NEW RUSSIAN MIGS SET FOR FLIGHT TEST

By: NICOLAY NOVICHKOV CRAIG COVAULT

(MOSCOWPARIS) The Russian Mikoyan design bureau, now being merged into the MAPO- industrial group, opens 1996 preparing for the first flights of both its advanced fighter and trainer. The imminent flights will mark the first completely new aircraft to be tested by the famed Mikoyan organization since the first flew 15 years ago. Mikoyan officials are planning the AT's scheduled first takeoff by Jan. 20 and the new fighter's initial flight also early this year. The tests will be conducted at the Ramenskoye Flight Test Center near Moscow, where the aircraft were making final high-speed taxi runs in late December. Mikoyan chief test pilot, Taskayev Roman, will fly both aircraft. In addition to the initial flights with the new fighter and trainer, MAPO- will accelerate midair refueling tests with aircraft, which earlier could not be refueled in flight. The Russian air force hopes to buy 30 s with the new refueling capability this year. MAPO- also plans to redesignate newer versions of the as the , although there will be no differences in flight hardware between the two designations. The revival of flight test activity is being aided by a rejuvenated Mikoyan financial/industrial base. The new business foundation stems from the design bureau's merger with MAPO, the Moscow Aircraft Production Organization that built aircraft during the Soviet era. Several banks are also part of the organization, which has been designated a ``financial/industrial group'' under Russian law. Vladimir Kuzmin, who earlier headed MAPO, is director general of the new organization. He shares some of that overall responsibility with Rostislav Belyakov, who headed Mikoyan as its general designer. Belyakov, who has been battling ill health, has a direct management line to the head of design/development, Anatoliy Belosvet. A recent influx of funding from the Russian Ministry of Defense for flight test of the new advanced fighter will also help the company, Russian sources said. The aircraft, informally called the , carries the official designation of MFI (loosely translated as ``multifunction fighter''). The twin-engine MFI is designed to be both a military and commercial competitor to the Lockheed Martin F-22, the Eurofighter 2000 and the Dassault Rafale. The Russian aircraft has 16 control surfaces, including canards and a twin tail, that are driven by a fly-by-wire system. It was initially to have flown in 1995, but funding problems and the need to conduct further testing on control system actuators pushed the scheduled first flight into early 1996. The aircraft is to have supersonic cruise (``supercruise'') capability and limited stealth characteristics. If the fighter has a successful flight test program, it would not enter service until after 2000. In contrast, the new -AT trainer would begin field evaluations at a Russian air force school within a few months of its initial flight, if selected by the Defense Ministry over the , a competing trainer. Through late December, the AT had completed at least five high-speed taxi tests. Like the new fighter, the AT was to have flown in 1995 but was slowed by funding delays. Russia plans to buy 250-300 trainers to replace its current Czech-built L-29 and L-39 aircraft. The winner will also have export opportunities, and already India and Uzbekistan have signed options to procure the new trainer. MAPO- IS WORKING with France's Snecma and Turbomeca, which will supply the AT's twin Larzac engines. Export versions, to be marketed by Snecma, would also have a Sextant Avionique/Gosniias glass cockpit. ovlev is teamed with Italy's Aermacchi for development of the , which has a fly-by-wire control system and two Klimov turbofan engines (AW&ST June 26, 1995, p. 26). Details emerging from the Russian Defense Ministry indicated a split over which aircraft is favored. At least some senior air force managers have expressed a preference for the , but Russian Air Defense Force (PVO) officers earlier liked the (AW&ST Sept. 12, 1994, p. 43). While the is set to fly by Jan. 20, the will not make its first flight until well into 1996, Russian sources said. No decision will be made until after flight tests begin, but it could come relatively early in the flight test phase, they said. will test a single aircraft, but MAPO- officials believe a plan to ``field-test'' several ATs in parallel with traditional flight testing will work to their advantage in the Defense Ministry's decision. Under the plan, MAPO- would produce 15 ATs in 1996 and provide 5-7 of them immediately to one of the four Russian air force flight training schools. engineers believe another factor in their favor is that the initial flight test aircraft is composed of 25% ``serial'' components and structure identical to and off the same tooling that would be used for production aircraft. This 25% includes the horizontal stabilizer and the wing with its integral fuel tanks. The second is in advanced fabrication and will have 50% of its structure as serial components. The third aircraft will be the same as production versions from a design and production tooling standpoint. These first three aircraft would all go into the AT flight test program at Ramenskoye, while the fourth aircraft would be devoted to static loads testing. If selected by the Russian government, MAPO- would produce 35 ATs in 1997 and 50 in 1998. The company believes there is global market potential for about 1,200 AT aircraft. While testing the new fighter and trainer, MAPO- this year will also increase testing of the --to be redesignated the . The evaluations will continue new air refueling system development begun in late 1995 and tests of the aircraft using laser-guided bombs. Recent weapon tests with laser-guided bombs indicate that the / radar has the capability to acquire a ground target at ranges up to 50 km. (31 mi.), a distance greater than earlier tests indicated. The aircraft can then use its own laser designator, or a laser designation by ground forces, to guide the weapon once it is dropped. WHILE THE NEW PROGRAMS show that the Russian air force is trying to maintain advanced developments, the air force budget will have to be increased significantly if any of these aircraft are to be placed in production. During all of 1995, for example, the air force ordered only 15 new aircraft including helicopters. Of these, only two were fighters. Last year, MAPO- built 35 of the standard version, and none were delivered to the Russian air force. Seven of the aircraft were delivered to Slovakia and 10 to Hungary in exchange for Russian debt relief. The only funded deliveries were to Malaysia, which received 18 in 1995. An additional 18 are expected to be ordered by Malaysia under a new procurement cycle that begins this year (AW&ST Dec. 18/25, 1995, p. 12).

Illustration(s): Illustration: The new ``MFI'' fighter will have a supersonic cruise (``supercruise'') capability. It is believed to have canards and twin tails. The project was earlier delayed by technical and funding problems.

Photograph(s): Photograph: trainer is set for its first flight by late January. It is in competition with the . Export versions have Sextant Avionique cockpit. MARK D. FINK WITH KODAK DCS EOS5 DIGITAL CAMERA

Photograph: Computer displays are evident in cockpit. The aircraft will be redesignated the and given an air-refueling capability.