Saab
The Gripen E has entered the delivery phase. On November 24, Saab introduced the first series-production Gripen to the Brazilian and Swedish Air Forces, which will receive four and two aircraft respectively.
Saab
Saab
Monday 29 November 2021
Gripen E as a series enters the delivery phase for the Brazilian and Swedish Air Forces - YouTube
France seals previously-announced Rafale fighter jet deal with Croatia
Christian ROULET
Reuters
Croatia's President Zoran Milanovic welcomes his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Zagreb, Croatia, November 25, 2021. HINA/Daniel KASAP/Pool via REUTERS
ZAGREB, Nov 25 (Reuters) - France formally signed on Thursday a previously-announced Dassault Aviation Rafale fighter jet contract with Croatia. read more
Reuters TV broadcast images of French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly signing the deal in the presence of her Croatian counterpart, and alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.
In May, Plenkovic had said Croatia would buy 12 French Dassault Rafale fighter jets to modernise its air force in a deal worth 999 million euros ($1.1 billion). read more
Croatia joined NATO in 2009 and the European Union in 2013. Its air force has a squadron of Russian-made MiG-21 jets dating from the period of the former Yugoslavia, but they are outdated and only a few are still operational.
($1 = 0.8911 euros)
Reporting by Lucien Libert; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta
Saturday 27 November 2021
Malaysia has begun process of replacing Hawk fighter jets: Defence minister
Gilles Denis
Rashvinjeet S. Bedi
25 Nov 2021 05:54PM
(Updated: 25 Nov 2021 05:54PM)
The crashed Hawk 108 fighter jet at the Butterworth air base. (File photo: Bernama)
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian government has already begun the process of replacing its Hawk 108 and Hawk 208 fighter jets, said Senior Minister for Defence Hishammuddin Hussein.
Mr Hishammuddin said that the government had already approved the purchase of fighter lead-in trainer/light combat aircraft (FLIT/LCA).
He added that an international open tender for these purchases had already closed on Oct 6 and was now in the process of evaluation.
“The process has already begun, and this was in the planning of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) as outlined in their capability development 2055 or CAP55 policy document,” he told parliament on Thursday (Nov 25) during question time.
Mr Hishammuddin had been asked by Jerantut MP Ahmad Nazlan Idris whether the defence ministry was considering grounding the Hawk fighter jets and on the status of procuring replacements for the aircraft.
Bernama news agency reported in December last year that RMAF had planned to procure 36 aircraft (FLIT/ LCA) in phases, depending on the government's approval.
Several incidents involving RMAF Hawk fighter jets have been reported over the years.
According to Bernama there were nine incidents involving the jets that happened between 1996 and 2017.
The most recent incident was on Nov 16 when a Hawk 108 plane crashed at the RMAF base in Butterworth, Penang, killing one pilot and injuring another.
Replying to a question on the incident, Mr Hishammuddin said that there were no drastic plans to shift the RMAF’s bases in high-density areas to anywhere else.
Hulu Langat MP Hasanuddin Mohd Yunus had asked him if the ministry would review the status of RMAF’s bases located in high-density areas such as Butterworth, Labuan, and Kuantan, to avoid unwanted incidents of fighter jets crashing as happened on Nov 16.
Mr Hishammuddin said all RMAF’s runways were in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards and were periodically audited by Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) and the RMAF itself.
RMAF deputy chief Mohd Asghar Khan Goriman Khan had said that a probe would be conducted immediately on the crash which took place around 10pm during night flight training.
Source: CNA/rv(ih)
Mahathir Mohamad receives briefing on JF-17 before leaving Islamabad | Pakistan | thenews.com.pk
Malaysia interested in procuring JF-17 Thunder, anti-tank missiles from Pakistan | Business - Geo.tv
Malaysia interested in procuring JF-17 Thunder, anti-tank missiles from Pakistan | Business - Geo.tv
Boeing told its fighter jet doesn’t meet criteria to replace Canada’s aging fleet: sources - National
Paul Schweizerhof
By Lee Berthiaume The Canadian Press
Posted November 25, 2021 3:39 pm
Updated November 25, 2021 7:24 pm
Boeing has been told that its bid to replace Canada’s aging CF-18s with a new fleet of the American company’s Super Hornet fighter jets did not meet the federal government’s requirements.
Three sources from industry and government say the message was delivered Wednesday as the other two companies competing for the $19-billion contract — U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin and Swedish firm Saab — were told they met the government’s requirements.
The three sources were all granted anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss these matters publicly.
The Department of National Defence and Public Services and Procurement Canada, which is managing the competition on behalf of the federal government, did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
Companies had been ordered to show that their fighter jet was able to meet the military’s requirements for missions at home and abroad, but also that winning the contract would result in substantial economic benefits to Canada.
However, while Boeing’s failure to meet the requirements would appear to disqualify the Super Hornet from the competition, leaving only Lockheed Martin’s F-35 and Saab’s Gripen fighter jet in the running, none of the companies have been told whether they are still in or out.
A Boeing spokesperson said the company would reserve comment pending official notification from the government.
News that one of the two U.S. companies competing for the contract failed to meet one or more of those requirements is the latest twist in what has been already been a long and often unpredictable road toward replacing Canada’s CF-18s.
Many observers had seen the Super Hornet and F-35 as the only real competition because of Canada’s close relationship with the United States, which includes using fighter jets together to defend North American aerospace on a daily basis.
Those perceptions were only amplified after two other European companies dropped out of the competition before it even started, complaining the government’s requirements had stacked the deck in favour of their U.S. rivals.
Sweden is not a member of NATO or the joint Canadian-American defence command known as Norad, which is responsible for protecting the continent from foreign threats. That had prompted questions about the Gripen’s compatibility with U.S. aircraft.
While Boeing’s failure to meet the government’s requirements is surprising, said defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, it could also boost the government’s assertions that it is running a fair and unbiased competition to replace the CF-18s.
“It indicates it was genuinely a competitive procurement, which Canada had put an awful lot of effort into ensuring was the case,” he said.
Perry added: “There was a lot of speculation about whether a non-American fighter could actually be a real contender, given Canada’s requirements for interoperability with the United States. If they’re still in the mix, Saab has obviously met that mark.”
Yet Jeff Collins, an expert on military procurement at the University of Prince Edward Island, said there remain longstanding concerns in some corners that the entire competition has been set up from the beginning to select the F-35.
Choosing a different fighter, he added, would represent a major break from Canada’s closest allies, the majority of which are buying the F-35.
Canada first joined the U.S. and other allies as a partner in developing the F-35 in 1997 and has since paid US$613 million to stay at the table. Partners get a discount when purchasing the jets and compete for billions of dollars in contracts associated with building and maintaining them.
Stephen Harper’s Conservative government then committed to buying 65 F-35s without a competition in 2010, before concerns about the stealth fighter’s cost and capabilities forced it back to the drawing board.
The Liberals promised in 2015 not to buy the F-35, but to instead launch an open competition to replace the CF-18s. They later planned to buy 18 Super Hornets without a competition as an “interim” measure to ensure Canada had enough aircraft until permanent replacements could be purchased.
Some at the time questioned that plan, suggesting the Liberals were trying to find a way to lock Canada into the Super Hornet without opening itself up to a legal challenge from Lockheed Martin or any other jet makers.
But the government cancelled the plan after Boeing launched a trade dispute with Montreal aerospace firm Bombardier over the latter’s C-Series planes. It later introduced a penalty on firms seeking a federal contract who have launched a trade dispute with Canada.
Collins questioned whether the so-called “Boeing clause” played any part in the fighter jet competition, though officials have previously said it was not a factor as the dispute was resolved in Bombardier’s favour in 2018.
Meanwhile, the government has been forced to invest hundreds of millions of additional dollars into the CF-18 fleet to keep it flying until a replacement can be delivered. The government has said it plans to name a winner in the coming months, with the first plane delivered in 2025.
The last plane isn’t scheduled to arrive until 2032, at which point the CF-18s will have been around for 50 years.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
Friday 26 November 2021
Russia to deliver Kornet anti-tank missile systems to Serbia before yearend — Vucic
Russian MoD
The Serbian leader stressed that Kornet anti-tank missile launchers are "very important tactical things"
SOCHI, November 25. /TASS/. The first Russian-made Kornet anti-tank missile launchers will arrive in Serbia before the end of 2021, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said after his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Thursday.
"The first deliveries will be carried out before the end of the year. These are not strategic but very important tactical things. And I can say that these are Kornet systems, launchers for Kornets and armor-piercing missiles for Kornets that are exceptionally important on our territory," Vucic said in a live broadcast of the TV Pink television channel from Sochi.
As Vucic pointed out, Belgrade does not complain that its neighbors in the region are receiving armor and aircraft as gifts. "But we must be responsible, we must not be weak and must not be punching bags. We must be strong and we are working on that and will keep doing so," the Serbian leader said.
Earlier on November 25, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and French President Emmanuel Macron signed a deal in Zagreb, under which Croatia would purchase 12 French Rafale multirole fighters. The first combat planes are expected to arrive in Croatia at the end of 2023 and at the beginning of 2024. The Croatian government has decided to purchase the French multirole fighters to replace the outdated Ukrainian-made MiG-21 fighter aircraft.
Russia earlier handed over 30 T-72MS tanks and 30 BRDM-2MS armored personnel carriers to Serbia. From 2018 to February 2020, Russia handed over to Serbia four Russian-made Mi-35M helicopters, six MiG-29 fighter jets, ten BRDM-2 reconnaissance and patrol armored vehicles, three Mi-17V-5 transport helicopters, and also Pantsyr-S1 air defense missile/gun systems as part of its military and technical assistance to the Balkan country.
Kornet E / EM Anti-Tank Missile: Details
Thursday 25 November 2021
3 New RAAF F-35A Lightning II Aircraft Touch Down
Bill Strong
Air Force has now received 44 of the planned 72 F-35A Lightning II aircraft after three more aircraft touched down at RAAF Base Williamtown on November 18.
The newest aircraft to join the fleet have been accepted by No. 77 Squadron, which transited the three F-35As from Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, United States, through Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, to Australia as part of Exercise Lightning Ferry 21-4.
Commanding Officer No. 77 Squadron Wing Commander Tim Ireland said it was an important step for the squadron's growth after re-equipping with F 35A aircraft this year.
"Our focus in 2021 has been to stand-up an F-35A combat ready team," Wing Commander Ireland said.
"The additional aircraft will help us generate a ready force able to integrate into a high-end all domain fight."
Before the transit to Australia, No. 77 Squadron participated in Exercise Lighting Spear 21 at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, from November 1 to 5.
Wing Commander Ireland said Lightning Spear was an operational test activity for No. 81 Wing aimed to verify weapons integration.
"The consecutive activities of Lightning Spear and Lightning Ferry demonstrates No. 77 Squadron's agility and maturity at operating with our latest F-35A capability," he said.
"The F-35A is the seventh fighter that No. 77 Squadron has operated. It's humbling to be a part of such a significant phase of our proud 79-year history."
The latest aircraft ferried across the Pacific as part of Exercise Lightning Ferry 21-4 was the final delivery task of 2021.
Source: MoD Australia
Date: Nov 23, 2021
GE awarded two contracts supporting T700 engine fleets across U.S. military
Josh Kaiser
November 23, 2021
LYNN, Mass. – The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) awarded GE two contracts in September totaling more than $1 billion to support T700 turboshaft engine fleets across the U.S. military.
GE will provide field-level consumables and services through a five-year, $284 million contract with DLA Aviation in Richmond, Virginia., and depot-level repairables and module section components through a five-year, $722 million contract with DLA Aviation in Huntsville, Alabama. GE facilities in Lynn, Massachusetts, and Evendale, Ohio, will produce the majority of parts associated with these contracts.
These T700 contracts are replacing the current Technical, Engineering, Logistics Supplies and Services (TELSS) contract which supports the Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD) located in Corpus Christi, Texas. These contracts will expand GE’s responsibility from depot only to fleet-level support.
“The T700 engine is the heart of medium lift helicopter fleets across the U.S. military, and we’re proud to continue supporting multiple U.S. service branches through this contract” said Harry Nahatis, vice president and general manager of GE Turboshaft Engine programs. “Readiness and cost are two major focuses for GE and the Department of Defense, and this contract allows us to continue improving on both fronts.”
T700 engine
The T700 entered service in 1978 powering the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk. Today, the T700/CT7 family of turboshaft and turboprop engines power 15 types of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. The T700/CT7 family has surpassed 24,000 units delivered and more than 100 million total engine flight hours.
Continuing technical improvements have enabled the T700/CT7 engine line to become increasingly more powerful and reliable throughout its history. Current models retain all the proven features and operating characteristics of earlier versions while delivering enhanced performance for the warfighter.
UH-60M: Details
Italy air force F-35B makes first time landing on Italian carrier
Martin Wippel
By Tom Kington
Nov 23, 03:18 AM
An Italian Air Force F-35B on Nov. 21, 2021, landed for the first time on the Cavour, the Italian Navy’s aircraft carrier, joining a Navy F-35B on board. (Italian MOD photo)
ROME – An Italian Air Force F-35B has landed for the first time on the Cavour, the Italian Navy’s aircraft carrier, joining a Navy F-35B on board and signaling the long awaited start of joint activities between the two forces using the aircraft.
During the exercise on Nov. 21 the two jets flew together from the Cavour to land on the nearby Queen Elizabeth – the Royal Navy carrier currently in the Mediterranean, while two U.S. Marine F-35Bs currently based on the British vessel flew to the Cavour, before U.S., Italian and British B’s flew maneuvers together.
The exercise was officially about F-35Bs from different countries working together, but the big breakthrough was the sight of Italian Navy and Air Force jets flying alongside each other after a slow start to cooperation between the forces.
The Navy now has three of 15 F-35Bs due to be delivered, two of which are training in the United States, while a third was delivered to the Cavour in July.
The Air Force is taking delivery of 60 F-35As, but has also received the first of 15 expected B’s it plans to deploy in missions requiring jets able to fly from short runways.
On Sunday, talk of genuine cooperation came thick and fast as Italian chief of staff Adm. Cavo Dragone suggested that in addition to Air Force pilots now flying their jets off the Cavour, Navy pilots would train to join land-based missions.
“The synergies between the Navy and Air Force in the use of the F-35B from the decks of aircraft carriers will be matched in their use from land, operating together in operational situations without runways suitable for conventional aircraft,” he said.
Describing Sunday as a “historic day”, he added, “This a new season in which we head towards complete integration of the F-35Bs of the Air Force and the Navy which will bring total interoperability in air and naval operations.”
In a statement, the Air Force said, “With this activity we are turning a new page where interoperability and the concept of Joint and Combined synergy between armed forces are concrete facts.”
That adds to talk in this year’s Italian defense budget of a ‘STOVL Joint Force,’ suggesting some sort of integrated Italian F-35B force could evolve.
What remains to be decided is where one shared base for the jets could be established, with the Navy hitherto keen to continue to use its base in Grottaglie in southern Italy it has used for its aging Harrier fleet.
The Air Force, in turn, already has a large F-35 base for its A’s and its B at nearby Amendola and believes it makes sense to group all of Italy’s F-35 jets there.
defensenews.com
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Marina Militare - A bordo della portaerei Cavour per l'appontaggio del primo F-35B
Italian Navy and Air Force F-35Bs on HMS Queen Elizabeth [4K]
Wednesday 24 November 2021
China's first anti-submarine patrol aircraft in 60 seconds - YouTube
chinamil.com. / Photo by Qin Qianjiang
CGTN
The Y-8Q is China's first independently developed and manufactured fixed-wing anti-submarine patrol aircraft. This variant of China's Y-8 transport plane integrates reconnaissance, analysis and attack capabilities. It is mainly used for accurately seeking and attacking enemy submarines. It has an infrared detection system, CCD cameras and laser range-finders for identifying surfaced targets. The Y-8Q is also equipped with the world's most advanced magnetic anomaly detectors that are able to spot demagnetized submarines under water. The introduction of the Y-8Q will enhance the People's Liberation Army's overall anti-submarine warfare capabilities.
Y-8X / Gaoxin-6 Maritime Patrol Aircraft: Details
Tuesday 23 November 2021
Checkmate to the US aviation industry: Russian Checkmate fighter went into production
VLAD SHLEPCHENKO
21 NOVEMBER 2021 17:05
CHECKMATE TO THE US AVIATION INDUSTRY: RUSSIAN CHECKMATE FIGHTER WENT INTO PRODUCTION
The fifth generation fighter Checkmate ("Checkmate") became a sensation at the MAKS-2021 air show in July this year. It was shown to the general public out of the blue: no leaks about the development of this machine had previously been leaked to the media. And now - from the first photos to the launch of the serial assembly, it took only four months, an absolute record in Russia!
The first information about the unique aircraft appeared in open sources literally a couple of days before the presentation, when "kind people" photographed a full-size model of the fighter - first covered with cloth, and then already installed in the pavilion.
And now the real production of these fighters has started . The assembly of the aircraft was started by the specialists of the aircraft plant named after Yu.A. Gagarin in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
Universal Soldier
The presentation of the new machine was glamorous, at the highest level, thanks to which Checkmate largely overshadowed other participants in the exhibition - including the civilian MS-21 airliner, ready for production, and unmanned helicopters, and many other interesting products of the aviation industry. The novelty rushed to discuss not only the Russian and American press (which was quite natural), but also Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese publications.
The fighter impressed the audience not only with its advanced design, but also with the declared characteristics.
NEW FIFTH GENERATION FIGHTER CHECKMATE. PHOTO: ROSTEC STATE CORPORATION
Firstly , the manufacturers - Sukhoi and Rostec State Corporation - announced that Checkmate will be an open-architecture aircraft, that is, it is just a platform on which electronics and weapons systems from various manufacturers and different standards can be installed. Thanks to this, the machine should become a "universal soldier" in the air war of the future. In the version of the fighter, Checkmate will fight for the seizure of air supremacy, and, having changed equipment, will carry out strike missions against ground and surface targets of the enemy.
Secondly , the aircraft fully complies with the criteria of the fifth generation: a glider made using stealth technology (both in contours and in the used composite materials); weapons placed in the internal compartments, radar with an active phased antenna array (AFAR), supersonic cruising flight speed without putting the engine into afterburner mode. Moreover, Checkmate can be turned into a drone. As applied to fighters, this is already a feature of not the fifth, but the sixth generation. That is, in all respects, this aircraft promises to be advanced.
According to the calculations of the manufacturers, it will be able to accelerate to Mach 2 (Mach 1 is the speed of sound, approximately from 290 to 330 m / s, depending on altitude) and carry up to 7.4 tons of payload at a range of up to 2800 km. What do these numbers say? Almost seven and a half tons of bombs and missiles is an indicator, albeit less, but still comparable to the payload of the American all-weather F-15 fighter, a vehicle of a heavier class. Two speeds of sound is quite an ordinary achievement for aircraft of the third generation of jet aircraft, but for representatives of the fifth generation it is a very, very good level. Checkmate should be twice as fast as the American F-35 Lightning fighter-bomber and equal in speed to the "golden" F-22 Raptor, a multi-role fighter from the American defense flagship Lockheed Martin.
And given that the export of the latter is prohibited, it follows thirdly : the Russian “chess player” simply has no competitors on the international market. By the way, it is worth talking about the market in more detail.
Initiative fighter
The Russian car was not developed by order of the Ministry of Defense, but on an initiative basis. This is a very important detail. First, it means that the developers used corporate rather than budget money. We can say that they created the aircraft "on our own", as far as this definition is applicable to a state corporation. In addition, the developers proceeded not from the demands of the military, but from the actual requirements of the market.
"The idea was born from the economy. In our opinion, there are a lot of single-engine aircraft on the market now ... But there is no fifth-generation single-engine aircraft at an acceptable, economically justified price that would be within the power of most customers of military multifunctional aircraft."
- the general director of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) Yuri Slyusar explained the history of the origin of the fighter .
As a result, the developers got a fighter that has everything that the international market is willing to pay money for.
Obviously, another fulcrum of Checkmate is the huge scientific and technical groundwork accumulated during the creation of the Su-57. The planes are not only similar in appearance: Checkmate, in fact, is a single-engine version of the "fifty-seventh", maximally adapted to the requirements of foreign customers. The development program for a promising frontline aviation complex (PAK FA), which later became the Su-57, was carried out with the active participation of India. New Delhi has invested $ 6 billion in the program since 2007, according to open sources, covering 35% of research and development (R&D) and testing costs.
PROMO VIDEO FOR THE FIFTH GENERATION FIGHTER CHECKMATE, TIMED TO COINCIDE WITH THE PREMIERE OF THE AIRCRAFT AT DUBAI AIRSHOW - 2021. SOURCE: ROSTEC CORPORATION
However, in 2018, India withdrew from the project, preferring to purchase French Rafale fighters . This deal had some signs of a large-scale corruption crime (at least, some Indian politicians are convinced of this) and is worthy of a separate material; here we note that the French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation sells fighters to the Indians at a completely cosmic price tag: 208 million euros apiece. As a result, 7.5 billion euros (60,000 crore rupees; 10 million rupees) allocated for the re-equipment of the Indian Air Force is enough to purchase not a hundred fighters, but only 36.
In 2019, Indian pilots had to fight Pakistani F-16s and JF-17s in obsolete, albeit modernized MiG-21s. Having received not the most pleasant impressions from the week-long conflict, the leadership of the Air Force urgently demanded the purchase of 12 Su-30MKI and 21 MiG-29 fighters.
Against this background, Rostec rolled out a fighter, whose name just screams about the connection with India, the homeland of the smartest game in the history of mankind. In fact, Checkmate has combined everything that is dear to the heart of the Indian Air Force: supersonic flight in non-afterburner mode (the absence of such was one of the main officially declared reasons for India's withdrawal from the PAK FA program), stealth technology, an open architecture that would allow it to be used as a Russian and Western weapons, and versatility on the battlefield. With all this, the creation of these "goodies" has already been largely paid for by Indian taxpayers.
One engine is good, but two are many
Since the late 60s of the last century, the military on both sides of the ocean began to come to the understanding that the air force fleets should include both single and twin-engine vehicles. The latter have a longer flight range and payload, and have greater survivability. However, single-engine fighters are indispensable for many routine tasks in a limited theater of operations, for which the use of twin-engine vehicles is redundant.
Tactically, single-engine vehicles feel more confident in maneuverable battles, the so-called dog dumps. But their main advantage lies in the plane of the economy. An airplane with one engine requires half as many consumables, service work and spare parts as a twin-engine analogue. Modernization and reengineering of the fleet of such fighters is also several times cheaper than twin-engine ones. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, an aphorism was born: if you want to ruin a small country, give it a cruiser. In the last half century, combat aviation has been doing an excellent job with this task.
Classic examples of such complementary pairs are the American single-engine F-16 and twin-engine F-15, as well as the F-35 and F-22. Top-performing single-engine fighters include the Swedish Saab JAS 39 Gripen, the Soviet MiG-21 and its many Chinese clones.
The USSR turned from the path of creating a mixed fleet of single and twin-engine fighters in the late 1970s, when the Mikoyan Design Bureau created a twin-engine MiG-29 under the program of a light promising front-line fighter (LPFI). The car turned out to be very traction-armed, and therefore incredibly maneuverable. The Soviet Union did not spare money for defense, and at times did not even consider it, so the operating costs did not bother anyone. And one cannot even say that the 29s did not fit into the market: at different times they were acquired by India, Egypt, Malaysia and Myanmar, Eritrea and even Peru. However, time passes, and the attractiveness of these planes is gradually decreasing.
Alas, at the end of this technological revolution, it turned out that Russia simply does not physically have a light single-engine fighter. The last successful representative of this class was the MiG-21, but already the MiG-23 was neither simple nor light, and by now has turned into a relic of the Cold War, which is in service only with the Air Forces of Kazakhstan, India and Sri Lanka.
Blow up the market
The head of Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, reported that Checkmate will cost customers $ 25-30 million apiece - almost an order of magnitude cheaper than Rafale. Other figures for comparison: you can buy the American F-16D Block 52 (if you are not under sanctions) for 34 million dollars, the more advanced Su-30 - for 50 million within Russia and for $ 83 million if you are a foreigner. And most importantly, the American "Lightning" F-35, the closest analogue of Checkmate, only recently dropped in price to $ 77 million. It is obvious that Checkmate will become a very unpleasant competitor for the F-35.
FIGHTER CHECKMATE. PHOTO: PJSC UAC / GLOBALLOOKPRESS
Why is the price of such an outstanding machine according to the declared characteristics so low? Apparently, the fact is that Checkmate was created on the basis of the Su-57, and as you know, R&D costs make up a very significant share in the cost of each new fighter. When selling finished machines, the manufacturer must not only recover the cost of production and make a profit, but also return the funds spent over 10-15 years of work of qualified teams, dozens of experiments, the construction of experimental samples and studies ordered from subcontractors.
Another factor that significantly reduced the cost of the machine is that Checkmate was created using a supercomputer. This approach not only accelerated the development, but also made it possible to abandon many expensive field tests. However, no modeling would be possible if the developers did not have extensive databases derived from previous research. And the development of these data was provided by the program for the creation of the Su-57.
So what?
And then there are problems.
Let's not lie to ourselves: how strong Russian technical developments are, just as a weak feature of our military-industrial complex is the timing of the introduction of the developed products.
Frigates in Russia are built as much as Chinese aircraft carriers.
For ten years drones have not left the stage of flying prototypes and pre-production samples.
Even the production of modern armored vehicles is constantly slipping.
If Rostec and Sukhoi manage to meet the stated deadlines and begin serial production of Checkmate within five years, this accomplishment will be no less, but rather even more significant than the development of the aircraft itself.
Ending the bad tradition of long-term military construction and long-term procrastination is an absolutely necessary condition for success in modern conditions for both the army and the military-industrial complex.
Source tsargrad.tv
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