KOMSOMOLSK-ON-AMUR, December 25. /ITAR-TASS/. The programme of tests of the Prospective Airborne Complex of Frontline Aviation (PAK FA), also known as the fifth-generation fighter or T-50, is going successfully, and series deliveries of the aircraft to the Russian Air Force will begin in 2016, Air Force Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant General Viktor Bondarev told reporters on Wednesday.

“The industry has manufactures five aircraft that are undergoing tests. By March 2014, one of them will be delivered to us, to the 929th State Flight Test Centre (GLITS) for further testing,” the commander said during a visit to the Komsomolsk-on-Amur-based plant of the Sukhoi aviation holding.

T-50 is confirming the performance objectives, Bondarev said. He noted that the series deliveries of the T-50 fighter would begin in 2016. “There are no reasons to worry over the program implementation so far,” said the commander, adding that the Air Force might receive the T-50 fighter even earlier, if “the flight trials pass quickly.