Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declared the Sukhoi T-50 PAK-FA to be better than the Lockheed Martin F-22 during a demonstration of the aircraft on June 17.
Putin watched on as the PAK-FA demonstrator was put through a handling display at the Zhukovsky Test Centre near Moscow, before taking a close up tour of the aircraft. “This machine will be superior to our main competitor, the F-22, in terms of manoeuvrability, weaponry and range,” Putin was quoted as telling the pilot after the flight.
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The PAK-FA, short for Perspektivnyi Aviatsionnyi Kompleks – Frontovoi Aviatsy, or Future Frontline Aircraft System, features advanced low observable shaping and integrated electronics, and is expected to form the basis of Russia’s first fifth generation fighter later this decade.
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