Geoff Thomas
Pressure from the Russian government on Sukhoi Design Bureau and MAPO MiG to work more closely together appears finally to be bearing fruit.
Speaking in Paris yesterday, Sukhoi design bureau chief Mikhail Simonov announced that his organisation would be joining forces with MAPO MiG to develop "an aircraft in the future."
Speculation about the two companies developing stronger links has been rife since earlier this year when Nikolai Nikitin, formerly deputy director and special board member of Sukhoi, left the company to become designer and director general of MAPO MiG which has 20 production plants in the CIS employing more than 60,000 workers.
Simonov says that Sukhoi is planning to develop a sport aircraft, stressed to +12G/-10G, with the competition in the Olympic Games in mind. It has been suggested that aerobatic flying should become an Olympic sport - and Sukhoi clearly intends to be in the frame if the IOC makes a positive decision. Other plans include pressing on solo with the S-21 supersonic business jet, now that Gulfstream has lost interest in the project; and further developments to the twin-boom S-80GP multi-purpose cargo/passenger aircraft which is due to make its maiden flight later this year at the Siberian Institute of Aviation.
Operation
This latter aircraft has a range of 2,500km (1,500nmi) with a load of 25 passengers or 3,500kg (7,700lb) of freight and is designed for operation from 800m unpaved runways and in temperatures ranging from +45 to -50°C.
Whether Sukhoi's proposed 860-seat twin-deck passenger aircraft (a model of which appeared in the Sukhoi pavilion at Le Bourget) will ever progress is open to question.
But what is certain is that the S-37 Berkut, or Golden Eagle, fifth generation fighter is a reality, years ahead of the JSF which is its closest international competitor.
Source: Flight Daily News
