated model of the MiG-41 – a high-speed long-range interceptor fighter with a combat range of 1400-1500 kilometers, with the ability to stealth. The maximum flight speed will exceed Mach 4 (ball 4.5 thousand kilometers per hour – WB), so it will be able to carry out space missions. In the future, the aircraft will be included in the global defense system of Russia, and later an unmanned fighter model will be presented.
