Sukhoi has carried out at least three test lights of its still-classified forward-swept-wing next-generation fighter since late September.
Flight tests of the Sukhoi S-32, exclusively revealed in Flight International (8-14 October), have included at least one test in which the pilot, Iogor Votintsev, retracted the undercarriage. The S-32, or S-37 as it is also referred to, is a large fighter in the same class as the Su-27 Flanker.
Although the design bureau has so far declined to release any information on the aircraft, the prototype is believed to differ from a previously seen scale model in having outward, rather than inward, canted vertical stabilisers.
The Russian press suggests that the aircraft design embodies some low-observable elements, including the use of radar-absorbent materials. Conformal weapons carriage, rather than internal carriage, is intended to be used, according to the reports.
Sukhoi is pushing the aircraft as a potential replacement for the Su-27 Flanker.
Source: Flight International
