Ah, S-37, then make sense (considering it own bay is reconfigured for PAK FA program)
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It didn’t had weapon bay. The one that existing airframe has wasn’t reconfigured, it was created for PAK FA program to test the mechanisation.
not actual, just one of. Project changed several names during development.
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Thats a lot of conveniently empty space in the middle of the jet tbh, even for, practically from the get go, a flying lab
I get it, but it is what Sukhoi officially stated, not me. And i think you’d agree that for an actual weapons bay 2 missiles feels a bit… underwhelming.
Yeah, true
it didn’t stop Western media from creating some mad theories about what’s gonna be inside tho
a revolver? like shifting the balance of the aircraft mid-flight?!
those medias,… all talk, but no brain. :D
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Well, it works for Tu-160… but that thing is like, humongous.
Simple anti-rotational gyroscopes and counterweighting techniques would stop any issue of a internal revolving bay, though it adds weight and parts to be maintained.
Interesting thing I’ve heard in one of the videos. Apparently this airframe, despite not having FCS and radar had 4 mounting points for R-77 missiles under the fuselage (you can see them on photos)
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Probably for testing purposes, same as it was with Yak-141
The stealth seems a little sketchy, but the FM performance would sit nicely at top tier.
1.44 didn’t put big emphasis on stealth, because in USSR main characteristics of a 5th Gen aircraft were flight performance and super maneuverability.
If this is stealth then my Mitsubishi Lancer is also stealth…
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Me when people make assumptions based on a single prototype airframe that was just a proof of concept.
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This thing was a technological dead end and Russia knew it. If it was really that promising, then Russia would have continued pursuing it.
Calling this thing stealth is like calling an F-16 stealth because it has a Have Glass coating on it.
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Dog it was introduced dyring the fall of USSR. Russia barely had money to sustain whatever it had at the moment, not pursue development of projects that barely left the paper stage. MiG bureau wasn’t going so hot either to work on it from internal funds, unlike Sukhoi that had much better financial standing.
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No one calling it “stealth”. At least not this prototype. It’s like calling YF-22 stealth because it’s a F-22 prototype.
while 0.3 m2 is certainly not stealth, it is low observable