What you are attempting to imply is basically this: because the Soviets declined to reinvent the wheel completely by themselves, they must therefore be incapable of maintaining a meritorious, praise worthy, competitive wheel research department ever there afterwards.
Be careful about citing Globalsecurity- they are barely a step above Wikipedia... at best, their articles are lifted from other sources and sites- without attributing anything.
Compare some of their articles with fas.org, for instance.
Yes, I have noticed that FAS & Globalsecurity appear to have started from a common knowledge base. However, it is common knowledge that the Atoll and it's descendants were a straight copy of the AIM-9, and many other missiles made use of Western designed guidance packages and even semiconductor parts purchased abroad.
The Soviets appear to have been ahead of the West in the manufacture of very high power rocket and jet motors, though.
Much of the modeling for military systems in the '80s was done on DEC VAX and IBM 4300 series computers purchased by shell companies and trans-shipped to the USSR via the Bahamas, South Africa & Finland.
If an unfriendly power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.
Werner wrote:
Much of the modeling for military systems in the '80s was done on DEC VAX and IBM 4300 series computers purchased by shell companies and trans-shipped to the USSR via the Bahamas, South Africa & Finland.
Please provide a source that quantifies "much of".
It is widely believed that Plasma stealth technology was perfected by the Soviets back in the 1960s and is now being copied by the West . Is not high jacking of high technology a two way street or is it just as Werner would have us beieve the preserve of the Russians? Any comments?
The question is how far this will go. There seems to be a great deal of interest conflict between Russia, India and China over joint development of 5+ generation fighters. Soviet Union had done the preparatory and basic design work for a 5+ generation fighter in the league of F-22 before it fell. Desultory work on these projects continued in Russia to the point when partially equipped prototypes were built.
Apparently final stage of work on the next generation of fighter engines and electronics is still required. Russia would like to partner with China to finish development the new engine, and partner with India to finish development the electronics and weapon suite. These would be the final stage work to complete the Russian projects that's been in existence since the late 1980s.
Neither China nor India appears to be interested in that approach. Neither seems interested in merely adding finishing touches to Russian projects. Neither seems to think doing this would give them opportunities to learn much about what they don't already know. Both wants to partner with Russia to design a completely new fighter from ground up and get full access to the entire Russian fighter design process and expertise.
So how these interest conflicts will be resolved is yet to be seen.
The Russians showed the Su-35 at MAKS 2007 and are marketing it now. It carries a lot of 5th gen technology already. Word is they are trying to sell them to raise the funding to buy them for the Russian Air Force.
I'd love to see a head-to-head fly-off between a Su-35 and a Euro Typhoon. After that, an F-22 vs the Su-35. And then the Typhoon vs the F-22. Each has some superb qualities. Be very interesting to see how they stack up against each other for real, not just on paper.
On the workbench:
I Love Kit 1/72 OSA-I
Recently completed:
Das Werk 1/16 Panzer III Ausf. J (early)
Trumpeter 1/35 SA-8 Gecko
Trumpeter 1/350 Moskva (Slava-class)
Tim Jacobs wrote:The Russians showed the Su-35 at MAKS 2007 and are marketing it now. It carries a lot of 5th gen technology already. Word is they are trying to sell them to raise the funding to buy them for the Russian Air Force.
I'd love to see a head-to-head fly-off between a Su-35 and a Euro Typhoon. After that, an F-22 vs the Su-35. And then the Typhoon vs the F-22. Each has some superb qualities. Be very interesting to see how they stack up against each other for real, not just on paper.
Basic Su-27 is aerodynamically somewhat more advanced than basic F-15. But the things that sets Su-35 apart from Su-27 are essentially the same set of updates the the USAF contemplated for the F-15 during late 1970s and early 1980s, including digital FBW, IR scanner, altered aerodynamics including wing glove canards, vector thrust, fancy radar. The only thing missing is a rear facing radar. The USAF abandoned these updates because it did not consider them as capable of making enough different to justify the cost, nor as being able to justify the possibility of causing a delay in what later turned into the F-22 program. The Russians evidently thinks otherwise about essentially the same update to slightly superior but still broadly comparable aircraft almost 25 years later. I suspect it is possible that a important reason is the the Russians now see their true 5th generation fighter as being even further away from service then the USAF would have seen the F-22 from the perspective of 1982.
BTW, in Indian service, the thrust vectoring form of AL-31FN engine used on the Su-30 and Su-35 is rumored to have a mean time between overhual of 50 hours. If thrust vectoring is considered a benchmark generation 5 technology, then I don't believe Su-30 or Su-35 can be counted as having this technology in a serviceable form. I doubt any air force that takes combat readiness seriously will tolerate an engine with 50 hour MTBO.
