Sukhoi / HAL FGFA
| Sukhoi / HAL FGFA | |
|---|---|
| Type: | Multipurpose fighter |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
- |
| Commissioning: |
- |
| Production time: |
Series production planned from 2015 |
| Number of pieces: |
> 250 (planned) |
The FGFA program ( F IFTH G eneration F ighter A ircraft ) is a project of the Russian aviation consortium OAK to develop a fighter of the fifth generation . The Indian Hindustan Aeronautics ( HAL ) participated in the project until 2018 .
Program content
The program is based on the Russian PAK-FA program , the prototype of which is the Sukhoi T-50, and aimed at developing a PAK-FA version tailored to the Indian Air Force.
The FGFA should - as the most obvious difference to the PAK-FA - be two-seated, since the Indian Air Force prefers two -seated machines after the good experience with the Su-30MKI .
On January 5, 2010, it became known that a delegation from the Indian Ministry of Defense was observing the production of the PAK-FA prototype in the Siberian manufacturing plant of Sukhoi (KNAAPO). A detailed contract relating to joint development is about to be completed. The contract that Bangalore-based HAL signed with OAK included the obligation to build 250 combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and an equal number for Russia. It should be possible to order additional machines. HAL and OAK would be equal partners in the joint venture, as would the Indian BrahMos JV, which would be responsible for the development and construction of the FGFA. It was also announced that HAL was aiming for a 25 percent share in the development and construction work of the FGFA program in the negotiations. As part of the order from HAL, important software as well as on-board computers, navigation systems, a large part of the cockpit displays, CMD systems and the conversion of the single-seat Sukhoi prototype into a two-seat version required by the Indian Air Force were considered. A total of 500 aircraft are planned to be built, with the possibility of further deliveries. The Russian Air Force will receive 200 single-seat and 50 double-seat PAK-FA aircraft, while the Indian Air Force will receive 200 double and 50 single-seat FGFA aircraft.
Sukhoi's director Michail Pogosjan expected a demand of around 1000 aircraft over a period of four decades - 200 aircraft each for Russia and India and a further 600 for other buyer countries. Russia's Trade Minister Viktor Khristenko said that the aircraft would be developed and produced jointly with India and that both countries "will jointly benefit not only from sales in their domestic markets, but also from sales to third countries".
development
The cost of commissioning of 250 with stealth characteristics provided FGFA fighter aircraft could be possibly more than 25 billion US dollars. In addition, there will be enormous investments in the development of the FGFA with Russia as well as in the construction of the huge infrastructure that is necessary for the operation and maintenance of such fighter jets in India. Air Chief Marshal Naik said the 30-ton FGFA is a "multi-role fighter with very advanced avionics, stealth properties to increase its survivability, higher lethal impact, 360-degree visibility, intelligent weapons, data networking, high-performance computers" and a few more advanced computers Features.
Together with 126 medium multi-role fighter jets, which India is planning to purchase as part of a 10.4 billion US dollar project, 270 Sukhoi-30MKI machines, which will be supplied by Russia for around 12 billion US dollars, an increase in combat value of the existing ones Su-30 MKI for another 2 billion US dollars and 120 pieces of the Indian Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-Tejas) for 3.6 billion US dollars, the approximately 250 FGFA machines are to form the mainstay of the Indian air force. Regardless of this, combat value enhancement measures for 50 older Mirage 2000s and 61 MiG-29 SMTs with a value of 2.2 billion US dollars are to ensure their operational readiness until 2025 and for another 125 MiG-21s until 2017. With this, the required combat strength of the Indian Air Force of 44 squadrons with more than 792 aircraft (18 aircraft per squadron) should be achieved within the next ten years and the reconstruction of the Air Force should be completed at a cost price of around 55 to 65 billion US dollars.
The joint venture depends heavily on the success of the BrahMos project. At the beginning of 2007, Russia and India agreed to jointly begin a program to develop a Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA). On October 27, 2007, the Asia Times quoted Sukhoi Director Mikhail Pogosjan: "We, India and Russia, will jointly share the funding, development and intellectual property of the new project on a 50:50 basis." According to the agreement, the Indian version should differ from the Russian and be adapted to the specific Indian conditions. While the Russian version will be a single-seat fighter, the two-seat Indian version should fulfill a broader range of tasks according to its operational doctrine. The wings and control surfaces must be adapted for the FGFA. Although the development work is still ahead, the Russian side is optimistic that a test aircraft will be available for its first flight in 2009 - one year after the first flight planned for the PAK FA - and that it will be commissioned in 2015. This schedule could not be kept. After repeated budget and deadline overruns, India finally dropped out of the project in spring 2018.
Differences between PAK-FA and FGFA
The difference between the PAK-FA and the FGFA will be the same as that between the Su-30M and the Su-30MKI. The Su-30M is the Russian standard version of the aircraft, while the Su-30MKI (MKI stands for "Modernisirowannij Kommertscheski Indiski") was developed together with the Indian Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the Indian Air Force. The Su-30MKI received thrust vector control and canards and is equipped with multi-national avionics from India, Israel, Russia and France. The aircraft of the PAK-FA and FGFA programs will have few technological features in common. In addition, the FGFA will primarily use weapons of Indian origin such as Astra and long-range air-to-air missiles developed in India . Following the Russian mission doctrine of using a wide range of versatile missiles for different types of missions, an interchangeability of various missile systems can be expected. The differences between the Indian FGFA and the Russian PAK-FA were considerable, as the two-seater design of the aircraft required the wings and control surfaces to be re-dimensioned.
The FGFA can be equipped with systems from third-party suppliers.
construction
Although reliable information on the technical data of PAK-FA and FGFA is not yet available, it is known from circles of the Russian air force that they have stealth properties and will be capable of super cruising and that they will be armed with the latest generations of air-to-air , Air-to-surface and air-to-ship missiles and an AESA radar. The FGFA will initially be equipped with two Saturn 117S engines. This engine is a further developed version of the AL-31F, manufactured with the experience from the AL-41F program. The AL-41F was developed for the now discontinued MFI program ( Mikojan-Gurevich MiG 1.44 ).
Web links
- Indo-Russian 5th Generation Fighter Agreement Signed. In: http://livefist.blogspot.de . (English).
- HAL's Baweja: Two different prototypes of 5th Gen fighter, etc. In: http://livefist.blogspot.de . (English).
- Rajat Pandit: India, Russia to develop fifth-generation stealth fighter. The Times of India, October 19, 2007 (English).
- Indo-Russian fifth generation fighter aircraft to fly by 2015. August 8, 2008(English).
- Reuben F. Johnson: Sukhoi Su-57: Will India Join the Program? ainonline.com, February 7, 2018 (English).
Individual evidence
- ↑ India, Russia to have different versions of the same fighter plane
- ↑ India, Russia close to PACT on next generation fighter
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ [2]
- ^ Russia to make 1,000 stealth jets, eyes India deal
- ↑ Russia, India to sign contract for sketching 5th generation jet soon ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Rasheed Kappan: Indo-Russian agreement soon on PAK-FA . The Hindu . February 8, 2007. Retrieved October 20, 2007.
- ↑ India, Russia to make 5th generation fighter jets . Times of India . January 24, 2007. Retrieved October 20, 2007.
- ↑ India, Russia still brothers in arms
- ↑ Indo-Russian 5th generation fighter to take-off by 2012
- ↑ India, Russia to have different versions of the same fighter plane
- ↑ 5th Generation Fighter Project (based on PAK-FA)
- ^ Rahul Bedi & Reuben F Johnson: India withdraws from FGFA project, leaving Russia to go it alone. (No longer available online.) In: Janes.com. Jane's 360, April 20, 2018, archived from the original on May 23, 2018 ; accessed on July 16, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ SU30MKI ( Memento of the original from January 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Sukhoi / HAL FGFA to Indian Stealth Fighter . In: Defense Aviation . October 27, 2008. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
- ↑ Russia, India to develop joint 5G-fighter by 2016
