From Reuters: Russia test-flew a long-awaited new fighter aircraft on Friday, determined to challenge the United States for technical superiority in the skies and impress weapons buyers.
The “fifth-generation” stealth fighter — Russia’s first all-new warplane since the collapse of the Soviet Union plunged the defense industry into poverty and disarray — flew for 47 minutes, planemaker Sukhoi said…
Russia’s main television networks led news programs with reports of the flight and showed footage of the needle-nosed, camouflage-painted plane taking off from a snow-lined airstrip at a Sukhoi factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, in Russia’s Far East…
Fifth-generation aircraft are invisible to radar, have advanced flight and weapons control systems and can cruise at supersonic speeds. The new plane is Moscow’s answer to the U.S.-built F-22 Raptor stealth fighter — the world’s only fifth-generation fighter yet in service — which first flew in 1997. (photo: Reuters)