pakfa info

[bhushan]

hi i'm bhushan,

i want to know what is the status reg the pakfa airrcraft.

is india part of the development ?

when will it be ready for squadron induction ?

by when will india get its first pakfa & how many will india have ?

will it be made in india ?

how would pakfa compare to other aircrafts of the same generation & which are those aircrafts ?

[Srirangan]

hold on i'll fetch my crystal ball 

[alyster]

Hello bhushan,

The government commission decided on 26 April 2002 to choose the Sukhoi holding company as the head company to develop and produce the fighter of the fifth generation. The prototype of the PAK FA would take-off in 2006 and that in 2010 the aircraft would be ready for series production. The first deliveries, both for Russian armed forces and for export, would be possible in 2011-12.
From : http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/pak-fa.htm

But as the rest of the text says and from knowing the russians, they won't make it on time. I doubt that they will ever get it ready, Because they also have to build their new aircraft carrier and it might be a good idea to try to keep the existing fighters fit for service so they wouldn't fall down above Lithuania all the time. And I'm not even talking about the nukes, what americans help them keep operasional, so they wouldn't strike for a simple radar mistake or blow up in their silos.
This might be just one of Putins political game just to show his people and rest of the world that Russia is still world power, like the huge exersice with Chinese was , the Northen Fleet exersice was when Kursk sunk and as many others. I think that because it is too similart to the JSF and since JSF will probly be "next F-16" then Russia needs a new "Flanker".