India's First Stealth Fighter Scheduled to Fly in 4 Months

 New fighter, designed by Russian Sukhoi is reportedly more maneuverable than Lockheed Martin's designs

India, one of the world's brightest emerging technical superpowers -- currently, the seventh biggest nation in terms of land area, and the second biggest in terms of population -- is preparing to make a major military leap forward. It will be flying its first stealth fighter in under four months.

The new fighter is a so-called "fifth generation" fighter jet. Currently only two such fighter jets exist, both produced by Lockheed Martin: the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II. The Indian fighter is being developed by Russian firm Sukhoi and is dubbed the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft or FGFA. The fighter is being jointly developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), India's leading aerospace firm and is based on the Sukhoi PAK FA, also currently under development.

Similar to the F-22 and the F-35, the new fighter uses thrust vector control (TVC) to redirect engine output for vertical take-off/landing and greater maneuverability. The exact extent of the fighter's TVC abilities remain to be seen, but HAL and Sukhoi are bragging that it will be more maneuverable than either of Lockheed Martin's fifth generation fighters.

The fighter's maximum planned speed is reportedly Mach 2+. This would make it faster than the F-35 Lightning II (capable of Mach 1.67) and a possible rival to the F-22 Raptor in terms of pure speed.

Much remains unknown the public, though, about the $3B USD fighter project which is being financed jointly by India and Russia. How the fighter's stealth abilities will stack up versus the Lockheed Martin in terms of electronics and stealth features is also unknown at this point.

One difference that is known is that the Indian variant will feature twin seats. The Indian variant will also largely use Indian-developed weapons such as the Astra, a Beyond Visual Range missile currently under development by the nation. However, it will also be compatible with a variety of other payloads and countermeasures.

Alexei Fedorov, president of Russia's United Aircraft Corporation assures, "The prototype will take off this year."

Assuming it meets its schedule, Russia and India may finally be prepared to give America a real challenge at last in terms of air superiority. Currently, most of India's 852 combat air craft are Soviet-era relics.