Which is supposed to have its first flight and all this month Somewhat hyped, despite it being early to celebrate.

For some reason I prefer Russian aircraft than American/NATO. Dunno why.

Anyway, the Sukhoi Pak Fa, unless you heard of it already, is this:

Youtube video of the concept

Sketches/renders and all that

Wikipedia article

How the Pak Fa looks like is still a secret. There are similar concepts to the Su-47 Berkut ( hardly surprising, the Berkut was sorta a predecessor of the Pak Fa ).

The MIG is my favourite aircraft, as far as design is concerned.

Wouldn't ber surprised if it were a stealthy berkut with conventional wings.

I like Ruskie fighters too!

The Berkut was one of the "ancestors" of the Pak Fa. Just that this one will be stealth and have better engines/power plant, among other fancy stuff.

From wikipedia:

Although there is no reliable information about the PAK FA's specifications yet, it is known from interviews with people in the Russian Air Force that it will be stealthy, have the ability to supercruise, be outfitted with the next generation of air-to-air, air-to-surface, and air-to-ship missiles, and incorporate an AESA radar. The PAK FA will use on its first flights 2 Saturn 117S engines (about 14.5 ton thrust each). The 117S is an advanced version of the AL-31F, but built with the experience gained in the AL-41F program. The AL-41F powered the Mikoyan MFI fighter (Project/Article 1.44). Later versions of the PAK FA will use a completely new engine (17.5 ton thrust each), developed by NPO Saturn or FGUP MMPP Salyut.

If this is true it would seem the Pak Fa (say that 5 times fast ) is much more well rounded than the F22 ended up, and evidently at a fraction of the price.

For some reason I prefer Russian aircraft than American/NATO. Dunno why.

Personally I prefer them for their appearence, comparing previous generation aircraft (su-27 with the f-16 for example), the american designs seem much more blocky, while the fulcrums and flankers were very smooth (not to mention pretty dangerous up close).

Well, compare the F-22's and PAK FA's age... I doubt Russia would spend so much effort on making something lesser than the F-22 Raptor.

Well, compare the F-22's and PAK FA's age... I doubt Russia would spend so much effort on making something lesser than the F-22 Raptor.

You forget that creating lesser aircraft to their Western equivalents is more or less standard operating procedure for them.

I keep thinking of those tentacled aliens from B5, the Pak Ma'Ra'...

Su-37 or the Su-47?

MiG-29, Su-27, MiG-24/27, MiG-21, Su-37

F-16/F/A-18, F-15, F-111/GR.3 Tornado, A-7/F-8, F-22/Eurofighter

Russian aircraft are traditionally at least five years behind Western ones in capablity and frequently closer to a decade. They're also usually crap multirole; the MiG-29 was touted on export as a multirole aircraft but the sad truth is it's got almost no real air-to-surface guided weapons capablity, and the export version's main guided weapon is a beam rider missile, a technology the West abandoned early in the Vietnam War.

The only time the Russians built an aircraft indisputably superior to one the Western world had in living memory was when they designed the Su-25, and that got trumped by the A-10 within a few years.

Your thesis regarding Russian pilots is terribly flawed, as well, since many of the pilots the Israeli's actually fought were Russian. (Perversely they managed to draw the wrong concept from that experience and went for ground-controlled intercept rather than airborne radar; AFAIK they still don't have an airborne radar platform truly comparable to the E-3.)

The Mig-15 I discard, because jet technology was new enough at the time that anyone could extemporize a good jet aircraft by pure chance.

The MiG-21 might be effective, but on the other hand every encounter it ever had with the Phantom, both in Vietnam and against the Israelis, it was thrown for a loss. The combat record to support the contention just isn't there.

Nor did I even bother comparing the Eurofighter to the Su-27/MiG-29, but rather the most recent versions of those aircraft which are/were its contemporaries.

The Mig-15 I discard, because jet technology was new enough at the time that anyone could extemporize a good jet aircraft by pure chance.

The MiG-21 might be effective, but on the other hand every encounter it ever had with the Phantom, both in Vietnam and against the Israelis, it was thrown for a loss. The combat record to support the contention just isn't there.

Nor did I even bother comparing the Eurofighter to the Su-27/MiG-29, but rather the most recent versions of those aircraft which are/were its contemporaries.

Wouldn't the Panavia Tornado be a better contemporary then the Typhoon ?

F-22 > all

Sure it is highly specialized, but that is what makes it such a great interceptor

I was sad when the US govt ended their orders so suddenly after spending all of that time and money developing the F-22. I know cuts are reasonable, but simply ending the program is a little vain IMO