By
Vovick Karnozov
AWN Moscow-based columnist
MOSCOW, August 18, 1999 - Nikolai Nikitin, general director and general designer with VPK MAPO (manufacturer of MiG aircraft), told journalists today that the fifth- generation MiG fighter, known as the MFI or Article 1.44, is being prepared for the first flight this October.
When asked why the first flight was postponed from April to October, he answered: "I personally never promised to put the MFI in the air in April. Quite simply, the aircraft technically was not ready to fly that early. Those who made such promises are gone now."
Obviously, Nikitin hinted at Mikhail Korzhuyev, former ANPK MiG (a design house in frame of VPK MAPO military-industrial group, better known as Mikoyan design bureau), who left this post in June quite unexpectedly, to emerge as the Sukhoi deputy general designer for avionics.
Nikitin carried on that although the MFI will finally be made to fly, it will hardly ever reach the status of an operational combat aircraft.
"Everybody understands now that the MFI will never become operational. The aircraft was conceived back in 1983 under the respective order of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. As we all know, the 'customer' is now gone," he said.
The VPK MAPO head said that to him (Nikitin is former Sukhoi chief designer, responsible for the Su-35 project), the MFI does not look to be a true representative of the fifth-generation of jet fighters.
"Since 1983, the views on fifth-generation combat jets have changed, but the MFI conception has not, at least not that much," he explained.
The move to put the MFI prototype in the air will pursue two goals. First is to restore the old image of Mikoyan as the world's most famous fighter house. The second one is to get data on aerodynamics and the powerplant, and to use this data in designing "true fifth-generation fighters." According to Nikitin, they plan to make 27 or 28 flights on the MFI prototype during the first stage of its flight test program. This should be sufficient to gather initial data on real aerodynamic performance of the aircraft in typical flight modes. A decision on follow-on tests will be made based on results of the first stage.
Nikitin said that Russia does not really need a fifth-generation fighter in the near future, because the potential of the Su-27 and MiG-29 has not been used up yet. The MiG-29 is still in demand, proved by the recent sale of several new airframes to Bangladesh under a contract estimated at $150-$200 million.
A fifth-generation fighter would be needed in the 2015 timeframe, Nikitin said. By that time Sukhoi, VPK MAPO and Yakovlev should prepare their offers on the LFS (Russian acronym from Light Front-line Airplane), a Russian analogue of the JSF (Joint Service Fighter). Although decision-makers in the Russian Defense Ministry (MoD), like Colonel General Anatoly Sitnov, chief for armament with the Russian MoD, have expressed a desire to see Sukhoi as the leading contractor for the LFS, Mikoyan still has a chance to win this privilege. Nikitin, who is known as a gifted aeronautics engineer, is keen to challenge his formed colleagues at Sukhoi in competition for the best conception of the LFS.
In terms of aerodynamics, the LFS might resemble the MFI. However, the LFS has to be much lighter. Most likely, it will have only one engine, like the Lyulka-Saturn AL-41F. Operable examples of this new engine are installed on the MFI prototype. Nikitin said that although it is clear now that the MFI will hardly ever evolve into operational combat aircraft, it remains of interest as a relatively advanced aerodynamic object for gathering experimental data which might be useful in designing new combat aircraft, by which he most certainly meant the LFS.
