generation fighter jet in 2015

Russia will start testing its fifth-generation fighter jet in 2010, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Tuesday.

'The trials will begin in 2010,' Ivanov said. Earlier reports said tests would start before the end of this year.

Deputy Defence Minister Vladimir Popovkin said the fighter, which has been under development since the 1990s, will enter the Air Force's service in 2015.

One of Russia's known fifth-generation projects is Sukhoi's PAK FA and the current prototype is called T-50. It is designed to compete with the US' F-22 Raptor (the world's only fifth-generation fighter aircraft till now) and F-35 Lightening II, but is yet to take to the skies.

The T-50's maiden flight has been repeatedly postponed since early 2007 for unspecified reasons.

However, in August 2009, Russian Air Force Chief Alexander Zelin said that there were problems with the engines and a research was underway.

The PAK FA is believed to possess advanced avionics, stealth capability, a ferry range of 4,000 to 5,500 km, and endurance of 3.3 hrs. It is armed with the next-generation air-to-air, air-to-surface and air-to-ship missiles, and has two 30-mm cannons.
Russian plane maker, Sukhoi, has announced it will build more than 1,000 stealth fighter jets within four decades, many of them for India.

India, a traditional weapons buyer from Sukhoi, is interested in the new fighter plane from Sukhoi, the T50, which is the equivalent of the US F-22 Raptor, which was built more than a decade ago.

Even though the completion of the fifth-generation fighter has been delayed several times, Sukhoi has said T-50 will be ready for use in 2015.

Russia even has plans for a joint venture with India to produce the stealth fighters.