First flight of the experimental example of the fifth generation combat aircraft that took place from the KnAAPO factory aerodrome brings evidence that today the history of the world aviation is being written in Russia: in Komsomosk-on-Amur, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Rybinsk, Ufa, Remenskoye, Zhukovsky and other cities where indigenous design houses and aviation plants, their partners and suppliers are located.

Starting from the times of Mikhail Lomonosov, Aleksandr Mozhaisky and Nikolai Zhukovsky, who laid the foundation of aeronautics in this country, Russia has been at the edge of progress in aeronautic technologies and development of flying vehicles.

The flight with duration of 47 minutes opens a new horizon for the Russian aviation for the rest of the XXI century and, hopefully, even further. Successful beginning of flight trials on the next-generation aircraft stimulate us for new achievements and sparks up our desire to create.

Let me congratulate all participants of the next-generation combat aircraft project and all those who facilitate the project with its hard work, experience and knowledge.

Alexey Fedorov

President, Chairman of control board, United Aircraft Corporation

The fighter, tentatively dubbed the T-50 and designed jointly with India, is intended to challenge the technological superiority of the U.S. F-22 Raptor, and to boost Russia’s own defense capabilities for several decades.

Designed by Sukhoi and built by the company’s Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aviation Plant, the T-50 prototype flew for 47 minutes and landed on the plant’s airfield. In a statement distributed by Sukhoi on Jan. 29, its pilot, Sergei Bogdan, said the airplane “performed well on all stages of the test-flight program design by us. It is easy and comfortable.”

According to Sukhoi, the fighter – Russia’s first all-new warplane since the collapse of the Soviet Union – has new avionics systems, a phased-array radar, and equipment to exchange information with both ground command-and-control systems and other aircraft in an air warfare group.

“This allows a significant increase in military effectiveness,” a company statement said, stressing that the T-50 answers all requirements of a fifth-generation fighter, including a supersonic cruising speed. The sophisticated control systems “allow a pilot to concentrate on tactical tasks,” while use of composite materials, the aerodynamic design of the body and measures taken to decrease the visibility of the aircraft engine provide for “unprecedented low radio, optical and infrared visibility,” the statement said.