Message posted by Georgeums on December 08, 2009 at 16:17:13 PST:

At this point, the only reason there are more than a handful of SU-30MKI's in service is that India had the bucks to develop and purchase a Flanker with thrust vectoring and a full "glass cockpit."

The Russian military's orders for various modernized versions of the SU-27 won't be filled until 2012-2015, so whatever follow-on is eventually developed is probably at least five years out from, "We have a technology demonstrator and/or a few in service" status.

I think that it's pretty safe to assume that the bursing of the oil/natural gas "bubble" put a serious damper on Putin's plans to fast-track modernizing his military, and as Chris notes, the whole, "We need new airplanes as well as ships/carriers/subs/tanks" philosophy has yet to take root.

I'm sure that Sukhoi would love to fast-track a, "Look what we can do" technology demonstrator, and may get enough funding for a one-off because the concept of flexing one's military muscles by sending an advanced prototype or two to an airshow and/or debuting something spectacular during a military parade still exists...

But, for the next five to ten years, anyway, it might be more cost-effective for Sukhoi to learn from the Americans' struggles in maintaining the F-22's "stealthy" aspects by incorporating some cheaper, simpler stealthy materials into their current inventory.

Sukhoi and Mikoyan can do some absolutely fantastic things when they have the funding to turn their ideas into reality, but even Russia's emergence as what is essentially a petro-dollar-backed autocracy hasn't translated into an aviation industry revival.

In Reply to: Re: Russian Stealth Fighter posted by JoenTX on December 07, 2009 at 6:12:43 PST:

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