MOSCOW, March 7 (AVN) - Tactical and technical requirements for Russia's fifth generation fighter will be approved sometime in March 2001, Air Force Commander Anatoly Kornukov told the Military News Agency on Wednesday.
The new fighter "will be neither heavy nor light but of medium weight," Kornukov said. In the future frontline aviation is planning to have three new types of combat aircraft, including a light all-weather attack plane, a frontline plane with a multitude of delivery means, and a plane for accomplishing missions together with long range strategic aviation.
The Sukhoi design bureau is tasked to work out scientific and technical backlog on the plane development programme by 2005 which could compete with a similar programme of the United States, Sukhoi Director General Mikhail Pogosyan told the Agency. Pogosyan refused to disclose specific terms of the plane's completion saying it depends on many factors.
According to specialists, the cost of R&D works and tests on the programme will amount at USD2bn-10bn. China and India might join the programme.