Russo-Indian 5th-Gen PAK-FA fighter makes successful maiden flight

Moscow: Russia's prototype fifth-generation fighter, a joint venture with India, made a successful 45-minute maiden flight on Friday in the country's Far East, Russian television said. The flight was earlier postponed by 24 hours because of poor weather conditions in Komsomolsk-on-Amur where tests on the prototype are being carried out.

Image: warfare.ru

"The fifth generation fighter made its maiden flight at Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The flight lasted about 45 minutes and was a success," Sukhoi Corporation's spokesperson Olga Kayukova told state-run 'Rossiya 24' TV. She described the flight as a textbook one, saying, "all the expectations of the scientists were met."

The successful flight makes it likely that the stealth fighter would be ready for operational service sometime over the next five years.

Built under the Project name T-50 PAK-FA (Advanced Tactical Frontline Fighter) the Sukhoi-designed aircraft is meant to compete with the US Lockheed Martin-built F-22 Raptor, which is the world's only fifth-generation air dominance fighter, as well as Lockheed's F-35 Lightning II - a fifth generation, stealth, ground attack fighter, currently under development.

The T-50, with a range of 5,500 km, is expected to enter service with the Russian Air Force in 2015 in a single-seater version.

With the debut flight, Russia becomes only the second country in the world to produce a fifth generation fighter.