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Russia’s fifth generation fighter starts missile tests — commander

The new fighter jet has demonstrated excellent results
Russia’s fifth-generation PAK FA (T-50) fighter jet  Alexander Ryumin/TASS
Russia’s fifth-generation PAK FA (T-50) fighter jet
© Alexander Ryumin/TASS

ZHUKOVSKY (Moscow region), August 26. /TASS/. Russia’s fifth-generation PAK FA (T-50) fighter jet has started test flights with missile launch exercises in which it has demonstrated "excellent results," Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces Colonel General Viktor Bondarev told reporters on Wednesday.

According to him, the fighter has confirmed the stated specifications.

"The tests are in full swing. Everything is going quite smoothly, the jet has started flights to test combat missile launches. The fighter has been performing excellently," Bondarev said at the MAKS-2015 International Aviation and Space Salon, which opened in the town of Zhukovsky outside Moscow on Tuesday.

Bondarev said that during demonstration flights performed in Zhukovsky on Tuesday, the PAK FA fighter displayed high flight characteristics. According to a TASS report from the air show, the fighter performed the "Pugachev’s Cobra," flat spin, tailslide and the "Frolov chakra" (Kulbit) aerobatic manoeuvres.

The MAKS-2015 air show is held in Zhukovsky near Moscow from August 25 to 30. According to previous reports, it is attended by more than 600 Russian organisations and more than 150 foreign companies.

Russian military to purchase first serial PAK FA fighters in 2016

According to the commander,  Russia’s military plan to purchase the first serially-produced fifth-generation PAK FA fighter jets in 2016.

"We plan to purchase the first serial jets next year," he said at the MAKS-2015 International Aviation and Space Salon, which opened in the town of Zhukovsky outside Moscow on Tuesday.

Bondarev said previously that the PAK FA fighters would go into service in 2016, and serial supplies of the fighters would begin in 2017.

Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) reported that the military should receive 55 fifth-generation fighters by 2020. However, Deputy Defence Minister Yuri Borisov said later that the ministry might correct the order for the PAK FA fighters. He explained this by the new economic situation and high performance of the Sukhoi Su-35 fighters.

The Sukhoi PAK FA (Prospective Airborne Complex of Frontline Aviation) is a fifth-generation fighter program of the Russian Air Force. The T-50 is the name of the prototype aircraft designed by Sukhoi for the PAK FA program. The aircraft is a stealthy, single-seat, twin-engine jet fighter, and will be the first operational aircraft in Russian service to use stealth technology. It is a multipurpose fighter designed for the air superiority and attack roles. The fighter is planned to have super-cruise, stealth, super-manoeuvrability and advanced avionics to overcome the prior generation of fighter aircraft as well as ground and maritime defences.

The PAK FA is intended to be the successor to the MiG-29 and Su-27 in the Russian Air Force and serve as the basis for the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft being co-developed by Sukhoi and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force. PAK FA fighter first flew in 2010.