Russian AF to Get First T-50 Fighters

The Russian Air Force will receive the first batch of prototypes of its fifth-generation T-50 fighter for performance testing in 2013, Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin said on Thursday.

The T-50, developed under the PAK FA program (Future Aviation System for Tactical Air Force) at the Sukhoi experimental design bureau, is Russia's first new major warplane designed since the fall of the Soviet Union.

“The work on the fifth-generation fighter is going according to schedule,” Zelin, a former Air Force commander, told a news conference in Voronezh (central Russia). “The third prototype has joined the testing program and the fourth is being built.”

The T-50 made its maiden flight in January 2010 and three prototypes have since been undergoing flight tests.

Zelin earlier said that the number of T-50 aircraft involved in testing would be increased to 14 by 2015.

The fighter was first shown to the public in August 2011, in Zhukovsky near Moscow, at the MAKS-2011 air show.