L
AST DECEMBER 5, the T-50-2
— now designated T-50-2LL
(Letayushchaya Laboratoriya,
ying testbed) — completed
a rst ight with its port
engine replaced by the izdeliye
30; the other nacelle retained thestandard AL-41F1 (izdeliye 117). The
new-generation izdeliye 30 ghter
engine has been developed by the
Lyulka Design Bureau in Moscow and
will be manufactured by the UMPO
production plant at Ufa, where the
current 117 is also built. The izdeliye 30The all-new Su-57 has recently been deployed to Syria for a
combat workout, but how does the new fi ghter shape up?REPORT Piotr Butowski
o ers increased thrust, lighter weight, a
smaller number of elements and lower
operating costs. The developer claims
that that the new engine will be ‘17 to 18
per cent more e ective than the 117’. If
that refers to full thrust, the new engine
should provide 17 tonnes compared to
14.5 tonnes today.
Quite unusually for Russia, the rst
ight test of the new engine was widely
advertised; Russian TV covered the ight
that day. It is probable that the goal was
to make a positive impression in India.
Among Moscow’s most important
current tasks is to convince India to
sign a long-negotiated $6-billion R&D
contract for the Perspective Multi-
role Fighter (PMF), a joint Russo-
Indian ghter based on the Su-57,
the preliminary design of which was
accepted as early as June 2013. It is
known that one of India’s reservations
towards the current Su-57 is the AL-41F1
engine, which is judged not to be
compliant with the ‘ fth generation’.
The contract with India would provide a
considerable injection of funds into the‘FRAZOR’
SHARPENS UP
Below left: T-50-2
— now designated
as the T-50-2LL
(Letayushchaya
Laboratoriya,
fl ying testbed)
— is now fl ying
with the new-
generation
izdeliye 30
engine. UAC
Below: T-50-9
reportedly made
its fi rst fl ight at
Komsomolsk-
on-Amur on
April 24, 2017. It
differed from its
predecessors
in having a
‘pixelated’
camoufl age
scheme. The
aircraft has
also been seen
undergoing
trials with new
underwing drop
tanks.
Sergey Kuznetsovhttp://www.combataircraft.net // May 2018 91
91-93 Russian Fighters Su-57 C.indd 91 21/03/2018 11:56