Sputnik / Алексей Майшев
17:00 08/08/2021 (Updated: 13:30 8/9/2021 )
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Destroying targets at distances up to 1500 km, stealth technology, maximum speed over 2 Ma and engine as for the Su-57. Russia has presented a fighter project with extremely impressive technical data. Now you just need to implement all these requirements.
The promising single-engine Checkmate fighter ("Checkmate" translated from English) is likely to receive the name Su-75, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov recently told RBC.
Checkmate, which became the main sensation of the MAKS-2021 air show , was dubbed the "perfect killer" in the Russian press and endowed with other flattering epithets for the fighter. What can actually be said about the new Russian plane?
Mockup with real components
At the beginning, it is worth going down from heaven to earth, where visitors of MAKS are presented with a demonstration model of the new fifth generation fighter of the Sukhoi Design Office. The model of the aircraft was assembled at the Komsomol Union of Aviation Industry named after Yuri Gagarin in Komsomolsk-on-Amur (the company is the main producer of aircraft of the Sukhoi Construction Bureau).
The company has already started to assemble the first unit of the new static test machine, and will be assembling prototypes for air test and producing series machines in the future.
Of course, even when designing a mock-up, some real components and parts are used, but for the time being, this is only a model of a real plane for demonstration at exhibitions and tests - for example, the layout of weapons systems and other parameters of a real machine in the future.
"It is important that for the first time in the recent history of Russia, visitors to the MAKS-2021 were presented with a light single-engine multi-role fighter, close to the real "in iron" reality. The possibility and necessity of having such an aircraft have long been discussed in the aviation community."
Previously, such machines were created in the USSR and were very effective and popular: for example, the legendary MiG-21 and MiG-23. They were relatively unpretentious combat units that were somewhat in competition with their Western "classmates" - Mirage-III, Mirage F1, F-16, IAI Kfir. In the late USSR, the MiG-29 light twin-engine was chosen - it was justified from many points of view, but not economically, which distinguishes single-engine aircraft.
In addition to being economical, the advantages of such models include smaller dimensions, which of course affects the detectability. It is worth mentioning the disadvantages: lower payload, shorter flight range and, of course, lower survivability.
More powerful than the JAS-39 Gripen and the F-35?
The main technical data of the new Su-75 has already been revealed: the range without refueling and without external tanks is 2,900 km, with a take-off weight of about 18 tons and a maximum speed of more than 2 Ma.
The maximum combat load is 7400 kg. Considering the fact that the plane will have a large internal chamber for missile and bomb weapons, as well as two small chambers for short-range air-to-air defensive missiles, it can be concluded that future Su's will be able to carry, say, a pair of external fuel tanks and up to three shock missiles with a range of up to 150-200 km for destroying ground targets. Thanks to this charging option, the plane will be able to destroy targets at distances of up to 1,500 kilometers - this is a very impressive combat range.
If all this is implemented, the Su-75 will outperform both the Swedish Saab JAS-39 Gripen and the American Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II in terms of capabilities. Of course, it should be noted that currently these specifications only exist on paper, and both the Gripen and the F-35 are in service with the Air Force.
It is already known that the new Su will be equipped with an engine that is currently being developed for the modernized and more advanced version of the first Russian fifth-generation aircraft , namely the Su-57 / PAK FA. The engine of the "Product 30" will be able to provide the Su-57 with supersonic cruising speed, which is extremely important for long-range combat aircraft.
The management of the Russian military-industrial complex has also announced that the plane will be equipped with a new radar that will significantly exceed the capabilities of, for example, the radar installed in the American F-35. It is quite real. Of course, provided that the American F-35 is integrated with a modern, network-centric information field of a combat operation and can already use any information source in practice. But if something similar is also implemented on Russian aircraft by then, before the new Su goes into service, it will be possible to try to judge the degree of superiority. For now, I would refrain from judging.
Without welds and rivets, or why the Su-75 can be "invisible"
Of course, the new plane will have a lowered radar signature. The design of the fuselage of the aircraft is very advanced in this sense - in terms of configuration, the Su resembles the most interesting prototypes of future war drones in the skies that are being built in the West. The Su-75 was made according to a scheme reminiscent of one of the first fifth generation aircraft - Northrop-McDonnell Douglas YF-23 - with a trapezoidal wing and V-shaped tail, which also serves as a rudder and elevator.
"This scheme, combined with the proper contours of the fuselage, modern materials and a "clean" plating - no welds or rivets - currently provides the lowest level of the plane's radar signature. Overall, there is a good chance that the new plane will be fully "invisible"."
The news appeared that the tests of the new fighter are to end in 2027. If everything that has been planned is successful, we may witness the birth of a new legend of Russian aviation, the "new MiG-21" in its most modern incarnation.
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