Fifth

1
29.01.2010/XNUMX/XNUMX there was a hope that aviation Russia is part of the XNUMXst century. The event that took place on this day can be called, without exaggeration, the birthday of the military aviation of the new Russia, since everything that has been flying up to the sky so far has been created on the scientific, technological and production potential of the Soviet Union. A new generation fighter, designed using a fundamentally new, “paperless” technology, mastered by P.O. Sukhoi should become a harbinger of a new era in the field of creation, development and combat use of aviation, aviation of the XNUMXst century.

FifthTwenty years before that, 29.09.1990 made its first flight, an experimental version of the first fighter of the fifth generation YF-22. The United States, with its enormous economic potential, took fifteen years to officially launch 15.12.2005 to announce the formation of the first Air Force unit that had reached combat readiness. Over the past four years of mass production manufactured 187 aircraft. The program of further (!) Production is suspended due to the financial crisis. Nevertheless, the task of the "indisputable advantage of American tactical aviation over aviation of a potential enemy equipped with the latest fighters", set before the creators of Raptor in the concept of "the fundamental need to outrun any generation of aircraft of any US military adversary", has been successfully solved.

It is quite obvious that the first test flights of a promising aviation front-line aviation complex (PAK FA) T-50 are only the beginning of a long and difficult path in the process of creating a fifth-generation Russian fighter. The predictions that T-50 in 2015 will go into service with the Russian Air Force seem overly optimistic. In order for this path to succeed, it is necessary to solve a whole complex of complex problems.

The first of these problems is the achievement of flight and especially maneuverable characteristics of the aircraft, not inferior to those of the F-22A. Here the key is the task of providing the necessary level of thrust-weight of the aircraft. It is necessary to complete the development of turbofan engines with at least 16 500 – 17 000 kg and specific parameters corresponding to the fifth generation engine in order to realize the following features typical of the fifth generation fighter:

• take-off from the site with a length of less than 300 m;

• vertical climb with positive acceleration to H = 5000 m;

• implementation of steady maneuvers with overloads at the limit of human capabilities to H = 4000 m;

• supersonic flight with M = 1,8 in the afterburner mode of operation of the power plant;

• reaching two minutes after take-off speed in 2,35 times the speed of sound at 11 000 m;

• destruction three minutes after takeoff of a supersonic target at a height of 20 000 m;

• successful completion of a maneuverable air combat with F-22A with a probability of at least 0,5.

Ensuring high flight and flight characteristics of the aircraft, the required level of flight safety is impossible without high aerodynamic design perfection, ensuring stability and controllability requirements, which is achieved by a high degree of automation of the aircraft’s control system and integration of engine thrust vector control into it.

The ultra-high maneuverability of the aircraft suggests a long-term impact on the pilot of high overloads in a wide range of speeds and altitudes, which requires an improvement in the life support system and the introduction of new, more effective anti-overload measures. A fighter pilot must remain operational at all stages of a combat flight. The psychophysical abilities of a person must match the capabilities of aviation technology and not limit them.

The second global problem for the fifth generation combat aircraft is information support, namely:

• the possibility of obtaining reliable information about the enemy;

• transmission, exchange and automated information processing in real time;

• presentation to the pilot in a convenient form at the right time of the necessary information for making technically competent and effective tactical decisions, prompting these decisions if necessary;

• maximum reduction in the capabilities of the enemy in obtaining reliable information in various ways, including by reducing the visibility of the aircraft.

This problem involves solving problems in three directions. The first is the creation of aircraft design and aircraft materials, reducing to a minimum the effective area of ​​dispersion of electromagnetic energy, infrared radiation and visual visibility.

The second is the creation of information technical systems. Multi-mode on-board radar with an active phased antenna array (AFAR) capable of detecting air targets with an effective dispersion area of ​​up to 200 X NNXX at a distance of up to 1 km. Opticolocation station of circular vision, capable of receiving IR and video images of air objects. Radio intelligence stations, active and passive jamming. Interference-resistant transmission lines for coded information. On-board computer system with high speed and large memory.

These systems should provide the pilot with comprehensive information, coming from various sources, on air and ground targets that pose a threat or are subject to attack. Provide hidden interaction of various aircraft, including the use of weapons in radio silence mode and on target designation from other aircraft.

The third direction is the development of algorithmic software or artificial intelligence, which can, based on the analysis of all available information:

• identification of various air and ground objects, including aircraft, guided air-to-air and ground-to-air missiles, air defense facilities;

• assessment of potential threats and their ranking by time of occurrence;

• development of tactical recommendations to the pilot and the control teams of the respective systems to minimize the threats that have arisen, up to the automatic control of the aircraft and the onboard defense complex during the implementation of jamming, maneuvering and fire counteraction to the enemy;

• assessment of the current combat potential of the aircraft, taking into account the capabilities and quantity of weapons, the remaining fuel, the health of the onboard systems and the development of tactical recommendations to the pilot, taking into account the interaction with other aircraft.

The most important task of informatization of combat operations is the creation of a global information network based on ground, air, space and individual airborne equipment, providing commanders of all levels with the most reliable information about the current position of the enemy forces and assets and their own. The principle of the network-centric nature of each combat weapon must be implemented. Each combat aircraft is at the same time a supplier of information to the network and its consumer, to the extent necessary to effectively solve the current combat mission.

This most important task is broader than the fifth generation fighter project, but without solving it, the aircraft with the highest flight characteristics can be suddenly attacked by the enemy and be defeated, without having had time to show its remarkable qualities.

The emergence of a new generation of fighter aircraft must be accompanied by the development of new aircraft weapons, possessing a number of special qualities. Air-to-air guided missiles should have:

• a combined homing system, with the possibility of obtaining information about the target based on different physical principles, ensuring maximum autonomy of the rocket control after launch and high immunity to interference;

• the ability to recognize the type of target, distinguishing a real target from a false one, more important from a less important one, with the possibility of redirecting the missile upon a command from the outside or based on the functioning of the onboard algorithm;

• the ability to effectively hit aircraft of all types, including medium-range and long-range air-to-air and ground-to-air guided missiles, with minimal restrictions on the movement parameters of the aircraft carrier at the time of launch;

• reprogrammable multi-mode powerplant capable of rationally spending the total thrust impulse by time of flight, ensuring the maximum power of the rocket during the most vigorous maneuvering phase.

Artillery installation is an equal type of fighter weapons, very effective in close combat. It must meet the following requirements: firing rate of at least 6000 shots per minute; ammunition not less than 500 cartridges; effective sighting range of a maneuvering aerial target of at least 600 ... 800. The onboard sighting system of a fighter must ensure the possibility of automatic firing at a target that briefly finds itself in an effective fire zone. The artillery armament of the aircraft must be adapted for automatic destruction or jamming of guided missiles attacking a fighter into the forward hemisphere.

It is obvious that to solve all these complex tasks, highly qualified domestic scientific and design personnel, a modern experimental production base and their stable financing by the state are needed. The absence of any of these factors will lead to the fact that T-50 will repeat the fate of another development of the Design Bureau. BY. Sukhoi - Su-34, which for more than 20 has existed in the number of several prototypes for years, and full-scale mass production of this aircraft has not been launched. Meanwhile, the Su-24 front-line bombers, which the Su-34 was supposed to replace, will cease to exist in the coming years for purely physical reasons (they do not live in front-line aviation for so long!).



Any of the most advanced development of the defense industry is transformed from an exhibit at an air show into a weapon system and an element of the country's defense only when a significant number of military units, staffed by highly professional personnel, have mastered the operation and combat use of this combat equipment, that is, it has reached combat readiness.

Meanwhile, a crisis of non-professionalism is developing in our country, far more terrible than the financial crisis. Since any problems are solved by professional people, if there are none, no amount of money solves the problem! The destruction of hydroelectric power stations, mine explosions, defeat at the Olympics, economic backwardness, accidents of civil aircraft caused by crews, etc. - All these are bright manifestations of the crisis of lack of professionalism. It is especially unacceptable in military affairs, in the field of the country's defense, since its manifestation could be catastrophic.

Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force in 1970 – 1980-ies The Chief Air Marshal Pavel Stepanovich Kutakhov, who created the combat aircraft, which we proudly demonstrate and sell around the world, believed that the pilot managing the third aviation complex more than the fourth generation, should have the knowledge of an engineer and during training should listen to lectures of teachers with advanced degrees. A ground-based aviation specialist who maintains this equipment and weapons in permanent serviceability and combat readiness should have a higher engineering education. Our current military leadership believes that the fifth generation of aircraft can be entrusted to a sergeant with the formation of a mechanic from the service center.

The President of the country - the Supreme Commander - is constantly pointing to the need to improve education, modernize the economy. The government is developing a program to build the Russian Silicon Valley, return home to Russian scientists working abroad, and eliminate the brain drain. At the same time, educational institutions were liquidated in the Armed Forces, which for decades successfully solved exactly these tasks: they gave education and created scientific schools at a level higher than world standards. Military scientists and teachers, who during the years of various crises remained faithful to their profession and to their country, are now massively leaving the army.

So, first in stories Aviation Higher Education Institution - the Air Force Engineering Academy named after Professor NE Zhukovsky (now VVA named after NE Zhukovsky and Yu.A. Gagarin) risks not surviving until its 90 anniversary anniversary in November of this year. If this happens, the training of qualified military aviation engineers, scientific and pedagogical personnel in the field of military aviation in Russia will be stopped, scientific schools are lost. What was created by several generations of scientists and is now easily destroyed, tomorrow will not be able to buy for any money anywhere!

Our southern neighbor in Asia, on the contrary, quickly absorbs knowledge and increases its scientific, industrial and defense potential. The PRC leadership regards the modernization of its air force as one of the priority tasks of military construction. Along with the purchase of modern aviation technology and licenses for its production in Russia, the most important direction of this modernization is the creation of our own new generation of combat aircraft.

The main directions of the military-technical policy of China for the period up to 2025 year are the following:

• development of a national technological base necessary for the development and production of advanced weapons and military equipment (IWT), reducing the existing lag in IWT development from leading foreign countries;

• expanding the production of self-developed weapons and military equipment samples, improving the quality of the created weapons and military equipment, reducing the development time and testing of new types of aircraft;

• ensuring the introduction of promising military technologies acquired abroad in newly created and modernized models of weapons and military equipment;

• development of promising defense technologies that will ensure the independent creation of promising models of weapons and military equipment.

To implement these plans in 2010, the proportion of funds allocated to research and development will increase to 15% of China’s total military spending, which, according to some sources, reaches 2,5% of the constantly growing gross national product .

Chinese aviation specialists are moving from the primitive copying of foreign designs to creating their own developments at the level of fourth-generation aircraft.

In the media, there are reports of intensive work in the PRC on the creation of a fifth-generation fighter, photographs and some technical characteristics are provided. Let's try to give a preliminary assessment of the flight characteristics and combat capabilities of such an aircraft with the alleged name "Jian-14".

In tab. 1 shows the published geometric and design mass characteristics of the aircraft.



Given the given geometrical parameters, it is unlikely that it will be possible to create a design with an empty, equipped airplane with a mass less than 16500 kg. Hence, the normal take-off weight of the aircraft when solving fighter missions will be about 25 000 kg, and landing - about 18 000 kg.

Considering also that aviation specialists and the level of technologies in the field of engine building in China have not yet reached the world level, it is unlikely that the Chinese colleagues will be able to independently create a power plant similar to the Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 or F135-PW-600 engines. Most likely, the basis of the power plant of the promising Chinese fighter will be the further development of the AL-31F engine of the type 117C.

We will conduct "flight" tests of such an aircraft using the methods of mathematical modeling, assuming that the Jian-14 aerodynamic characteristics are close to those of the F-22А. The results of such tests to determine the flight performance are shown in Table. 2.



Analysis of the obtained data shows that if the Chinese colleagues succeed in reducing the frontal resistance of the aircraft, especially in the field of trans and supersonic speeds, then the power plant consisting of two turbofans such as ed. 117С allows the fighter to fly with Mach number М 1,25 in the height range 7 – 10 km, reaching Mmax. = 1,41 without the use of forced engine operation (RRD). The thrust and aerodynamic quality of the aircraft provide it with a significant advantage in maneuvering capabilities

(Vy * .maks., Nx max., Ny PR.) In front of any modern fourth-generation fighter.

If the Chinese aircraft designers succeed in implementing a number of constructive measures, then the aircraft’s radar visibility will be significantly reduced and the Jian-14 will correspond to the fifth generation fighter on a number of basic signs. For this you need the following:

• use of V-shaped vertical tail;

• placement of the main weapons in the internal compartments of the fuselage;

• parallelism of all edges of aerodynamic surfaces that are reflectors of X-ray radiation;

• exclusion of air brakes from the governing bodies and assignment of these functions to the rudders;

• a drop-shaped lantern of the cockpit of the entire design without metal structural elements;

• the ribbing of all the flaps and hatches on the airframe surface that fall into the radar of the enemy radar.

• curved configuration of air ducts of air intakes, excluding the visibility of engine rotor blades through air intakes;

• inclined position of the radar antenna array, which excludes radiation re-reflection towards its source;

• placing antennas of radio frequency sensors of information in places that exclude direct re-reflection of radiation from the enemy's radar.

To assess the combat capabilities of the Jian-14, a mathematical simulation of a single melee air combat with an F-22A type fighter was conducted. The air battle began and proceeded at medium and low altitudes at an initial speed of 1000 – 1100 km / h from a neutral tactical situation, which precludes the positional advantage of one of the opponents. 500 was modeled for various air combat options. As a weapon, each fighter had four short-range air-to-air missiles and an artillery installation: a single-barreled 30 mm caliber cannon with 150 ammunition ammunition - Jian-14; 20 mm six-barrel cannon with 500 ammunition ammunition - F-22А.

The average performance indicators of fighters are given in Table. No.3. The result of each fight was estimated by the difference in the probabilities of shooting down opponents, accumulated over 90 seconds of combat. The probability of shooting down (Wsb) was calculated taking into account the number and sequence of attacks made by opponents using all types of weapons. If the probability of shooting down (Wsb2 - Wsb1) was positive at the end of the battle, the victory was recorded at Jiang-14 (fighter No. XXUMX), if the difference was negative, the victory was recorded at F-1 (fighter No. XXUMX).

The effectiveness of each missile attack (Wprom., Wpor.) Was estimated from the results of modeling the dynamics of the relative movement of the rocket and the target. The probability of hitting the aircraft was calculated based on the results of simulating the impact of the missile warhead on the structure of the aircraft in the event of a missile falling into the target area, ensuring the operation of the fuses.

The effectiveness of an attack using artillery weapons (WА) was evaluated with regard to the caliber and the number of projectiles capable of hitting the target during firing, as well as taking into account the effect on the aiming accuracy of the normal overload acting on the pilot.

Analysis of the results of air combat modeling (tab. 3) shows that, in terms of the main indicator of effectiveness - the probability of victory (WU), the Chinese fighter is significantly inferior to the US Air Force fighter. Jian-14 ends the bout in its favor only in 28% of air battles, while in F-22A the probability of victory is WП 2 = 0,68.



The physical reason for this result becomes clear when comparing a number of the technical characteristics of the Chinese and American fighters listed in Table. 4.



The Jian-14 aircraft has a large wing loading (p), therefore, when maneuvering with equal overloads, it is forced to use large angles of attack, which leads to an increase in drag. In combination with less thrust-to-weight ratio (µ) over the entire range of maneuvering speeds, this leads to a decrease in positive excess thrust and a reduction in disposable overloads: tangential (nx max.) And normal limit load on the propulsion system (ny PR.). As a result, the F-22A turns around faster when maneuvering, loses speed more slowly, accelerates faster and gains altitude, which allows it to increase its tactical advantage over time and more often go into the conditions of use of weapons.

So, in terms of the ratio of attacks (n1 / n2) and effective missile attacks (n1 eff. / N2 eff.) It can be seen (Table 3) that F-22A was three times more likely to use Chinese fighter missiles and three times more often to hit the target . Thanks to its superior maneuverability and greater ammunition ammunition, an American ten times more often fired a cannon (nA1 / nA2). And thanks to the significantly higher rate of fire of the M61 “Vulkan” cannon, this fire was much more effective (WА 1 = 0,04; WА 2 = 0,14).

For a visual representation of the dynamics of changes in the tactical situation during the battle in Fig. 1 shows the projections of the trajectories of the aircraft on a horizontal plane with marks of the current time, the moments of the use of weapons and hitting the target, indicating the effectiveness of the attack of one of the 500 variants of the development of air combat.



The Jian-14 and F-22A fighters begin to fight with turns on the enemy with the maximum available overload. At 17, the second maneuvering momentum almost simultaneously, both aircraft reach the conditions of use of guided missiles and exchange blows at a distance of about 1250. Two seconds later, the missiles hit their targets (W POR.1 = 0,69; WPOR.2 = 0,75).

The further course of the battle, due to superiority in maneuverability, takes place with a gradual increase in the tactical advantage of the F-22A. On the 37 second, being at a distance of 2200 m from the target, with the attacker’s attack angle q = 820, Raptor made a second launch of the rocket, which hit the target with Wthst.4,5 = 2 after 0,87 seconds.

On the 44 second, the American fighter made the third unsuccessful launch (D = 925 m; q = 850). On the 52 second, F-22A used up a reserve of short-range missiles, launching a fourth attack from the range 960 m with q = 1540, which ended with a target hit with Wpore.2 = 0,48.

Subsequently, the American took up a stable position in the rear hemisphere Jian-14 and at 73-th second, moving closer to a distance of about 600 m, discharged his gun at the Chinese fighter. The probability of hitting the target, taking into account the accuracy of aiming at nу≈3, was WА 2 = 0,12. As a result, when the probability of shooting down Wsb2 - Wsb1 = -0,16, the victory was won by F-22A.

This typical example shows how an advantage in maneuverability transforms into a victory in a close maneuver air battle.

Thus, despite the fact that “Jian-14” corresponds to the fifth generation aircraft in terms of a number of features, it is significantly inferior in its combat capabilities to the only 21st century fighter - the F-22A “Raptor”. From this we can conclude that if the T-50 in the coming years does not receive the fifth generation of the engine, then we will have to compete in the creation of fighters not with the United States, but with China. Moreover, taking into account the rapidly growing qualifications of Chinese aviation specialists, the dynamically developing industry and the great interest of the Chinese state in strengthening its armed forces, the results of this competition may not be in our favor.

In the next ten years, China has every reason not only to become a member of an elite club of states that are able to independently develop and produce combat aircraft in the right quantity, but also to press Russia into it.
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  1. dred
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    29 November 2011 14: 40
    the sixth generation is coming.

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