SINGAPORE. Feb 13 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia's new fifth-generation fighter aircraft, the T-50, will continue being tested at the Russian Defense Ministry's Chkalov State Flight Testing Center (known as GLITs) in Akhtubinsk, Astrakhan region.
"The aircraft is expected to be moved to Akhtuba, to GLITs, for tests this year," Director of the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry's Aviation Industry Department Andrei Boginsky told reporters at the Singapore Airshow 2014.
The Industry and Trade Ministry holds regular conferences and meetings both with Sukhoi, the company which designed the prospective airborne complex of frontline aviation (PAK FA), and with collaborators, he said. It is clear that like any sophisticated project this one has many problems which require solutions. But looking at the dynamic, all of them appear to be solvable, Boginsky said.
"In my view, today the project is moving on schedule, both technically and time wise. Some of the characteristics set in the technical tasks have already been validated, i.e. they have been achieved. Certainly, most the complicated ones are still being tested. Airborne weapons designed for this aircraft are also in the parallel stage of being designed. Everything with them is going on schedule as well," Boginsky said.
The first prototype aircraft are due to be supplied to the Russian Defense Ministry from 2016, Boginsky said.
"Currently, five PAK FA aircraft are being tested and two more are in ground-based tests: one in the endurance tests, the other in static ones," Boginsky said.