Fourth Prototype Of The T-50 PAK-FA Aircraft [T-50-4] Makes Its Maiden Flight

MOSCOW, December 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's fourth prototype Sukhoi T-50 stealth fighter jet took to the skies for the first time on Wednesday in a 40 minute flight at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur factory in Siberia, Sukhoi said.

"The fourth prototype PAK-FA made its first flight today from the Gagarin factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur," Sukhoi said, referring to the aircraft by its project name, an acronym for future fifth-generation tactical fighter.

"The flight tested the aircraft's overall integrity and its main engines. The aircraft is making a good impression in all phases of the flying program," Sukhoi said.

The T-50, which will be the core of Russia's future fighter fleet, is a fifth-generation multirole fighter aircraft featuring low-observable technology (stealth), super-maneuverability, supercruise capability (supersonic flight without use of afterburner), and an advanced avionics suite including an X-band active phased-array radar.

The first prototype first flew on January 29, 2010.

The Russian Defense Ministry plans to purchase a first batch of 10 evaluation aircraft and then 60 production-standard aircraft after 2015.

Meanwhile, the Novosibirsk aircraft factory (NAPO) plans to deliver ten more Sukoi Su-34 strike aircraft to the Russian Air Force in the near future, the Air Force's Col. Andrei Bobrun said.

"The Novosibirsk factory will send another ten aircraft to the Voronezh air base in the near future," he said.

The air force set up its first Su-34 squadron at the end of 2011. A two-seat strike-dedicated derivative of the Su-27 fighter, the Su-34 can carry a payload of up to eight tons of guided weapons over 4,000 kilometers.