MOSCOW. July 9 (Interfax-AVN) - The Yakovlev design bureau may perform up to 20 percent of R&D related to the creation of a future Russian fighter, president of the bureau Oleg Demchenko said on Wednesday.
"The Yakovlev design bureau's preliminary talks with the Sukhoi design bureau, which is setting up an alliance of enterprises for implementing the fifth-generation plane creation program, have showed that the Yakovlev company may perform up to 20 percent of R&D," Demchenko told Interfax-Military News Agency.
Sukhoi is the main developer of the plane, he explained. "The Yakovlev design bureau will take part in the new fighter creation program as a co-executor in accordance with agreements with the main developer," he said.
According to Demchenko, many developments of the Yakovlev bureau may be used in the design of the future fighter. In particular, Yakovlev's experience in the creation of vertical take-off and landing planes can be of interest, because short take off and landing capability is among the requirements for the new aircraft. In addition, design and technological solutions obtained during the creation of the YAK-130 new-generation combat and training plane and other aircraft can be used.
Sukhoi will pay for all the work done by the Yakovlev bureau, Demchenko went on. "However it does not mean that the Yakovlev bureau will not invest its own funds in the fighter development program," he said. The volume of such investments will be small because the company has limited funds and also takes part in several other aircraft building programs, such as YAK-130 and RRJ.
The bureau president dud not rule out that foreign companies, including French ones, will be involved in the fifth- generation fighter creation program. "There is a lot of joint work for us to determine compatibility of requirements for the future fighter," Demchenko said.
Sukhoi won a competition for the contract to design the fifth-generation plane. The conceptual design of the aircraft will be ready this year and defended next year. The plane is expected to be designed with the help of the stealth technology. It will be powered by two AL-41F engines or similar engines of smaller dimensions, it will carry a phased array radar and precision-guided intellectual weapons.
The state budget is expected to allocate USD1.5bn for R&D related to the plane.
The Yakovlev bureau believes that the mass-produced fighter will cost about USD35m and surpass the F-35 of the United States as far as the cost-efficiency ratio is concerned.