Seeing this is remarkable... All the videos we watch (and taxes we pay!!!) don't seem to do justice to just what an unbelievable amount of work it is to assemble *one* modern fighter aircraft. Thanks for posting.
if these pockets are like bent tubes with both ends leading to the outer side of fuselage, then just the flowing-by air would get heated to very high temperatures, and would become plasma, which would then flow out and around the fuselage of the airplane (provided if these pockets are on the front side of the fighter, then it would flow all over the plane) , that plasma cloud would provide invisibility to radars by absorbing EM waves.sent by radars. Requires lots fo engineering tho.
Funy how the computers, machining tools and production lines looks like technology from 20 years ago, but thats one of a good aircraft, probably the best 4th gen jet fighter ever made.
Go see how they make the 5th gen fighter jets today! 90% of the work still manual and by hand, they still drill holes by hand and they still make mistakes because they drill holes by hand.
Sorry to disappoint you but ANY aviation plant will have workers doing manual labour, including drilling operations...and surely you didn't watch the damn video with so many automated machine tools being shown.
Simple: Russians have many decades of experience producing military aircraft as a result of the Soviet Union's focus on its military hardware at the expense of consumer goods. They've had the minds and the infrastructure in place for a long time. Comparatively, Russia has only recently begun exploring consumer electronics and the like. How else does a country produce the most reliable space transport vehicle, the soyuz rocket, while not being able to build a decent car worth a damn?
russian cars are maybe shit by western standards but they fit the russian lifestyle very well: cheap, simple and easily fixable were the two main things russian cars have that most western cars don't have and frankly don't have to have, but I guess right now, since russia is more and more developped these old cars are starting to fade out even in russia.
I'm glad they take their time putting these beauties together. I figured with the old MiG-17s they just scotch-taped the birds together--especially since it would make the disassembly by US and Israeli pilots quicker. Scotch-tape? isn't it vodka-tape in Russia? All jokes aside, Russia's always made some good planes, and I'm happy to see this video. Every one of those workers must feel well-deserved pride in seeing their work defend their country.
@LeVonDanE No problem, was just clearing-up and adding some facts. It just shows that sometimes ideas are ahead of its time and are regarded by some as too "controversial" or "unproven". While others more than happily deploy them. You snooze you lose i suppose...
In my opinion, one of the best looking fighters ever build, and also one of the most maneuvrable planes. The Russians don't like the stealth fuselage with right angle surfaces, like the Americans do. Instead they are smarter: they are on course of making a radar invisible plane, not by creating a special fuselage, but by generating a permanent plasma cloud surrounding th eplane, wich makes it radar invisible. This technology was already tested on a Su 27.
"But current level of missiles don't care, they can hit it fast or slow just as easy" No way. Rockets have limit of angle of turn too they cannot turn around like in the movies... So surviving maneuvers not canceled, Su can do any maneuver in any direction in limits of pilot abilities. And by the way ability to turn back in few seconds can help su shoot his missiles back. Sometime seconds can save life.
If the design and production technology is good, than the assembling must be done easily just like here, not requiring all kinds of laser, x-ray, gay technology like in cinema, because the real life is different from the cinema.
@optyqus Sorry to disagree. As much as I love Russian airplanes, especially Sukhoi, the plasma-stealth technology is a theory. It may work in theory and even later in real, but this has never been tested on an Airplane yet. Instead, the logical step is to produce a stealth fighter a la Raptor. First flight of the PAK-FA was in January.
I just gave you a working example that just needs engineering. Sorry, Russian defence ministry doesn't like to share military secrets with me, so how do I know how their tech works, but they've been talking about that for a while.
the newest russian planes - SU30, SU 37, SU 34, Mig 29 OVT, Mig 35.... not a bad line up, not bad at all, for a country that 10 years ago was starving and drowning in wars and crimes.
Each has their pro's and con's. I like the SU-30, but the thing is bigger then an F-111 and still built the same as a Mig-21. Fly's great, but not so good at slow speed. High speed, it's a monster. The-22 is good, but costs too damn much, no possible way to get a lock on, can even fly sideways in a dog fight. Still, it only takes a single round and it's diggin a hole.
um, yea, you got that right. but why you felt the need to make such an unrelated comment is beyond me, since I am not comparing a jet to a heli, just stall speed and low maneuverability of su-30.
Why you think it's impossible ? Scientists, even undergraduates, lol even those who wanna do it and understand physics can make some plasma. The other problem is to keep it where you want it to be... but that's up to the engineers to solve. Besides, one of the ways I see is by having like pockets in it's outer fuselage, which air would go through, and a few dozens of electrodes in it generating lots of electric sparks
an f-5 aggressor and mig-15 have better low end maneuverability. As for 5th generation, if one installed a modern triple redunancy fly by wire system, they could make a mig-21 or even a f-4 phantom almost hover or do a back flip. But current level of missiles don't care, they can hit it fast or slow just as easy. it's what's up next that counts. Just hope the next gen of ru aircraft are not built in the same methods as previously, since what's inside counts.
that way the Su35bm have irbis radar and it can detect target size-2m2 on distance of 4oo km and with new weapons -then just gess wath will 5th den have!
In Yugoslavia... Thay had 4 C-125(60s years) and thay shot 1 F-117 normal percents. Now we have C-400 Triumph. And tghere is nothing to do for F-117 in zone of Russian РЛС responsibility. This sistems can detect peace of metal sise like tennis boll in space...
i want the same business of my own. those guys are making $50 000 000 things as cooking doughnuts. that is not looks like too much complicated production. why are warplanes so expensive?
@optyqus Then why did the russians develop the PAK-FA, which utilizes many of the technologies that the west is using, including straight edge bodies with few curves? This isn't a bad thing, in my opinion it's the smarter thing to do. Russia has seen how successful this design has been and they would be stupid not to develop there own type. Stealth bodies are the way of the future, the 5th generation. P.S: I have to agree with you, this is one of the best looking aircraft around.
way do you think that su-30 have low maneuverbility - comaring to su-37 or su30mk yes its lower (without tvc) but comparing to f15,16,18 they are not close to him!
It could be fantastic if my country (Greece) was able to have some of these SU-30MKI on the Aegean Sky.Unfortunately they will choose to buy american planes again.
Because they are good at it. And where would the world be without Russian military hardware? Let me give you a hint: we would all be living under stars and stripes. And HDTV are mostly made by China and Japan, and Taiwan. There are Russian brand in the market: caviar, vodka, "suicidal novelists" :) They produce lots of things, in fact they produce everything they need, but don't export much. As for the electronics, they can buy them either from the rest of Asia or Europe, like everybody else.
Aquire the funding thru the govt, or other means, and get started. Sounds like you've got it all figured out, and, obviously, know a lot more about it, than I. Look foward to seeing it employed in aircraft in the year, oh, 2040? I question the demands to build the F-22, and all that it costs, but I'd really question the money spent on this plasma pipe dream, and more importantly, the reasons it's needed.
