SU -57 VERSUS F-35 AND INDIANS TODAY

My Indian FB-friend Rajeev Sharma wrote:

Indian Aerospace Behemoth #HAL Strongly Advocates #FGFA Project With #Russia.Describes it as best technology offer India has ever received. 
An opportunity for us to go in for this kind of technology which has not been offered to us by any other country: HAL Chairman Raju on #FGFA.
India has spent $240 mn on #FGFA project,started in 2007. India, Russia signed intergovernmental pact & completed preliminary design in 2013.  (Unquote).

He was commented by Ranjit Devraj

Ranjit Devraj 

We really should be going in for this project, Rajeev, instead of wasting money on useless arms shopping. (Unquote)

Jayanta Roy Chowdhury added :

Jayanta Roy Chowdhury 

Everything sounds good. But How far in the future is the final product ? What are the costs involved? Have the Russians shared their research findings? HAL has not been able to absorb the Mig technology and develop any product based on it on our own, what makes HAL think it can do so now? Ideally we should buy aircraft and weapons technology off the shelf from a pliable country. Hire their scientists & get ours to work with them to develop the next gen in that field. Cooperation cannot be just writing cheques. (Unquote)

I could not miss the opportunity to add my views:

Sergius Stroev 

ONE serial jet FGFA is expected to cost about 100 mlln. US Dollars. So 240 mlns. US Dollars since 2007 - it is not too much.

By the way the miserably slow and "fragile in the air manouvres" F-35 costs about 100-120 mlns.  US  Dollars WITHOUT ENGINE. With engine it costs more.

F-22 which is really a good plane, unlike F-35, costs in todays money about 350 mlns. Dollars. Even America could not produce them a large quantities and stopped the prooduction a few years ago. Too costly and F-22 seems to be VISIBLE be L-radars and other land and outer space various kinds of detectors....

The newest Su-57 ( "PAK FA" - as test jets ) is very close to F-22 ( it is even slightly better in perfomance than F-22 , but not too mach ) and it is very close to FGFA but not to a miserably slow, ill armed and not capable to fight at close distances F-35.

The main problem is not the Money but the TIME . WHEN FGFA can really FLY ? As Su-57 has been flying since 2013 and now Russia has 11 of them as TEST jets and in two years the first SERIAL twelve  Su-57 will come to regular Air Force of Russia. FGFA seems lagging far behind in terms of TIME when Bhaarat has only 36 squadrons now while it urgently needs 42 squadrons at least. And not in many years ahead but NOW. So the firts problem is TIME.

The second problem is that FGFA still presumes to have  avaliable now Su-35 ENGINE AL-41F1. As 10 of 11 test Su-57 also have it. But the tenth test Su-57 seems to have the newest "Product 30" Engine which is much better. And SERIAL Su-57 are supposed to have "Product 30" engines.

Besides Su-57 has infra-red radar that makes F-35 and even F-22 quite VISIBLE. And if F-22 is more or less equal to So-57 as a good fighter jet but F-35 is just an easy prey for Su-57. Australian experts has recently rated Su-57 as "5 plus" but F-35 in comparison as "10 minus".

So all this talk about an OUTDATED technology of FGFA which appears in Indian press, according to a "friendly information" received from our competitors - it is a BULLSHIT. The reasons are entirely different. Including political reasons. India is drifting to the USA in view of China ( plus Pak ) threat. Given that drift, Shri Jayanta Roy Chowdhury might be very right - is it possible to reveal the newes technology secrets to India that is drifting to our potential enemy ?

We have always trusted India as no any other country in the world and India has never let us down. But China makes India to drift to our potential enemy and THAT does change the situation with the most sensitive technologies. Nither Russia nor India are to be blamed for this but we are not alone in this world.

F-35