MOSCOW. Feb 10 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Boris Alyoshin said that the shift towards the fifth- generation aircraft would be evolutionary.
"The fifth-generation aircraft will be preceded by 4+, and 4++ aircraft, which will also be quite competitive. It is clear even now," Alyoshin told reporters in Moscow on Tuesday.
According to him, Russia's rivals in this sphere do not have any outstanding solutions to the problem. "Even despite the fact that they do have more modern electronics," he emphasized.
"The fifth-generation aircraft has to be of a totally different quality," he said. "However, there is no great gap between what we have now and what we will have in the future," the deputy prime minister said.
"Radars, armament, control systems, and power plants face tougher requirements, but it a comprehensive generation succession. We have done this before. We have managed to develop several versions, rather than one aircraft. We are doing it today, and I have no doubt that we will make progress," he said.
According to Alyoshin, neither a single Russian airframe, nor armament is inferior to foreign counterparts. "Piloting and combat skills of Russian pilots are still high. We do have slightly inferior electronics, but this drawback is offset by sophisticated mathematics," Alyeshin said.
He also noted that a great number of joint international ventures had recently been established in the aircraft-building industry. "Deliveries from France, Israel, and other states allow us to improve the competitive capability," Alyeshin said.