Alexander Velovich/MOSCOW
MAPO's experimental MiG 1.44 advanced fighter is closer to achieving its first flight.
The aircraft was airborne for several seconds as it underwent high-speed runs on the runway of LII Gromov Flight Research Institute at Zhukovsky, near Moscow, this month.
In line with standard pre-maiden flight procedures, the MiG 1.44 was observed recently rotating the nose wheel and becoming airborne momentarily. The methodical council of LII, the official body that gives a green light for maiden flights of all new prototypes in Russia, is expected to review the programme and give its go-ahead by the end of this month.
After that process, the debut of the fighter will be largely subject to the weather, say observers.
Development of the fighter has been under way since the mid-1980s, leading to assembly of a prototype in 1994.
Although it undertook high-speed runs at Zhukovsky before, lack of financing has left the aircraft grounded, despite several announcements that the first flight was imminent.
MAPO general director/general designer Nikolay Nikitin acknowledges that "everybody understands this aircraft will never enter series production". Instead, MAPO says flight tests of the 1.44 are aimed at obtaining experimental data for its future programmes, possibly starting with a Russian equivalent to the US Joint Strike Fighter.
Meanwhile, MAPO's rival in fifth-generation fighter development, Sukhoi, has announced that its S-37 Berkut forward swept-wing fighter prototype has exceeded the speed of sound for the first time during its flight tests.
The S-37 continues to be tested by the manufacturer at a slow pace at Zhukovsky. Plans to involve Russian air force test pilots in the programme have not materialised.
Sukhoi test pilot Igor Votintsev says the S-37's behaviour at supersonic speed "remains the same as at subsonic speed - easy and stable".
Unlike the MiG 1.44, which is powered by new-generation Lyulka Al-41 turbofans providing supersonic non-afterburning cruise capability, the S-37s are equipped with the older Perm Motors/Aviadvigatel D-30F-6s and as a result the aircraft has to use afterburners in supersonic flight.
Source: Flight International
