Forward swept-wing - Russian trainer - Curt Lewis Video

New Russian forward-swept wing jet trainer has made its first flight. And here's the video.

Developed by a private Russian design bureau, the SR-10 (CP-10) is a single engine, all-composite jet trainer with a (moderate) forward-swept wing.

The footage below shows the first flight of SR-10, a Russian subsonic, single engine, all-composite dual-pilot jet trainer aircraft developed by KB SAT.

Developed by a private Russian design bureau called KB SAT, the aircraft features a rather unusual moderate forward-swept wing (FSW) scheme: although widely tested since 1936, the FSW has never found applications in fast jets, mainly because of the instability and structural problems induced by the design.

In fact, in spite of a better maneuverability at high AOA (Angle Of Attack), the FSW is characterized by a significant directional instability about the yaw axis, is subject to aeroelasticity issues at the wing tip, and is pretty unstable in stall conditions.

In the 1980s, Grumman built two FSW technology demonstrator, designated X-29, that first flew in 1984 and showed controllability up to 67° AOA. More recently, in 1997, Sukhoi developed the Su-47 Berkut, a supersonic demonstrator that never entered production but only conducted flight testing and performed at several air shows.

X-29 NASA

In a 2009 powerpoint presentation by KB-SAT, the SR-10 was slated to enter production as a trainer in 2011 with an export potential during the period until 2020 assessed in the volume up to 1,000 aircraft in several nations under the Russian influence across all the continents.

According to the same "Engineer note," the base variant of the aircraft provides for the equipping with the dual-flow turbojet engine AI-25TLSh, K-93 ejection seats with 0-0 capability (and safe escape up to 950 km/h), a "training efficiency" 10% higher on the average than the efficiency of its next analog - the L-39, and an operating cost much lower than the Yak-130: 2,500 USD vs 8,000 USD/fh.

Not sure if those figures are still valid today.

Until now, the only operable forward-swept wing aircraft in Russia has been the Sukhoi Su-47 Berkut (Golden Eagle) fighter jet, which never went into mass production, yet became an advanced concept technology demonstrator and a testing ground for technical solutions later integrated into Russia's 5G fighter jet PAK-FA.