this is info about new russian-indian 5th gen fighter.
Russian 5th generation fighter to fly in 2007, says air force chief
03-Dec-2004 17:31 GMT Source: Financial Times Limited
Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax-AVN web site
Moscow, 3 December: The 5th generation combat aircraft under development for the Russian air force at the Sukhoi company will fly no later than 2007, Army General Vladimir Mikhaylov, air force commander-in-chief, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday [ 3 December].
"I earlier reported to the supreme commander-in-chief (President Vladimir Putin - Interfax-AVN) exactly the same, and I have no doubts that it is real," he said.
He added that he had visited Sukhoi on Thursday, and spent in excess of three hours discussing the problems arising in the course of the new combat tactical aircraft development. He also said that "a great work has been done" in this sphere. "I am satisfied with the results. The electronic model of the 5th generation fighter is ready, its aerodynamics and other parameters calculated," he said.
According to him, over 100 Defence Ministry specialists, and both military and civilian research and development institutions are analysing the work done. "We instructed them to find as many shortcomings as possible so that the developers could eliminate them at early stages of the process and could move further at higher tempo," he said.
"There are some unsolved problems, for instance, with the weapons suite and avionics. We should think over the possibility of introducing foreign elements, or maybe refuse this possibility at all. However, these are all on-stream problems, and we have made a good step forward, even in light of the limited funding in 2003-2004 and 2005," he added.
"The aircraft will fly in 2007. I told Mikhail Pogosyan (the Sukhoi director general - Interfax-AVN) yesterday that the aircraft should fly in 2007, let it be 31 December, but 2007. I am sure that the task will be fulfilled," he said.
Addressing the question whether the new aircraft will be a real 5th generation or a further derivative of the existing Su family, Mikhaylov said: "Of course, it will be a totally new aircraft. As for the modifications, we are working at them too. Last year, we made the Su-27SM Flanker. It was a good one. Even those who offered other modernization parameters recognize this fact. The Su-27SM is close to the 5th generation aircraft in terms of performance, but will never reach it, as the backlogs on the 5th generation tactical fighter will turn even better with the years