The Russian air force remains on track to receive a fifth-generation fighter replacement for its MiG-29 Fulcrum and Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker fleets, according to the service’s senior officer.

The new aircraft, the Sukhoi PAK FA (Advanced Tactical Fighter), will be built at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aircraft manufacturing plant in Russia's Far East.

The twin-engined fighter, which is expected to have thrust vectoring and supercruise ability, plus stealth capabilities, will be the Russian equivalent of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor.

Speaking at Zhukovsky, just outside Moscow, the site of the Gromov Flight Institute last week, Col Gen Alexander Zelin told the RIA Novosti press agency: “We will begin test flights in 2009, and hope to receive the aircraft in 2013.”

Source: Flight International

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