Scorpion82
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- 20 May 2006
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Some thoughts here:
1.) As Overscan said, pushing through the draggy transonic region might be meant here. Reportedly even F-22s do so, as it's more fuel efficient to briefly light up burners to pass the transonic region than spending a small eternity therein.
2.) Supercuise means supersonic CRUISE. Cruising is a fuel preserving flight condition. The way it was defined by the USAF for the ATF was the aircraft can cruise supersonically at a cruise settings, that's not full military (max non-afterburning) thrust setting! Most aircraft for which a "supercruise" capability is touted are no supercruisers at all. They can sustain supersonic flight at max dry settings and even pass the transonic region that way, but they cannot sustain higher supersonic speeds at a cruise setting. The F-22 reportedly maintains M 1.5 at ~90% dry thrust RPM.
3.) The Su-57 also being an interceptor doesn't make it the equivalent to the MiG-31, the Su-27 was an interceptor is well, like the MiG-23 etc. The MiG-31, like its ancestor MiG-25 were specifically designed to fly particularly high and fast and traded other performance characteristics, especially maneuverability/agility to achieve this. When the Su-57 replaces the MiG-31 then not on equal terms and only, if the PAK DP fails for whatever reasons, affordability being one possible reason.
1.) As Overscan said, pushing through the draggy transonic region might be meant here. Reportedly even F-22s do so, as it's more fuel efficient to briefly light up burners to pass the transonic region than spending a small eternity therein.
2.) Supercuise means supersonic CRUISE. Cruising is a fuel preserving flight condition. The way it was defined by the USAF for the ATF was the aircraft can cruise supersonically at a cruise settings, that's not full military (max non-afterburning) thrust setting! Most aircraft for which a "supercruise" capability is touted are no supercruisers at all. They can sustain supersonic flight at max dry settings and even pass the transonic region that way, but they cannot sustain higher supersonic speeds at a cruise setting. The F-22 reportedly maintains M 1.5 at ~90% dry thrust RPM.
3.) The Su-57 also being an interceptor doesn't make it the equivalent to the MiG-31, the Su-27 was an interceptor is well, like the MiG-23 etc. The MiG-31, like its ancestor MiG-25 were specifically designed to fly particularly high and fast and traded other performance characteristics, especially maneuverability/agility to achieve this. When the Su-57 replaces the MiG-31 then not on equal terms and only, if the PAK DP fails for whatever reasons, affordability being one possible reason.
