ZHUKOVSKY, Russia – Sukhoi’s T-50 stealth fighter showed off its heritage from the Su-27 series on the opening day of the MAKS air show, sharply contrasting with a low-key demonstration at the 2013 show.
The new fighter replicated some of the characteristic moves of the Su-35S, including the “bell” – a dynamic high-alpha deceleration followed by a near-flat, very-low-speed 180-deg. turn, reversing the fighter’s course. The T-50 performed sequences of descending flat-spin-like turns and – rather than doing tailslides – demonstrated its ability to climb vertically and under control at slow speed, eventually pitching down and decelerating out of the maneuver.
On the ground, MAKS saw the long-delayed public debut of the MiG 1.44, which was designed in the 1980s, made a long-delayed first flight in February 2000 and was canceled soon afterward. The sole prototype, which has been stored at Zhukhovsky at the Gromov Flight Research Institute, is on static display at MAKS. With around 40,000 lb. thrust from each of its Saturn AL-41F engines, it is one of the most powerful fighters ever built and was designed to combine supersonic cruise with high agility. “Belyakov [Rostislav Belyakov, then-MiG bureau chief] did not say no to any of the air force’s requirements,” a former MiG engineer recalled today. “But even in the 1980s, it was apparent that the age of unlimited budgets was coming to an end.”
More information is expected to emerge during the show on some of the new systems on display. Tactical Missiles Corporation unveiled two new air-to-surface weapons. The Grom (Thunder) is being designed in two versions: Grom-1 (E1 for export) is rocket-boosted and Grom-2 is a glide weapon. Both have folding wings. A weapon identified as Kh-59MK2 appears to adapt the jet engine, warhead and guidance system of the Kh-59M (AS-18 Kazoo) to a completely new, slab-sided airframe, possibly designed to fit the T-50’s weapon bays.
Also on show for the first time at MAKS is the Autobaza-M passive location system from JSF Defense Systems, which appeared as a model two years ago, and a range of new and upgraded ground-based jammer systems from KRET (Concern Radio-Electronic Technology).