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Russia not to exhibit T-50 jet fighter at Farnborough Air Show

By on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Moscow: Russia will not be exhibiting its fifth-generation jet fighter, the T-50, at the Farnborough International Air Show in southern England this summer, the head of the Sukhoi aircraft maker said.

A prototype of the fighter made a 47-minute maiden flight in Russia's Far East on January 29.

Mikhail Pogosyan said that by the end of the year, three more fifth-generation jet fighters will begin test flights in Russia.

"By the end of 2010 or in early 2011, we must add to test flights three more jets," he said after his meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

A source at the Sukhoi aircraft maker said on Monday the T-50 would start on a standard flight test program in April, adding it would take "several years" to complete the testing program.

Russia has been developing its newest fighter since the 1990s. The current prototype was designed by the Sukhoi design bureau and built at a plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, in Russia's Far East. It will be delivered to the Russian Air Force from 2015 onwards.

Russian officials have already hailed the fighter as "a unique warplane" that combines the capabilities of an air superiority fighter and attack aircraft.

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