FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1999
1999 - 0071.PDF
Russian 1.44 to fly soon despite money shortage, says MAPO w •—•——, — MAPO MiG's MFI (Article 1.44) fifth generation fighter prototype will fly by early March, MAPO officials said at the aircraft's first public appearance on 12 January at the LIT flight test centre at Zhukovsky, near Moscow. The aircraft taxied in front of an audi ence that included Russia's minis ters of defence and economy. Article 1.44 is a technology and airframe/propulsion concept demonstrator, rather than a weapons systems equipped proto type, of the "Article 1.42 " original ly conceived as Russia's next- generation fighter in the 1980s. The 1.44 has not received gov ernment funding in the five years since its first high-speed taxi trials runs at Zhukovsky and has been grounded as a result. The aircraft still lacks airworthy hydraulic dri ves for its large foreplanes, which are controlled by an integrated dig ital fly-by-wire system, together with 14othercontrolsurfaces.The drives will undergo frequency tests this month, and the aircraft is scheduled to fly soon after. Curiously for an aircraft with stealth characteristics, the 1.44 has prominent external stores pylon under each wing, despite MAPO's claims of internal weaDon carriage for the aircraft. The fuselage shape and size indicates that the 1.44 could have a large fuel capacity. While tight-lipped about the MFI's performance, Mikoyan gen eral director Mikhail Korzhuyev claims "... it will be equal or superi or to the Lockheed Martin F-22." Powered by Lyulka-Saturn AL-41 thrust-vectoring engines, the 1.44 will have non-afterburn ing supersonic cruise speed and a greater range than the Sukhoi Su-27. The engines have been test-flown on Tupolev Tu-16 and Mikoyan MiG-25s reaching l,080kt (2,000km/h) and a ceiling of more than 65,500ft (20,000m). "The 1.44 may find its place in the Russian air force inventory", says Russia's defence minister Marshal Igor Sergeyev. Despite these claims, there are no immedi ate plans to open funding for fur ther development. MAPO is thought to be lobbying for clear ance to let China invest in the programme. Chinese officers attended the MFI presentation. The moves to revive the 1.44 follow Sukhoi's unveiling of its rival S-37. Both projects were begun in the mid-1980s as an answer to US developments which culminated in the F-22. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 20 - 26 January 1999
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
