Maksim covers aerospace developments in Central Asia for Aviation Week. He has worked for Russia's Air Transport Observer magazine and was in charge of several ATO sister aerospace publications after working for the Moscow-based CAST defense think tank.
Maksim has a degree in international relations from MGIMO University, Moscow.
The first flight of the PAK FA (T-50) tactical fighter, the fifth-generation replacement for Russia’s Su-27 fleet, has been officially postponed until the end of the year. Government and military officials report, however, that development is continuing and there will be no delay in the overall program. The T-50 is slated to enter service with the Russian air force in 2015.
MOSCOW — Static fatigue tests already are under way here on a Sukhoi T-50 prototype airframe, according to Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin, the chief of the Russian air force. The T-50 is being developed by Sukhoi to meet the air force’s fifth-generation fighter requirement, known as PAK FA. The Russian air force commander says that a first flight is due in November.
The first series production Yak-130 Mitten combat trainer for the Russian air force (left) will be on static display at the MAKS 2009 air show in Zhukovsky this week. Assembled at the Sokol plant in Nizhny Novgorod, it was flown for the first time in May and is the initial one of 12 Yak-130s ordered by the air force in 2005.
