Russia tests its first stealth fighter jet

Russia tested its fifth-generation Sukhoi fighter jet in the Russian Far East on Friday.The plane, provisionally called T-50, is the country’s first fighter jet based on the stealth technology and is viewed by military experts as the Russian answer to the American F-35 and F-22 jets.The flight lasted for 47 minutes and was successful, being piloted by Sergei Bogdan, one of Russia’s best test pilots, Sukhoi corporation spokesman Alexei Poveshchenko told CNN.Speaking to Russian TV from an airfield in Komsomolsk-on-Amur where the company has its main production facility, Sukhoi’s General Director Mikhail Pogosian said, "I think this is a new stage in the development of the military aircraft industry in our country, and I believe that this is a very good start of a big work we have yet to do."According to the manufacturer, T-50 is an “intellectual” jet which can fly at any time of the day and in any weather conditions and is capable of simultaneously attacking multiple targets in air, on the ground and in the sea. The plane’s other advertised features include a very high degree of maneuverability and its ability to use short airstrips.“It will also be less recognizable for radars thanks to many innovations, the use of composite materials and a special coating on the surface of the plane,” a Suhkoi official told CNN on condition of anonymity. “The Americans had producedFast Power leveling some of those technologies before us, so we’re now catching up with them with this new model,” he said.But independent military affairs analyst Pavel Felgenhauer believes the new plane is a “humbug” and is nothing more wow power leveling servicethan a “flying prototype.”“It doesn’t have a new engine, modern weapons, or electronics. It’s impossible to make a 5th-generation plane without having 5th-generation components,” Felgenhauer told CNN.“It’s just a tuned-up version of the existing Sukhoi-27 model.”