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Why Russia’s 6th-Generation Jets Will Outperform US Combat Aviation

© Flickr / US Air ForceF-35 Lightning II Joint Strike
F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike - Sputnik International
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Russia is looking far into the future of combat aviation and is ready to redesign the rules of war in the air, US media reported.

Sukhoi - Sputnik International
Russia's Sukhoi Developing Sixth-Generation Fighter
Recently, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin announced that the Sukhoi Design Bureau had begun developing a sixth-generation fighter.

The plan to modernize the Russian aviation has also been confirmed by Commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces Viktor Bondarev.

"If we stop our work now it will never resume again. The work is underway on a sixth-generation jet, and probably a seventh-generation fighter," he said.

Sukhoi’s facilities are firing on all cylinders, an article in The Fiscal Times read. The company recently signed a set of agreements to deliver Su-35S 4++-generation multirole fighters to China and Indonesia.

Furthermore, Russia is expected to complete tests of the T-50 (PAK FA) fifth-generation jet in 2016. The aircraft is designed as a rival to the US-made F-22 Raptor.

© Sputnik / Alexey Filippov / Go to the mediabankA PAK FA T-50 fighter jet
A PAK FA T-50 fighter jet - Sputnik International
A PAK FA T-50 fighter jet

"A new fighter from Moscow likely wouldn’t be airborne for years, if not decades. But it does raise the stakes for the US, which is trying to determine what comes after the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, America’s own fifth-generation warplane," the author underscored.

F-35 - Sputnik International
F-35 Fighter Undergoes First Operational Tests at Isolated Base in Idaho
In February, a top official at Northrop Grumman in an interview with Defense News outlined the company’s vision for its future developments in combat aviation. According to the source, the plans would include unmanned aircraft equipped with lasers and advanced cyber-security systems. Lockheed and Boeing have also started working on their prototypes.

"Any US proposal would face incredible scrutiny both inside the Defense Department and on Capitol Hill after the F-35’s troubled development. The program has been, and remains, plagued with technical glitches that have driven its price tag up to around $400 billion, making the jet the most expensive weapons effort in US history," the article read.

A sixth-generation fighter program would be another multi-billion addition to the US Air Force’s list of developments, the author wrote. Besides the F-35, the list already includes new aerial tankers and bombers.

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