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Monday, March 30, 2015
Grounded? Russia's answer to US next-gen fighter hits the skids.

Grounded? Russia's answer to US next-gen fighter hits the skids.
The Kremlin is cutting its initial production of the Sukhoi T-50 fighter by
75 percent amid cost overruns and rumored technical concerns – the same kind
of issues that have plagued US development of the F-35.
By Fred Weir, Correspondent March 27, 2015
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2015/0327/Grounded-Russia-s-answer-to-US-next-gen-fighter-hits-the-skids

Moscow — Russia's ambitious T-50 fighter plane project was meant to develop
a rival to two futuristic US jetfighters, the F-22 Raptor and the planned
F-35 Lightning-II.

But now, the T-50 appears to be rivaling the F-35 another way: in
development troubles. The Kremlin is slamming the brakes on its "fifth
generation" fighter program and cutting its initial rollout to a quarter of
those originally planned.

The decision seems a setback for Vladimir Putin's sweeping $800 billion
rearmament program, a vital component of the wider effort to restore Russia
to its Soviet-era status as a major global superpower. However, the sharp
slowdown in plans to procure the sophisticated new jet may represent an
outbreak of wisdom on the part of Russian military chiefs, who will remember
how the USSR was driven into bankruptcy by engaging in an all-out arms race
with the US.

Financial constraints are the key reason cited for cutting the military
order from 52 to 12 of the planes over the next few years, according to the
Moscow daily Kommersant.

"Given the new economic conditions, the original plans may have to be
adjusted," the paper quotes Deputy Defense Minister Yuriy Borisov as saying.
The project to build a cutting-edge fighter plane, which is partly financed
by India, will not be canceled, but held in abeyance while the Russian Air
Force makes the most of its existing "fourth generation" MiG and Sukhoi
combat aircraft, he added.

No one knows whether technical problems may also have played a role in the
decision to shelve the fighter.

"We may suppose there are problems, but hard information is lacking," says
Alexander Golts, an independent military expert. "For instance, the
prototypes of this plane have been using an old engine, pending the
development of the engine it needs. Has that been developed yet? We have no
idea."

The only operational "fifth generation" fighter in the world is the US F-22.
Its production was canceled in 2009, after fewer than 200 of the
hyper-expensive planes had been built. American military services are now
awaiting the arrival of the newer and also hugely overpriced F-35, also
known as the Joint Strike Fighter, but that program has been dogged with
serious delays and technical failures.

The T-50, an advanced stealth plane with many capabilities lacking in
previous fighters, has prompted some alarm in the West. The Russians have
presented the project as an example of how they are able to leapfrog over
the lost years, after Russia's military-industrial complex collapsed along
with the Soviet Union, and field 21st century weapons that can rival the
best the US has to offer.

Most of the weaponry that's currently in Russia's military inventory are
Soviet-era designs that have evolved to incorporate new technology. Only
three projects currently in the testing phase have been entirely developed
by post-Soviet Russia. They are the T-50, the recently unveiled T-14 Armata
tank, and the Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile.

Recent reports suggest that Russian military brass have also decided to
slash orders for the new Armata tank, and instead continue using older,
Soviet-designed models for a few more years.

There is no word on the fate of other grand projects that Russian military
leaders have claimed to have on the drawing boards. These include plans for
a super-sized aircraft carrier that would dwarf the US Nimitz class, and a
fleet of enormous supersonic transport planes that could deliver up to 400
tanks anywhere in the world. [Editor's note: The original version
mischaracterized the carrying capacity of the transport planes.]

"Despite all these soaring plans, I think we see a bit of reason taking hold
in the Russian military establishment," says Mr. Golts. "Even if there were
no economic crisis, and no sanctions, this massively expensive rearmament
program would not be what Russia needs right now. Scaling it back is a wise
move."

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