Sukhoi intends to add three more T-50 development aircraft to the test program within the next 12 months, with further details of Russia’s next-generation fighter leaking out from a high-level gathering here.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held a cabinet meeting last week on developing the aerospace and defense industry at Sukhoi’s Moscow headquarters. Putin was also shown the T-50-0 static test rig airframe along with a cockpit simulator for Russia’s fifth-generation fighter.

Putin and Sukhoi’s chief, Mikhail Pogosyan, maintain that the T-50 should be ready to enter service with the Russian air force during 2015, to meet its PAK FA fighter requirement. Putin says, however, that “before the jet goes into serial production, it should complete more than 2,000 test flights.”

Given what is already an highly demanding schedule, Pogosyan is quoted in the Russian press as saying: “By the end of 2010 or in early 2011, we must add three more prototypes to the test-flight program.”

Sukhoi executives suggest the second prototype will likely enter testing this year, while the third and fourth prototypes will appear in 2011. The first two will not be fitted with radar or weapon control systems, and will be used primarily for flight performances and major systems evaluations.

Sukhoi designers are trying to compress the T-50 development through the extensive use of specialized system-integration test benches. The development of previous aircraft types was supported with the use of “iron bird” rigs for complex flight control system checks and an “electronic bird” for the avionics package testing, coupled with stationary engineering simulators used for “man-machine” interface development.

For the T-50, in addition to these tools, Sukhoi seems to have built an additional prototype not intended for flights—the so-called T-50-KNS. This airframe is fitted with operational systems, equipment and engines.

Sukhoi’s production facility in Komsomolsk has used the T-50-KNS for checking the use of new manufacturing technologies, while designers were able to examine all wiring, ducting, equipment and engine installation within the actual dimensions of the aircraft. The T-50-KNS and other test-bench checks ensured the initial flights of the T-50-1 prototype. Pogosyan says a 24-deg. angle of attack was reached on the T-50-1 after only three flights.

The company’s T-50 chief designer, Alexander Davidenko, says almost 70% of the outer surface— 25% of the aircraft’s empty weight—consists of composites . Introduction of the materials allowed the number of structural parts to be cut four-fold compared with the Su-27 Flanker.

As for the cockpit, Davidenko notes that the aircraft’s avionics use smart digital systems to reduce pilot workload in terms of flying and combat operations.

 The T-50’s digital flight control system is around 30% lighter than the Su-27’s and can reconfigure in case of failure or combat damage, says Pogosyan.

The T-50 will be tested and enter air force service, with the engine being used for the “first phase of development.” The engine is already installed in the prototype, says Pogosyan. “This is a completely new engine,” he contends, “developed especially for this aircraft. It has a modern design, which is able to ensure the T-50’s long-term operation.” A completely new powerplant could be developed in the next 10-12 years, he adds.

In April, the T-50 flight-test program likely will shift to the Gromov Flight Test Research Institute in Zhukovsky, near Moscow, according to company executives.

The T-50 development is being viewed by the government as a confirmation of the industry’s ability to meet the military’s future equipment needs and to revamp its present inventory.

In 2008, Moscow began to increase procurement of combat aircraft and systems, in an attempt to roll back more than a decade of neglect and stagnation. Contracts to supply the air force with 130 combat aircraft were signed in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, 27 aircraft, more than 50 helicopters and five S-400 missile system divisions will be purchased for the army.

The nation’s armament program calls for the delivery of more than 1,500 aircraft and helicopters and about 200 air defense systems through 2020. At least 80% of the air force procurement and 75% of the air defense systems will be new hardware.

Discussing industry priorities, Putin stresses that the sector had received substantial support from the government and should now concentrate on efficiency. It must fulfill its obligations in terms of deliveries and weapon-cost parameters.

Putin also reinforced Russian ambitions to develop a next-generation strategic strike aircraft—the PAK DA—as well as a next-generation surface-to-air missile system.