Article Posted on : - Aug 11, 2014

The T-50 PAK FA fifth generation fighter.

MOSCOW (BNS): The Russian Air Force will start receiving the T-50 fifth generation stealth fighters in 2016, the Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev has said.

"We should start getting these aircraft from 2016," the Air Force Chief told the Russian News Service radio.

"It (T-50) has already participated twice in the Aviadarts (international pilot competition) show and performed aerobatics figures in pairs with other planes... Everything is going according to plan.

"In 2016 we will start receiving the first T-50 planes," the Air Force Commander said.

The T-50 PAK FA is a fifth-generation multirole fighter aircraft featuring elements of "stealth" technology," super-manoeuvrability, super-cruise capability and advanced avionics suite including X-band active phased-array radar.

Designed and built by the Sukhoi Company, five prototypes of the new combat plane are presently undergoing flight trials. The maiden flight test of T-50 was conducted in January 2010.

The T-50 is scheduled to eventually replace the Sukhoi Su-27s of the Russian Air Force.

The new-generation fighter aircraft was publicly unveiled for the first time in August 2011 at the MAKS international air show. The fighter is Russia's first new major warplane designed since the fall of the Soviet Union.

India has joined hands with Russia to design and produce the new fighter for its Air Force.

Meanwhile, the Russian Air Force also plans to start deploying the new S-500 long range air defence missile systems by 2016.

The state-of-the-art S-500 surface-to-air missile is an advancement of the S-400 Triumf air defence system with "dedicated components designed to intercept ballistic missiles at a height of up to 200 km."

Developed by Almaz Antei, the fifth-generation S-500 anti-missile system will have an extended range of about 600 kilometers and will engage up to 10 targets at the same time. It will have the capability to destroy hypersonic and ballistic missiles and other aircraft, according to earlier reports.