Sukhoi continues T-50 flight trials

Sukhoi continues flight-testing prototypes of its T-50 fifth-generation fighter developed under the PAK FA program. According to the Russian jet maker, as of the end of May the two test aircraft had made 60 trial flights.

The first T-50 flew in January 2010 in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and was moved in April same year to the Zhukovsky, Moscow Region-based Gromov Flight Research Institute for initial flight testing. The second prototype joined the flight program this spring. One more aircraft, designated T-50-0, is being used for static tests, and another — T-50-KNS — is believed to be used as a complex full-scale stand intended for ground testing.

Earlier this year Mikhail Pogosyan, the head of both Sukhoi and its parent company United Aircraft Corporation, promised that the third T-50 prototype would join trials before year-end. According to him, the current two prototypes are being used to test aerodynamic characteristics, stability and controllability, while the third and fourth aircraft will be tested in the production configuration with mission equipment installed, including the new Tikhomirov NIIP AESA radar.