Kurt
Junior Member
I recently wondered a bit more about the Su-47 Berkut. It's fascinating aircraft and I felt like knowing too little about forward swept wings, their advanatages, problems and the seemingly great interest to incorporate this feature somehow into future fighters.
Studies on forward swept wing configuration can be tracked back to early times of aviation history. Since WWII their military potential has been increasingly reserached with working prototypes. The Su-47 Berkut earned a lot of fame because it's an advanced testbed with hardpoints for weapons, reaching the prototype stage for mass production.
It seems all nations are involved with research in this field and China will likely be no exception because this feature is part of a "dreadnought-effect" potential.
There are two main choices in fighter aviation, maneuverability combined with EW and stealth with adverse effects on airflow for maneuverability and some try a mix of both. I don't want to judge which one is better because they all have their merits within a system of which they are specialized components.
The a well-designed forward swept wing is said to reduce induced drag at subsonic speed and improve maneuverability under these conditions. Does someone know more specific data on these effects from the conducted tests?
Europe, including Russia and India, plus the deeply influenced China all have developed a strong tradition of combining delta wings with canards. Russia is moving away from this by creating very clever new derivates of the old delta wing via leading edge extension. The problem with canards seems to be reduced stealth by providing more reflecting edges that are difficult to control, although Eurofighter tries that. China seems to be uncertain about trying to skip the canard part for better stealth in her aircrafts.
This leaves the US with her unique tradition of trapezoidal wing shapes the Russians to slightly copied in their PAK FA. Often these wings were very tiny on US fighter aircrafts and much ridiculed such as the Starfighter or the JSF, while the Raptor has a recognized balance of wing size. From looking at them I consider it possible to incorporate some of the aerodynamic flow effects of forward swept wings into a trapezoidal design and corresponding outstanding improvements of maneuverability with large enough wings.
Such a direction of thought would explain the creation of the Berkut in the evolutionary Russian fighter development program as a study for the adoption of more trapezoidal wings (they are still very delta) like the US in the PAK FA.
What do we know about these three basic design choices and their overall effects and potential?
Will China remain part of the delta-canard group (Europe), the delta-leading edge extension variant(Russia) or is there a switch to the trapezoidal US-wing design in sight?
example of suggested wing profiles for the F-22/23 before stealth requirement reached futuristic levels.
Studies on forward swept wing configuration can be tracked back to early times of aviation history. Since WWII their military potential has been increasingly reserached with working prototypes. The Su-47 Berkut earned a lot of fame because it's an advanced testbed with hardpoints for weapons, reaching the prototype stage for mass production.
It seems all nations are involved with research in this field and China will likely be no exception because this feature is part of a "dreadnought-effect" potential.
There are two main choices in fighter aviation, maneuverability combined with EW and stealth with adverse effects on airflow for maneuverability and some try a mix of both. I don't want to judge which one is better because they all have their merits within a system of which they are specialized components.
The a well-designed forward swept wing is said to reduce induced drag at subsonic speed and improve maneuverability under these conditions. Does someone know more specific data on these effects from the conducted tests?
Europe, including Russia and India, plus the deeply influenced China all have developed a strong tradition of combining delta wings with canards. Russia is moving away from this by creating very clever new derivates of the old delta wing via leading edge extension. The problem with canards seems to be reduced stealth by providing more reflecting edges that are difficult to control, although Eurofighter tries that. China seems to be uncertain about trying to skip the canard part for better stealth in her aircrafts.
This leaves the US with her unique tradition of trapezoidal wing shapes the Russians to slightly copied in their PAK FA. Often these wings were very tiny on US fighter aircrafts and much ridiculed such as the Starfighter or the JSF, while the Raptor has a recognized balance of wing size. From looking at them I consider it possible to incorporate some of the aerodynamic flow effects of forward swept wings into a trapezoidal design and corresponding outstanding improvements of maneuverability with large enough wings.
Such a direction of thought would explain the creation of the Berkut in the evolutionary Russian fighter development program as a study for the adoption of more trapezoidal wings (they are still very delta) like the US in the PAK FA.
What do we know about these three basic design choices and their overall effects and potential?
Will China remain part of the delta-canard group (Europe), the delta-leading edge extension variant(Russia) or is there a switch to the trapezoidal US-wing design in sight?
example of suggested wing profiles for the F-22/23 before stealth requirement reached futuristic levels.
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