Russia launches new stealth fighter

The Russian website RT.com reported the aircraft has a $50 million price tag, will fly about 1,500 miles per hour and has a combat range of about 1,500 miles. It noted one media outlet has given the edge to the T-50 in a match-up with the F-22 Raptor.

Loren B. Thompson, a senior defense analyst and a senior aerospace consultant with the Virginia-based Lexington Institute, said the T-50 “will lose every engagement” against U.S. F-35 and F-22 stealth fighters.

Claims the Russian fighter can fly and turn faster than an F-35 aren’t surprising “because brute strength is where (Russian) fighter designs have always excelled” he said in an email. “However, when it comes to cutting-edge features like full-spectrum stealth, sensor fusion and secure networking, the Russian planes are likely to be grossly inferior.”

In air to air combat, U.S. F-22s and F-35s will spot the Russian jet first and shoot first, he added.

“We shouldn’t underestimate the Russians, but they will be incapable of integrating and operating a plane like the F-35,” he said. “It would be like a scene from the movie Independence Day, where alien craft are simply too advanced to fully understand.”

Defense aerospace giant Lockheed Martin is the chief contractor on the F-35, a stealth jet that has been in development for 15 years. The U.S. military plans to buy more than 2,400 of the multi-role fighters, the most expensive weapons program in history that has faced development delays and cost overruns.

In its most recent U.S. purchase, the F-35A had a price tag of $102 million, according to the company. The company expects that price to drop to $85 million in the next few years.

Lockheed-Martin has built three variants of the jet: the F-35A, a conventional take-off and landing version for the Air Force; the F-35B, a vertical take-off and landing version for the Marine Corps; and the F-35C, a carrier-version with fold-able wings and sturdier landing gear for the Navy.

The Air Force purchased less than 200 F-22 Raptors, a super-cruise stealth fighter also built by Lockheed Martin.