윗글에 su-32가 아니구 s-32네요 그리구 에비에이션 위크가 아니구.. http://www.lmtas.com/f22/f22s32.html이네요..정정합니다. 그리구 그 기사입니다.. ----------------------------------------------------------------Russian Jet Could Match Best This article is taken from the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. Sunday, October 26, 1997 By Michael D. Towle Star-Telegram Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - The Cold War may be over and the Soviet empire extinct, but Russia is working on a new jet fighter that some aerospace experts say will counter the best planes the Air Force has on its drawing board, including the F-22 Raptor. In late September, the fabled Sukhoi design bureau, which developed the lethal Su-27 Flanker, began test flights at Zhukovsky air base near Moscow of its new S-32, according to Pentagon sources and reports from the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass. The possibility that the Russians are preparing to field a new, more sophisticated fighter has caught the attention of Air Force brass in the Pentagon and ranking lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Defense experts say development of the S-32 means that American pilots will probably face a more formidable foe in the 21st century than previously expected. It also signals that the Russian government, despite its depressed economy, is willing to spend billions on new fighters and could sell them to rogue nations. Those nations, like Russia, are seen as potential threats to U.S. national security. "It's very troubling because it is an indication of Russia's continuing significant investment in the technology area," said Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., chairman of a House National Security subcommittee on tactical aircraft. "Despite a lot of the rhetoric that we are hearing about a new era of relationships, the S-32 is designed to give them a preeminent capability in terms of air superiority." Weldon said emergence of the S-32 is another good reason to keep the F-22 on schedule. About one-third of the F-22 is to be produced at Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems in Fort Worth. The new Russian fighter will be a leap ahead of any tactical fighter the Russians or Soviets have flown previously, according to Air Force officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Its development began in the 1980s in response to Lockheed's F-22 project, which has been continued by Lockheed Martin Corp. Although the S-32 is not considered a stealth fighter, its all-composite airframe will significantly decrease detection by western radar systems. Its design includes internal weapons bays to shield missiles from radar detection. The aircraft will also feature two of the latest engines the Russians have produced, and they will be equipped with so-called "thrust vectoring," which allows a pilot to use the engine exhaust in aerial maneuvers. But the S-32's most notable characteristic - and perhaps its most controversial - is the "forward swept" design of its wings. To the layman, the wings appear to be put on backward. Aerospace experts say that such a design can provide a substantial advantage in dogfighting agility, but that it is largely untested. In the 1980s, Grumman Corp. developed an aircraft, the X-29, which also featured forward-swept wings. The unusual shape and placement of the wings means they are subjected to greater stress in flight, requiring advanced computer technology to maintain stability. The X-29 uses three on-board computers to control the aircraft's flight. The computers adjust the X-29's control surfaces up to 40 times a second. NASA is still flying two X-29 prototypes, but the Air Force has ruled out using the design for its fighters. "I don't know why they chose that design," one Air Force source said of the S-32, "but obviously it was not working for us." Wolfgang Demisch, an aerospace analyst with Bankers Trust of New York, said western aerospace companies, however, should not underestimate Sukhoi's ability to produce a first-rate fighter. "Most objective observers would say that Sukhoi aircraft are very competitive airplanes today with the best that we have to offer, like the F-15 and F-16," Demisch said. "They are big, they are fast, they are powerful and they very, very agile." "You can make all the arguments about their electronics or engines maybe not being quite what we have, but my guess is that the Russians have developed a world-class aircraft, and that will be a formidable competitor for anything we will have." But to equal the F-22, the Russians will have to have made advances in their fighter technology. The Raptor will be undetectable by radar, able to fly twice the speed of sound, and will feature the most advanced cockpit on any fighter anywhere. Its capabilities will include data-linking technologies to ensure that the pilot is aware of every piece of information needed to win a battle. The computers will gather information from other fighters, satellites, ground-based command centers and surveillance aircraft high overhead to display the positions of any threatening aircraft and missiles. "Our data linking with information from other aircraft means that a pilot knows the entire battlefield picture in an F-22," said Jeff Cronenworth, an engineering specialist at Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth. Cronenworth, who is familiar with both the F-22 and the Russian S-32, said the Russian plane is unlikely to ever be able to challenge the Raptor. "To compare, you would have to start with where we are in terms of technology on stealth," Cronenworth said. "We're developing our third generation. The Russians have yet to field one. They have to go through all these lessons learned when we have already learned the lessons. They have yet to field operationally even the kinds of cockpits you see today in an F-16." But the Russians may have been able to take advantage of a European company's path up the learning curve. European defense electronics firms are not considered as advanced as their U.S. counterparts, but they could have significantly upgraded the S-32's cockpit compared with Soviet-era fighters. "The Russians have had some discussions with western avionics houses, so if they elect to go that route, they could gain some significant improvement compared to what they would have gotten in-house," an Air Force source said. Russia's reason for producing the new fighter may be two-fold. It will need to update the fighter inventory for its own air force, but it is also expected to sell the S-32 abroad. Sukhoi, like the Russian fighter maker Mikoyan, producer of the famed MiG series of fighters, has turned to the international market in recent years to support development of its aircraft. Both have sold planes to China and India, among other countries. Weldon said Russian export policies give him cause for concern. "There are briefings I have had on next-generation technologies that the Russians are pursuing that are beyond even what we can understand," the lawmaker said. "This is an indication that, while their conventional military is in total disarray, there are those in Russia that are willing to put dollars into leap-ahead technologies that could give them a significant capability five or 10 years down the road." A Potential Russian Threat? Russia is working on a new fighter plane, the S-32, that is expected to be a leap ahead of any tactical fighter the Russians or Soviets have flown previously. Its development began in the 1980s, U.S. Air Force officials say, in response to Lockheed's work on the F-22. Russian S-32 The S-32's most notable feature is the "forward swept" design of its wings, which to a layman looks as if the wings are put on backward. Aerospace experts say that such a design can provide a substantial advantage in dogfighting agility, but that it is largely untested. Estimated dimensions Wingspan 49 ft. Length 71 ft. Height 20 ft. Maximum speed Mach 2.5 Comparisons With U.S. Planes F-22 Raptor A 21st-century air-superiority fighter for the Air Force being developed by Lockheed Martin Corp. It will have radar-evading "stealth" technology. Grumman X-29 In the 1980s, Grumman Corp. developed the X-29, which also featured forward-swept wings. The unusual shape and placement of the wings means they are subjected to greater stress in flight, requiring advanced computer technology to maintain stability. NASA is still flying two X-29 prototypes, but the Air Force has ruled out use of the design on its new fighters.