"forties" wrote in message
oups.com...
Another stillborn paper concept, from what I gather.
Well, although sounds like Tu-202 is myth I knew ex-RAF persons who
said they have seen this a/c during test flights in mid of '90s..

Lots of UFOs are seen also...doesn't mean they are from outer space, though.
:-)


They are scratching hard to try and meet their obligations for the
An-70 project, and
are behind the power curve on that one already.

Antonov Design Bureau (AN-70) is Ukrainian company. Russians just
finance it.. and sounds like they were not/are not actually interested
in this a/c..

Actually, that is a joint project (the D-27 engines originate with MMPP
Salut in Moscow, don't they?). The Russians bought into it up front, then
backed out, or appeared to, and now they say they are back onboard...but are
reportedly a bit slow in actually living up to their end of the financial
bargain. Why? Because they are cash-strapped, plain and simple.


As Keith quite accurately pointed out, their defense budget just will
not support any
major new combat aircraft development right now, with the exception of
those
programs they may jointly pursue with India and/or China.

Knowing Russian internal security policy I am sure they will not let
to transfer such advanced technologies to other country for any sort of
cooperation especially for the development of future main Russian
fighter. Looks like they just use India/China to get money and play
with them... Rough proove of my words is that for instance any hardware
(a/c, missiles etc) sold to outside countries is light version (reduced
accuracy, etc) of equipment used in Russia's Armed Forces..

Not anymore. The latest Su-30 variants they have sold to India and China are
better equipped than anything they are flying in the Russian forces. And I
don't buy them being so stupid as to try and rip-off development funding
from either of those nations, as that would result in the shut down of a
major source of cash inflow for their military industries. Ain't gonna
happen, because if they lose their exports, they shrivel and die, 'cause the
Russian Federation just does not have the funds to keep them afloat by
itself.

Brooks