Heres another interesting article from our friends at Aviation Week that I thought was worthy of a comment or two. Its a great example of how internet journalism/blogging can bring some value added to readers interested in defense issues and technology.
Bill Sweetman ran across a series of entries at the Secret Projects blog, which yours truly occasionally takes a look at, and found some really cool pictures clicked at a Russian aeronautics lab that shows some intriguing technology being developed there.
Aside from the whiz bang of it all, this sort of post tugs at my Cold War heart strings being a student of Soviet foreign policy and Cold War diplomacy, theres still a part of me that looks at Russia as this dark, closed place where crazy science experiments are allowed to run amok. Revelations of a variety of weapons development programs that went on behind the iron curtain revealed only as the wall fell have kept those embers smoldering.
This post comes a day after an equally interesting show was broadcast on the History International Channel titled Secret Superpower Aircraft. This series was like manna from heaven for someone like me who still yearns for the kind of Cold War rivalry that drove aerospace technology to its limits. The Avro Arrow? The F-103 Thunder Warrior? Hmmmm, yummie.
Well, enough about my addiction, feed yours with Bill Sweetmans article at Military.com. Heres an excerpt:
The invaluable Secret Projects website carries frame grabs from an early-2000s Russian TV documentary, filmed at the vast TsAGI wind-tunnel complex at Zhukovsky. While wind-tunnel models are not equivalent to real hardware, and while known sensitive material wouldn’t have been shown, the models are a real indication of Russian industry and government thinking.
First is a flying-wing aircraft, looking (from the inlet and exhaust shape) like a four-engine bomber.
There is also a stealth fighter design that superficially resembles the Lockheed YF-22.
Significant differences from the US fighter include prominent leading-edge root extensions and a different wing and tail planform. This may be the rumored Sukhoi design nicknamed Big Ears, a precursor to the T-50 PAK-FA.
And don’t forget this super-secret Russian fighter:
http://www.thinkinrussian.org/flightsim.cfm
Pretty cool stuff — giant hypersonic test facilities are like crack cocaine for engineers! I wonder what this says about the state of Russian aerospace engineering? Do they have a greater reliance on empirical testing because of less CFD capability? How does this affect their development process, given that good empirical data can find things missed in computer models, but costs a lot and takes longer?
Kind of hoping they could have included the whiz-bang fascinating suffix that every Russian system report contains:
…are equipped to overcome missile defense systems
…can detect and defeat stealth technology
…cannot be jammed into or by western technology;)
“manna from heaven for someone like me who still yearns for the kind of Cold War rivalry that drove aerospace technology to its limits“
Look, I like airplanes, too. But I think Christian’s statement reveals at least as much about our current “strategy” as all the American Enterprise Institute gassings ever written. We really don’t **need** an enemy. But certain very powerful segments of our society do very nicely by perpetually hyping “the threat”. Orwell said it best in “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism”, among other places.
That said, I’m more and more curious about the Russian aviation industry, because such an industry is the capstone of a slew of other sophisticated industries — materials, electronics, the lot. But when I travelled in that part of the world (in 2001), I saw lots of economic and educational devastation. I can see how they might be able to build sophisticated aircraft, but I’m puzzled about how they’re still able to **develop** them after so much social breakdown.
The Russians want to sell jets to anyone who can pay. I’m sure there are a lot of countries with oil revenue who don’t want to do business with the US who might want a new Mig or two. Iran, for example, could field a couple of hundred advanced fighters. India would fly ‘em too, as might Venezuela, China etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if they get a decent export design and sell 500+ to the world market.
I watched some of those shows on th History International the other day. I saw a lot of pretty cool stuff that I had never even heard of before. One that I thought was pretty pimp was the Bartini A-57.
Yup, and were supposed to believe this. Im sorry but Russia has always been behind the times, I highly doubt that they could catch us this late in the game. Maybe they could but they have yet to offer a testbed for Stealth Tech, yet alone a full fighter.
YES YOU HAVE F 117 THE FLYING BOX VERY STEALTHY AND SERBIA HAVE ONE TOO!! AND THE OTHER B2 STEALTH ONLY IN SUNNY DAYS BECAUSE WITH RAIN THE PAINT GOES AWAY.OH I DONT SEE NEVER F22 IN SHOWS TO SHOW US HOW MANEUVER IS COMPARE WITH LATEST SUKHOIS AND MIGS. THE ERA AS YOU KNOW IT ITS OVER
In fairness the Mig 15 is a great plane. There is one that flies in/out of Quonset NAS (ret). here. Einstein said make it simple, no simpler. i.e.: Mig 15. I
I remember back in 1979 that a friend of mine was an instructor for F-15 mechanics.He told them that the F-15 was the best fighter jet in the world(for that period of time).He then say that unfortunately,the Soviet Union had a heavy numerical advantage of fighter jets over the F-15(As,I believe,Lenin once said,quantity has a quality all its own).
To use football & basketball terminology,if the Russians had a zone defense of (serviceable,flyable) MiG-25,MiG-29,MiG-31,& Su-27s,maybe even a few MiG-21 & MiG-23s,flying CAP missions & the ability to calculate the direction of an air to air missile fired at one of their planes,they could make life difficult for the F-22.The question is how many of their fighter aircraft are serviceable?
The Russian’s are only limited by their lack of funds. Don’t kid yourself about their technical abilities and ingenuity. They continue to have some of the brightest minds.
Do you know where the lift fan design for the F-35 (JSF) came from? Russia. There are other technologies the USA is using that came from Russia (and other European nations).
The difference between the American minds and the Russian minds is for Russia, it has been a requirement for survival as a nation (former communist). For the US, it’s a job, a paycheck.
India just signed a $5B (US) agreement with Russia for the PAK-50. Russia claims it will contribute $5B US as well. Preliminary information says it looks a lot like the F-18/22 and some scoff at that but the fact is, companies within the US were pursuing an alignment with India for that business but you see who won out.
I am not claiming that Russia is being a military aggressor, just don’t blow them off as pumping smoke.
Russia has is recent years just copied American airframes, and put there stuff into them. I personally think its just a cheap way to do it, heck just buy the American plan. I realize it is all about national pride, but gosh. Heck they just started this not to long ago, and we are already working on the replacement for the F-22, they are a little behind. “It isn’t about what nation we can fly the F-22 against, it is what nation will fly against the F-22.“
Russia just has never been up to the Western standard, there airplanes only last 10–15 years (most of them). I just cant see how they could put together any serious competition this late in the game. Cant wait till we can fly one against the F-22 for testing though, just to see.
As far as the U.S. having secret aircraft,what do you think a lot of those “UFO” sightings in the U.S. could be.I still believe though that a whole butt load of planes up in the air flying in a zone defense CAP mission could make life for the F-22 difficult.If they cannot field so many fighter jets,then find a way to throw up an EMP field(Tesla Dome) in the air.Is the F-22 ruggedized to withstand an EMP?
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Soviet is a symbol of a sole survivors…
able to withstand the third reich…
and retaliate with full results…
it is not fair to compare russian aircraft with the us…
russian aviation technology are based on what they have..and a limited guide from others..
unlike us who co-operate with other country and gain more advance tech from its allies..
but to say it right..
russian aircraft is always a better made…
people who say thiers are second after the us will have to think twice…
because each time the us and its allies come out with 100% new tech..the red army come out with 170%.….
“For The Glory of Mother Russia”
It’s really good post. thanks