Feast your eyes in these detailed videos of the beast that is designed to match-and-crush 5th generation American combat jets. It's the Sukhoi PAK-FA, and it comes loaded with some amazing technology from the other side of the fallen wall.


Traditionally, the then-Soviet-now Russian fighter jets have been feared all over the world. Even their now theoretically outdated units—the MiG-29 Fulcrum and the Su-27 Flanker—are still among the most effective and destructive air combat units in the world. The Sukhoi PAK-FA is here to replace both, and it will take on the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II starting on 2013.


The new plane is derived from two research projects from the late 1980s: The inverted-wing Sukhoi Su-47 Berkut and the delta-wing Mikoyan Project 1.44. The PAK-FA is much more advanced, however, and it incorporates the latest avionics and weapons systems, and everything you could expect in a 5th generation fighter.

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Sukhoi Su-47 Berkut


Mikoyan Project 1.44

The PAK-FA will have both stealth and supercruise abilities, which makes it capable of sustaining supersonic flight without afterburners. It also makes extensive use of composite surfaces to reduce its weight, and it has fully-movable vertical tails instead of conventional rudders. The maximum turning g-load is 11g, with a maximum speed of Mach 2.45 at 45,000 feet, and a 1,184-feet-per-second climbing rate.


Its onboard computer will use artificial intelligence to simplify the life of the pilot (no brain-to-flight-controls interface yet). Like the 5th generation American aircrafts, the Sukhois will network with each other, sharing information about positioning, weaponry, and targets in real time. What's more worrying, however, is that the PKA-FA will use an IRST optical/IR search and track system capable of detecting the heat trail of an F-22 from as far as 25 kilometers away. The F-22, by contrast, doesn't use this system.

In other words: I can't wait for the Top Gun remake. [The Dew Line]