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The Grumman X-29 was *_NOT_* an "unsuccessful fighter" but a technology demonstrator. It was never meant to directly be developed into a production model but to explore the capabilites of the forward-swept wing design.
Yeah, it showed that the materials available at the time were not up to the task of foward swept wings, even though foward swept wings are incredible. Would be interesting to see the X-29 revisited today with modern composites used to strengthen the wings.
@@petert3355 even with improved carbon composites with increased structural strength the problem remains that the forward-swept wing design is so unstable that if a simultaneous failure of all the flight control computers happened the plane would break apart before the pilot even had a chance to reach for the ejection handle... or so they say.
Ace Combat made me love this plane. Such a beautiful aircraft. It's a shame the Russians never figured out the SU-47's wings because honestly this thing is almost as beautiful as the F-22.
NASA had the same problem with their fwd swept wing concept (X-29). Lots of benefits sweeping wings fwd, however, the wings begin to flutter starting near transonic speeds. Their both interesting concepts With a lot of potential.
I saw that wee beastie in a hanger at NASA's Langley Research Center in 1983 while on temporary duty at Langley AFB, Virginia. I knew what it was when I saw it because I had read about it in "Popular Science Magazine. I was a devoted airplane and space buff and knew where its parts had been taken from (mostly F-5A with some F-16 parts). I was a Staff Sergeant and I walked from Langley AFB to the NASA research center in my blue service uniform. It was a very enjoyable day. Met an honest-to-goodness NASA test pilot and got to hear some really, REALLY cool war stories.
Because he is suffering from listen to the sound of my voice syndrome. Plus the fact that someone else brought up. He is just reading a script, and the script writers do Not know anything about anything. And they don't know how to do proper research... his research team➡ 😳🤔😑🙄🙁😟😵
One point, the X29 wasn't a fighter prototype: it was a prototype aircraft made from fighter plane parts. But there was no plan to make it into a production line fighter. It was meant to test various technologies that could be used on other projects, like the supercritical wing, a thrust vectoring engine, advanced computers, and so on.
I swear this was a Cobra Force GI Joe toy when I was < 10 years old. purple leopard paint. So it was supposed to be scary, and bad. with purple leopard paint.
Structures and materials expert here. Forward swept wings have tendency to twist under loading, increasing the angle of attack, which increases lift and hence, loading = a positive feedback loop that quickly destroys the wing. In the X29 this problem was solved by simply making the wing very strong, at the expense of weight. With composite materials, you can theoretically solve the problem by means of bend-twist coupling: under load, the wing now twists to reduce the angle of attack. Interesting to see if this was used in the Berkut.
Not enough, I’ve seen the frame. 🙅🏻♂️ At supersonic speed it’s shaking. They aren’t worth it. 🤷🏻♂️ We can visit planets but haven’t done our homework here on earth. We need not more land to shit on it but harmony here. 🤗
And the rub is, using advanced composites yields the same benefits to conventional delta-shape wings, which already have drag and speed advantages over fsw wings.
The X-29 also "addressed the issue" by not having control surfaces large enough to really demonstrate the supermanueverability the FSW design seemed to promise- thus they *couldn't* stress the wings as easily, because it was far less responsive than it could have been. Long story short - a fighter based on the X-29 layout would end up being *inferior* when in an actual fight to a stock F-16 of the same vintage, and there were better ways to gain supermanueverability without the downsides of FSW. 😂
Yes... A bumblebee flying at Mach 2. Crazy as it sounds. The goal is to make it so tiny that a radar can't see it. But IF it can, it will be so small that it will be nearly impossible for a missile to lock onto it. The Iranians already know it's basically impossible to see on radar, after one snuck up on two of their planes without them having a clue and chasing them away. So far, no one, that I know of, has fired a missile at one yet to test if it can lock on.
X29 was a technology demonstrator and the program was very successful. They used a bunch of parts from existing planes to keep costs down and speed up the program. Lessons learned from it have been incorporated into multiple planes.
The YF-23 was early and from a company that didn't have a good reputation at the time, and wasn't marketed as well. The Berkut, in contrast, would simply be smoked by the Raptor without contest.
They should take a few Su-47s and do a Blue-Angels-esque show like every few years in Russia or something. Cuz they do look pretty cool. It’d be awesome to them fly in formation and do cool tricks n shit 😂
The S-37 also called Su-47 later, has actually helped Suhoi with the development of the Su-57. A lot of data and was collected back then. Especially the lighter construction and composite materials were tested.
The X-29 was not a failure. the X designation is for test platforms that are not meant for mass production and have F or B designation, they are for testing and even if they crash in a test flight it is still a test result and that makes it a success. No jet with the X designation was a failure because there is no fail state.
One could say that since their were 2 X-29s it was twice as successful as the Su-47. Regarding nomenclature, don't forget the F/A designation. Honestly, the F-16, F-15e and ex, and the F-35 should all carry the F/A, and the F-117 should be a B-117.
@@GlimmerOG Yeah I forgot the A designation. I agree with F-15 and F-35 should have had F/A since they were designed as a multirole fighter but the F-16 was designed as the air superiority fighter and was never meant for anything but keeping Russia's birds out of the sky during a hot war. It was only much later that they started being used in a multirole capacity so the F only designation like the F-22 should still be used. The F-22 can also be used for ground targets like the F-16 but both are simply better at air to air with air to ground as a can do if needed and the superior platform is not available.
@JETWTF both the F-15 and the F-16 were originally designed as air to air platforms, but the F-16 was evolved into a multi-role fighter before it ever reached production while the F-15 maintained its air superiority only role until the development of the Strike Eagle, the F-15e. I think you might have gotten them mixed up.
Seeing as it's the Berkut's USP, the reasoning for the forward-swept wings (which went completely unsaid in the video) is that with swept wings, there is a component of airflow that flows back/out along the wing, this tends to make the wing tips stall before the rest of the wing... The problem is, that's where the ailerons are, so you lose control before a fully-developed stall. The forward-swept wings try to reverse this, so it's the root that stalls before the wing tips and control is maintained. It has very little impact on things like RCS (stealth), but structurally, it's slightly more complicated.
I love Sukhoi, always thought they were the Lockheed equivalent and Mikoyan were the Boeing equivalent. But you can't deny that historically when listing "Capabilities" especially in Aircraft there has been a bit of a gap between "Stated" and "Proven" capability from the USSR/Russia.
Make no mistake this was a direct copy of a great GI JOE jet! I used to watch it every evening after school it is a top notch jet! Was flown with out even needing a helmet or mask! Also if I my flex a little, I have one with slip stream to pilot it
Funny, think when I first heard of the su-47 was from command and conquer red alert 2, was the south korean unique unit "black eagle", was all the way back in 98. (And for some reason they were capable of vertical take off and landing, sci-fi fantasy game Gona scifi). Think Boris in Yuri's revenge had another experimental mig 1.44 as his airstrike. Found the su-47 really cool with the reverse wings, then ofc we got the movie stealth with those planes having varietable geometry wings swept forward. Crazy concepts.
The US tried the concept with the X-29 but the design had too many drawbacks in that there was too much torsional stress on the wings and it did not perform well at supersonic speeds.
Every time I hear stealthy planes described as "shows up on radar no bigger than a bumblebee" I wonder how often radar operators see bumblebees a couple miles high cruising at near supersonic speeds, that it doesn't raise any alarms.
They don't as all noise like that is filtered out otherwise you would have screen full of bees, birds, balloons, debris, insects, spurious returns so for all intense and purpose it isn't there as it is background noise
Radars filter out things smaller than a certain size....and the ground. Otherwise everything radar waves touched would show up and then it wuld be useless
@@damonburroughs5283 AI signal processing will be a game changer for low observable aircraft. Signals that used to be hidden in the noise floor will no longer be hidden. The same way a dog can pick out a parts per billion scent or can hear a sound miles away those tiny signal returns will be able to be isolated and displayed. That is the power of neural networks that nature has been using for millions of years.
@@atomicskull6405 Yes and something will solve any development in time , but Russia does not have that ability at present. In WW2 they couldn't build a bomber that's wings didn't fall off. They copied the B29 that landed in their region when allied with the west, and even then they locked the crew up til the end of the war. Manufacturing of the aircraft (TU4) had to be altered as they did not have the technology to even create the sheet metal. They used German scientists to develop most things in later years such as the jet engine etc . The engine used in many aircraft was an American design that they purchased, I think a wright cyclone. They also purchased the rights to an entire prop aircraft to try and learn the manufacturing techniques and they were unable to duplicate it properly either. Russia has always lagged in that regard , and even now they use American Niles Simmons CNC machines to manufacture crankshafts at Uraltrak amongst other places. Think that says it all
That aircraft is a masterpiece and a true work of art. She doesn't have a bad angle to her and she looks as graceful as she does deadly. It's a damn shame they couldn't figure it all out and put her into mainline production....... though, the Su-27 is quite the looker herself.
One quibble - the Grumman X-29 wasnt actually a "fighter prototype". It was a pure technology tester and demonstrator to explore the then current limits of current aerodynamic and aeronautical engineering. Even if the tests had been more successful, and a later fighter project resulted, the fighter woupd have had almost nothing in common with the X-29 (which was basically bodged together starting with a pair of F-5 airframes) other than the core concepts, just as so many of the NACA/NASA "X planes" of the late 1940s through the 1950s explored various new technology advances but *never* directly led to any operational fighters. A fighter based on the X-29 results likely would have been a clean sheet design, or using the F-16 or F-18 as the baseline if anything was a carryover development from another aircraft.
I always loved how this plane looked when I was a kid. I hadn't seen anything about it for quite a few years and I was starting to wonder if I had false memories of it existing.
Easily the coolest plane to ever come out of Russia. Its a shame they never produced it. The F-22 is way more formidable and as an American I'm thankful that we still lead in terms of fighter design, however, I'd argue that the SU-47 is actually cooler than even the Raptor, which is solidly in my top 3 fighters ever. Sukhoi really knocked it out of the park with this one
People can say what they want about Russia, but their fighter jets are one of the most beautiful ones out there. They arent stealth i know 🙂. I`m from the Netherlands myself, and i`m all for the western jets "the F-22 / F-16 and all. The SU-47 is my number one out there followed by the F-22. Something about the SU-47 forward swept wings that does it. I know its just a prototype, and there is only one out there, but damn that thing looks so sexy!!!
The SU-47 is a sexy plane. My top three favorite planes are the B2, YF23 and the SU47. Such cool and weird designs eek out a victory over the F22, F117 and the A10 in my eyes.
One thing they discovered is that the more unstable a fighter is the more maneuverable it can be, but a human was incapable of making all the adjustments necessary micro-adjustments to keep those fighters flying straight. Only with the use of computer controlled avionics that could read the inputs from the pilot and make all the constant micro-adjustments to maintain the fighter flying in a straight line was it possible to keep them in the air. With computer controlled avionics those fighters can do maneuvers that would be impossible without them. If the computers go out the fighter will crash. The reliability of the computers and the mechanisms it controls is a big part of the cost of those fighters.
In 1976, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) awarded funds to General Dynamics, Rockwell and Grumman under the Forward-Swept Wing Program. Forward-swept wings offer low drag and improved low-speed handling characteristics, but they are extremely difficult to manufacture using conventional techniques. The use of advanced composite materials makes the wing rigid enough to withstand the forces introduced by aerodynamic stress, while simultaneously avoiding a weight penalty.
What a terrific airplane. Thank goodness they didn't decide to do a production run. I believe it would've been a major thorn in our side in the present.
so its design was good in a ground attack role? Well, i flew this plan enough in just cause 2 to confirm that. the game that made me fall in love with this plane
Matthew Reilly's book 'Scarecrow' has this as the personal plane of the 2nd best bounty hunter in the world, given to him by the Russian government for services rendered. They call it the 'Black Raven'.
@@PrimericanIdol We are rapidly approaching the point of questioning why would there even be a pilot on board? Kudos to the pilot, but, that plane would be even more maneuverable without a squishy operator inside. (And, dodging mach 3+ darts like missiles and dog-fighting are really quite different exercises, although the general "rules to stay alive" are similar). You can count all the dogfights, worldwide, over the last 45 years on one hand. (To my knowledge, the last one was 1982 in the Falklands). Missile tech, stand off munitions, drone alternatives to achieve air superiority, MANPADS proliferation, and the high cost of air superiority aircraft just make the classic show of machismo dogfight worthless in modern combat. No different than the naval gun battle and mounted cavalry charge, its time has passed.
@@rashidaman2675 So 2 in 45 years? Seems like a rare occurrence one would not want to design specifically for..... But hey, maybe we should also go back to teaching swordsmanship, just in case all the infantry run out of ammo. And that defining that engagement - or at least the stories about it - as a dogfight is a generous use of the term. IF there was a dog fight - which I do not believe occurred. Missile strike, yes, dog fight no. Either way - point remains - dogfights do not happen in the real world. And certainly are not happening with top front line AS aircraft.
Simon, you could have saved yourself the trouble, made this a "sideprojects," and simply said, "The Americans built one so the Soviets had to show they could too."
Exactly what I was thinking. The two Grumman X-29 prototypes were tested starting at 1984, until the early 1990s.It is mentioned in the video shortly. There was also the Junkers Ju 287, a subsonic bomber tested towards the end of WW2.
@@RubiHammer Simon says the X-29 was a failure. He didn’t mention the criteria for such a judgement so that would require some research on NASA’s final evaluation of the plane. Sukhoi deserves kudos for truly thinking “outside the box” with multiple (at the time) radical technologies some great, some limiting but with a dazzling aesthetic that is characteristic of all their fighter designs. Damn they look good, imagine them with our flight technology (scary).
@@blshouse We built the X-29 first and after we saw the wings start to come off after normal use we ended the tests. No need to waste more money when the basic idea was a failure. Of course the Russians thought they could do better. They couldn't. Nine Gee's my ass.
@@christopherstone2691 Near the end of the video he describes the many flaws of the SU-47s design that are inherent of all forward swept wing designs, so he didn't elaborate when he mentions the X-29 because he was saving that info for later in a more appropriate section of the video. @OP, what _about_ the X-29? He mentioned it very early on in the video... did you miss that or something? I just don't get your comment. He mentioned it early on, and later in the video described the problems that plague all forward swept wing designs, which obviously apply to why they only made the one X-29.
Would be interesting to see what each country could come up with, given the same budget!! Unfortunately this is one aircraft I've never seen, even at MAKS or Moninho!
The Su-47 simply continued research originated in Germany, then tested in the US with X-29. The Su-47 was NOT a fighter prototype, but a one of a kind unarmed experimental testbed, essentially a larger X-29. Anyone who thinks it is a fighter or some sort of original breakthrough is an ID10T.
The SU-47 was every bit as much a technology demonstrator as the X-29. Only one was ever built (versus 2 of the X-29) and while it had provision for weapons it was never actually armed. Also while it had provisions for advanced radar and avionics none were ever installed. If the X-29 was a "failed technology demonstrator" then that exact term equally applies to the SU-47. Whoever did the research on this segment truly dropped the ball biggly.
When I was a kid I had one of these as a micro-machine toy. I thought it was the most bad ass plane to have ever existed. When I would have imaginary dog fights, this was the one that would always win. 😂
I doubt that it can go supersonic with the its wings swept ahead like that since the shock wave created by the nose would hit the wingtips, making it wobble and the ailerons useless.
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so, is there a episode for X-29 ?
The Grumman X-29 was *_NOT_* an "unsuccessful fighter" but a technology demonstrator. It was never meant to directly be developed into a production model but to explore the capabilites of the forward-swept wing design.
Yeah, it showed that the materials available at the time were not up to the task of foward swept wings, even though foward swept wings are incredible.
Would be interesting to see the X-29 revisited today with modern composites used to strengthen the wings.
@@petert3355 even with improved carbon composites with increased structural strength the problem remains that the forward-swept wing design is so unstable that if a simultaneous failure of all the flight control computers happened the plane would break apart before the pilot even had a chance to reach for the ejection handle... or so they say.
In 2015, NASA was still flying the X-29 over Huston every day.
@@doncalypso Ok, so we agree that putting Intel 13/14th gen computers in it is a bad idea 🤪
Most of the "X-planes" are. Or so I've read.
Ace Combat made me love this plane. Such a beautiful aircraft. It's a shame the Russians never figured out the SU-47's wings because honestly this thing is almost as beautiful as the F-22.
The funny thing about this video is that the thumbnail uses one of the images from AC 7
F22 is NOT beautiful 😌
@@kris8165 stop smoking crack
NASA had the same problem with their fwd swept wing concept (X-29). Lots of benefits sweeping wings fwd, however, the wings begin to flutter starting near transonic speeds. Their both interesting concepts With a lot of potential.
@@Lyle-In-NO It's then a problem of structure of the wing itself perhaps?
The best plane in Ace Combat 04
Hi
Best in 7 as well
Do you see that the thumbnail has Osean markings on it?😂
You guys are awesome for this
Agreed
What a flashbang of sight seeing the Ace Combat 7 rendition of the Berkut
Wyvern😂
@ the hell you on about?
@@DGAFWYT the wyvern and su-47 are not the same plane, although the wyvern also has the forward swept wings in one of it's forms
Basically the face off of a Berkut and an F-22 would be akin to a Ballerina with a sword vs a ninja with a bow.
Aptly put
P Diddy with a lubed baseball bat
The us has likely already fought it’s last dogfight
@@bzilla-d4iAt least it's lubed
Why Did you call the x-29 a failure? it was a technology demonstrator, it collected the data NASA wanted.
There's a segment that don't understand "experiment"...(data collection...)
I saw that wee beastie in a hanger at NASA's Langley Research Center in 1983 while on temporary duty at Langley AFB, Virginia. I knew what it was when I saw it because I had read about it in "Popular Science Magazine. I was a devoted airplane and space buff and knew where its parts had been taken from (mostly F-5A with some F-16 parts). I was a Staff Sergeant and I walked from Langley AFB to the NASA research center in my blue service uniform. It was a very enjoyable day. Met an honest-to-goodness NASA test pilot and got to hear some really, REALLY cool war stories.
Because he's reading a script written by people who know jack shit about aviation.
Because he is suffering from listen to the sound of my voice syndrome. Plus the fact that someone else brought up. He is just reading a script, and the script writers do Not know anything about anything. And they don't know how to do proper research...
his research team➡ 😳🤔😑🙄🙁😟😵
He calls a lot of engineering masterpieces failures all the time. It’s just a case of them not knowing what they’re talking about
One point, the X29 wasn't a fighter prototype: it was a prototype aircraft made from fighter plane parts. But there was no plan to make it into a production line fighter. It was meant to test various technologies that could be used on other projects, like the supercritical wing, a thrust vectoring engine, advanced computers, and so on.
Say what you will about the Ruskies. They make some truly badass looking jets.
Love russian jets they just look awesome😍
All competent air fighters commentators just drool when they talk about it
they just want more planes like it
Yeeeeees, finally. It may be a dead project, but gods, the most beautiful jet fighter ever made.
Weird taste
YF-23 for me
@@fqeagles21I second this motion. Motion carried.
Agreed 👍💯😊
I swear this was a Cobra Force GI Joe toy when I was < 10 years old. purple leopard paint. So it was supposed to be scary, and bad. with purple leopard paint.
Structures and materials expert here. Forward swept wings have tendency to twist under loading, increasing the angle of attack, which increases lift and hence, loading = a positive feedback loop that quickly destroys the wing. In the X29 this problem was solved by simply making the wing very strong, at the expense of weight.
With composite materials, you can theoretically solve the problem by means of bend-twist coupling: under load, the wing now twists to reduce the angle of attack.
Interesting to see if this was used in the Berkut.
Not enough, I’ve seen the frame. 🙅🏻♂️ At supersonic speed it’s shaking. They aren’t worth it. 🤷🏻♂️ We can visit planets but haven’t done our homework here on earth. We need not more land to shit on it but harmony here. 🤗
@@cujbaion1agree. On both counts
And the rub is, using advanced composites yields the same benefits to conventional delta-shape wings, which already have drag and speed advantages over fsw wings.
The X-29 also "addressed the issue" by not having control surfaces large enough to really demonstrate the supermanueverability the FSW design seemed to promise- thus they *couldn't* stress the wings as easily, because it was far less responsive than it could have been.
Long story short - a fighter based on the X-29 layout would end up being *inferior* when in an actual fight to a stock F-16 of the same vintage, and there were better ways to gain supermanueverability without the downsides of FSW. 😂
Russian Radar Absorbant Material RAM and low observable build quality is far behind, hence why Russia has effectively know stealth capability
"F-22 is showing on the radar at a size of a bumble bee"
A bumble bee flying at Mach 2 speed? 😂
Yeah, what drug did the bee use? 😂
@@LexlutherVII Compound V
So you think you can hit a bumblebee flying at mach 2 with a missile flying at mach 5.
@@Teatime4Tom I would have trouble hitting a bumblebee sized stationary target at 40 yards at the range.
Yes... A bumblebee flying at Mach 2. Crazy as it sounds. The goal is to make it so tiny that a radar can't see it. But IF it can, it will be so small that it will be nearly impossible for a missile to lock onto it.
The Iranians already know it's basically impossible to see on radar, after one snuck up on two of their planes without them having a clue and chasing them away. So far, no one, that I know of, has fired a missile at one yet to test if it can lock on.
X29 was a technology demonstrator and the program was very successful. They used a bunch of parts from existing planes to keep costs down and speed up the program. Lessons learned from it have been incorporated into multiple planes.
I know a Ace Combat Thumbnail when i see it :D
"Yo buddy... you still alive?"
@@googleisevil8958
.......,,'......-!....._.*.**..1010010011001110.......'-....*'..
And I’m guessing the Osean insignia didn’t immediately give it away lmao?
@@TheHipsterGamer I do love the z.o.e in Ace combat because of the learning ai
Super well presented documentary. I love aircrafts and these are very interesting. Thanks for the video Megaprojects!
When it comes to forward-swept wings, let's not forget Thunderbird 2 😃👍
The first aircraft I ever saw with forward-swept wings. Very cool. 😎
F.A.B
The Su-47 not making it to production, is like the yf-23 not making it to production.
Two marvels of aviation scrapped.
Avro Arrow too
The YF-23 was early and from a company that didn't have a good reputation at the time, and wasn't marketed as well.
The Berkut, in contrast, would simply be smoked by the Raptor without contest.
They should take a few Su-47s and do a Blue-Angels-esque show like every few years in Russia or something. Cuz they do look pretty cool. It’d be awesome to them fly in formation and do cool tricks n shit 😂
@@l.b8896 The problem is that literally ONLY ONE single Su-47 was ever made... so they couldn't even if they wanted to, lol
The S-37 also called Su-47 later, has actually helped Suhoi with the development of the Su-57.
A lot of data and was collected back then. Especially the lighter construction and composite materials were tested.
Finally, I waited long for this episode!
The X-29 was not a failure. the X designation is for test platforms that are not meant for mass production and have F or B designation, they are for testing and even if they crash in a test flight it is still a test result and that makes it a success. No jet with the X designation was a failure because there is no fail state.
The US may have done it just to get the USSR to spend a bunch of money to see what this backward wing thing was all about.
F, b, or a for attack like the warthog
One could say that since their were 2 X-29s it was twice as successful as the Su-47.
Regarding nomenclature, don't forget the F/A designation. Honestly, the F-16, F-15e and ex, and the F-35 should all carry the F/A, and the F-117 should be a B-117.
@@GlimmerOG Yeah I forgot the A designation. I agree with F-15 and F-35 should have had F/A since they were designed as a multirole fighter but the F-16 was designed as the air superiority fighter and was never meant for anything but keeping Russia's birds out of the sky during a hot war. It was only much later that they started being used in a multirole capacity so the F only designation like the F-22 should still be used. The F-22 can also be used for ground targets like the F-16 but both are simply better at air to air with air to ground as a can do if needed and the superior platform is not available.
@JETWTF both the F-15 and the F-16 were originally designed as air to air platforms, but the F-16 was evolved into a multi-role fighter before it ever reached production while the F-15 maintained its air superiority only role until the development of the Strike Eagle, the F-15e. I think you might have gotten them mixed up.
Ace Combat 04:Shattered Skies. This was my favorite plane to fly. Just looked so cool and futuristic.
FINALLY. I was hoping the Berkut would make her debut on this channel for like over a year. :)
Seeing as it's the Berkut's USP, the reasoning for the forward-swept wings (which went completely unsaid in the video) is that with swept wings, there is a component of airflow that flows back/out along the wing, this tends to make the wing tips stall before the rest of the wing... The problem is, that's where the ailerons are, so you lose control before a fully-developed stall.
The forward-swept wings try to reverse this, so it's the root that stalls before the wing tips and control is maintained.
It has very little impact on things like RCS (stealth), but structurally, it's slightly more complicated.
I love Sukhoi, always thought they were the Lockheed equivalent and Mikoyan were the Boeing equivalent. But you can't deny that historically when listing "Capabilities" especially in Aircraft there has been a bit of a gap between "Stated" and "Proven" capability from the USSR/Russia.
Glad to see one of my favorite jets get a deep dive. Its a shame but also good that over all it was a day late and a dollar short in design.
Make no mistake this was a direct copy of a great GI JOE jet! I used to watch it every evening after school it is a top notch jet! Was flown with out even needing a helmet or mask!
Also if I my flex a little, I have one with slip stream to pilot it
Funny, think when I first heard of the su-47 was from command and conquer red alert 2, was the south korean unique unit "black eagle", was all the way back in 98. (And for some reason they were capable of vertical take off and landing, sci-fi fantasy game Gona scifi). Think Boris in Yuri's revenge had another experimental mig 1.44 as his airstrike.
Found the su-47 really cool with the reverse wings, then ofc we got the movie stealth with those planes having varietable geometry wings swept forward. Crazy concepts.
The US tried the concept with the X-29 but the design had too many drawbacks in that there was too much torsional stress on the wings and it did not perform well at supersonic speeds.
Every time I hear stealthy planes described as "shows up on radar no bigger than a bumblebee" I wonder how often radar operators see bumblebees a couple miles high cruising at near supersonic speeds, that it doesn't raise any alarms.
As amps didn't exist 😅
They don't as all noise like that is filtered out otherwise you would have screen full of bees, birds, balloons, debris, insects, spurious returns so for all intense and purpose it isn't there as it is background noise
Radars filter out things smaller than a certain size....and the ground. Otherwise everything radar waves touched would show up and then it wuld be useless
@@damonburroughs5283 AI signal processing will be a game changer for low observable aircraft. Signals that used to be hidden in the noise floor will no longer be hidden. The same way a dog can pick out a parts per billion scent or can hear a sound miles away those tiny signal returns will be able to be isolated and displayed. That is the power of neural networks that nature has been using for millions of years.
@@atomicskull6405 Yes and something will solve any development in time , but Russia does not have that ability at present. In WW2 they couldn't build a bomber that's wings didn't fall off. They copied the B29 that landed in their region when allied with the west, and even then they locked the crew up til the end of the war. Manufacturing of the aircraft (TU4) had to be altered as they did not have the technology to even create the sheet metal. They used German scientists to develop most things in later years such as the jet engine etc .
The engine used in many aircraft was an American design that they purchased, I think a wright cyclone. They also purchased the rights to an entire prop aircraft to try and learn the manufacturing techniques and they were unable to duplicate it properly either. Russia has always lagged in that regard , and even now they use American Niles Simmons CNC machines to manufacture crankshafts at Uraltrak amongst other places. Think that says it all
I love this plane and the idea behind it, they flipped off the traditional designs, and went their own way, creating a magnificent specimen. Love it
That aircraft is a masterpiece and a true work of art. She doesn't have a bad angle to her and she looks as graceful as she does deadly. It's a damn shame they couldn't figure it all out and put her into mainline production....... though, the Su-27 is quite the looker herself.
Mach 2 Bumblebee aka "The Kid". Damn you HLC! This comes to my mind when ever the F-22 is mention. "Would you intercept me? I intercept me!"
YES!!!!!! 👏 👏
I have waited 2 years for this plane Simon ever since i first requested it!
AT LONG LAST! 😊
2:29 designing a chimera
9:43 specs and capabilities
15:07 death on the drawing board
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
I'm convinced the Star Wolf team from Star Fox 64 used the SU-47
"Roger Roger.."
Do a barrel roll!!
the Wolfen has forward swept wings, it's a good analogue along the lines of "Star Fox 1990s where its F-14Ds vs Su-47s"
“Oka Nieba to the Ghost of Razgriz, new enemy plans on radar! It’s a double Belkan formation, Ofnir and Grabacr.”
>
One quibble - the Grumman X-29 wasnt actually a "fighter prototype".
It was a pure technology tester and demonstrator to explore the then current limits of current aerodynamic and aeronautical engineering. Even if the tests had been more successful, and a later fighter project resulted, the fighter woupd have had almost nothing in common with the X-29 (which was basically bodged together starting with a pair of F-5 airframes) other than the core concepts, just as so many of the NACA/NASA "X planes" of the late 1940s through the 1950s explored various new technology advances but *never* directly led to any operational fighters.
A fighter based on the X-29 results likely would have been a clean sheet design, or using the F-16 or F-18 as the baseline if anything was a carryover development from another aircraft.
I always loved how this plane looked when I was a kid. I hadn't seen anything about it for quite a few years and I was starting to wonder if I had false memories of it existing.
I love how the thumbnail is a still from Ace Combat 7
“Oka Nieba to the Ghosts of Razgriz, new enemy planes on radar. It’s a double Belkan formation - Ofnir and Grabacr.”
Thank you
Easily the coolest plane to ever come out of Russia. Its a shame they never produced it. The F-22 is way more formidable and as an American I'm thankful that we still lead in terms of fighter design, however, I'd argue that the SU-47 is actually cooler than even the Raptor, which is solidly in my top 3 fighters ever.
Sukhoi really knocked it out of the park with this one
Love, love, love the Berkut!!! One of the coolest planes ever.
Please do an episode on CBU-87, Really interested to know more about this controversial munitions.
I’ve been waiting for this video for so long
I imagine this thing had an exceptionally short airframe hour life
1:10 - Mid roll ads
2:35 - Chapter 1 - Designing a chimera
9:50 - Chapter 2 - Specs & capabilities
15:10 - Chapter 3 - Death on the drawing board
People can say what they want about Russia, but their fighter jets are one of the most beautiful ones out there.
They arent stealth i know 🙂. I`m from the Netherlands myself, and i`m all for the western jets "the F-22 / F-16 and all.
The SU-47 is my number one out there followed by the F-22. Something about the SU-47 forward swept wings that does it.
I know its just a prototype, and there is only one out there, but damn that thing looks so sexy!!!
My favorite plane for getting all perfects across the story mode of AC.
She is just such a phenomenal good looking fighter.
I guess enough people requested it in the comments of the last Mig video.
Really cool!
sukhoi makes the best posters in the aviation industry
The SU-47 is a sexy plane. My top three favorite planes are the B2, YF23 and the SU47. Such cool and weird designs eek out a victory over the F22, F117 and the A10 in my eyes.
Foward swept swings are such a sexy design
shame it was never used as much
Most beautiful jet ever
A forward swept wing Mustang? Fascinating. Now, that is on aviation topic I've never heard of.
A flying masterpiece
I loved this plane when I was a kid.
One thing they discovered is that the more unstable a fighter is the more maneuverable it can be, but a human was incapable of making all the adjustments necessary micro-adjustments to keep those fighters flying straight.
Only with the use of computer controlled avionics that could read the inputs from the pilot and make all the constant micro-adjustments to maintain the fighter flying in a straight line was it possible to keep them in the air. With computer controlled avionics those fighters can do maneuvers that would be impossible without them. If the computers go out the fighter will crash. The reliability of the computers and the mechanisms it controls is a big part of the cost of those fighters.
That thing looks amazing
In 1976, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) awarded funds to General Dynamics, Rockwell and Grumman under the Forward-Swept Wing Program. Forward-swept wings offer low drag and improved low-speed handling characteristics, but they are extremely difficult to manufacture using conventional techniques. The use of advanced composite materials makes the wing rigid enough to withstand the forces introduced by aerodynamic stress, while simultaneously avoiding a weight penalty.
The YF-19. While this isn't nearly as beautiful, it actually does exist in real life as a fighter jet.
Also love the ace combat comments.
I used it in Ace Combat 7, not sure if the real one is like it was in the game but it turns like a dream.
Please create a video all about the X-29 Forward Swept Wing Demonstrator 🥺
Was hoping for this video
Going into a manoeuvre and having the wings disintegrate doesn’t sound like a air combat winner 😂
Such a sick looking plane as well
My absolute favorite plane of all time
WarThunder REALLY needs this plane!
What a terrific airplane. Thank goodness they didn't decide to do a production run. I believe it would've been a major thorn in our side in the present.
I don't know why, but this is one of my favourite aircrafts out there.
But ultimately I think the F15 still holds it for me.
so its design was good in a ground attack role? Well, i flew this plan enough in just cause 2 to confirm that.
the game that made me fall in love with this plane
Hi Simon, please can you cover the Eurofighter Typhoon? Got to be one of my favourite aircraft
Matthew Reilly's book 'Scarecrow' has this as the personal plane of the 2nd best bounty hunter in the world, given to him by the Russian government for services rendered.
They call it the 'Black Raven'.
And it got wrecked in the 6th Jack West book.
Currently reinstalling Ace Combat 7 because of the thumbnail. Always loved taking the Berkut out for a spin
Hello.
I love your show. It's informative, entertaining and mostly accurate.
So PLEASE stop saying Russian when you have to say Soviets.
This plane was probably my first childhood favourite plane.
"Outdated predecessor"... that is one way to describe a plane all set for dogfighting in the era of beyond-visual-range missiles.
Idk about that. Maneuverability is still quite relevant. Did you see Millennium7's video about this Su-34 pilot who dodged multiple patriot missiles?
"Aircraft will never need guns, we are in the age of missiles!" - the people who made F-4s.
@@PrimericanIdol We are rapidly approaching the point of questioning why would there even be a pilot on board? Kudos to the pilot, but, that plane would be even more maneuverable without a squishy operator inside. (And, dodging mach 3+ darts like missiles and dog-fighting are really quite different exercises, although the general "rules to stay alive" are similar).
You can count all the dogfights, worldwide, over the last 45 years on one hand. (To my knowledge, the last one was 1982 in the Falklands). Missile tech, stand off munitions, drone alternatives to achieve air superiority, MANPADS proliferation, and the high cost of air superiority aircraft just make the classic show of machismo dogfight worthless in modern combat. No different than the naval gun battle and mounted cavalry charge, its time has passed.
@@opieg7333Last dog fight happened in 2019 between India and Pakistan
@@rashidaman2675 So 2 in 45 years? Seems like a rare occurrence one would not want to design specifically for..... But hey, maybe we should also go back to teaching swordsmanship, just in case all the infantry run out of ammo.
And that defining that engagement - or at least the stories about it - as a dogfight is a generous use of the term. IF there was a dog fight - which I do not believe occurred. Missile strike, yes, dog fight no.
Either way - point remains - dogfights do not happen in the real world. And certainly are not happening with top front line AS aircraft.
Still the most *beautiful* fighter jet design in history, IMO.
Plane: has literal forward wings
RUclipsr: "backwards wings" 😂
Simon, you could have saved yourself the trouble, made this a "sideprojects," and simply said, "The Americans built one so the Soviets had to show they could too."
One of the most beautiful fighters ever made
Umm…How about NASA’s X-29?
Exactly what I was thinking. The two Grumman X-29 prototypes were tested starting at 1984, until the early 1990s.It is mentioned in the video shortly. There was also the Junkers Ju 287, a subsonic bomber tested towards the end of WW2.
That was what proved to the US that forward swept wings was a bad idea.
@@RubiHammer Simon says the X-29 was a failure. He didn’t mention the criteria for such a judgement so that would require some research on NASA’s final evaluation of the plane. Sukhoi deserves kudos for truly thinking “outside the box” with multiple (at the time) radical technologies some great, some limiting but with a dazzling aesthetic that is characteristic of all their fighter designs. Damn they look good, imagine them with our flight technology (scary).
@@blshouse We built the X-29 first and after we saw the wings start to come off after normal use we ended the tests. No need to waste more money when the basic idea was a failure. Of course the Russians thought they could do better. They couldn't. Nine Gee's my ass.
@@christopherstone2691 Near the end of the video he describes the many flaws of the SU-47s design that are inherent of all forward swept wing designs, so he didn't elaborate when he mentions the X-29 because he was saving that info for later in a more appropriate section of the video.
@OP, what _about_ the X-29? He mentioned it very early on in the video... did you miss that or something? I just don't get your comment. He mentioned it early on, and later in the video described the problems that plague all forward swept wing designs, which obviously apply to why they only made the one X-29.
The su47 was a very cool concept as an airframe design.
Ace Combat screenshot for thumbnail lol
More powerful than the will to win is the courage to begin.
Such a beautiful aircraft.
Mach 2 Bumblebee... coming in Hot to that Flower !!!
Very cool plane.
Best Jet Design ever❤❤
YF-23 imo
Would be interesting to see what each country could come up with, given the same budget!! Unfortunately this is one aircraft I've never seen, even at MAKS or Moninho!
The MOST BEAUTIFUL plane ever! All Russian planes look soo much better than any Western counterparts 😮
Greetings from Croatia 😎
It's a beautiful machine.
When watching X-Men the original cartoon is you're inspiration 😂🤣
This plane was the best for air ground missions in ace combat
The Su-47 simply continued research originated in Germany, then tested in the US with X-29. The Su-47 was NOT a fighter prototype, but a one of a kind unarmed experimental testbed, essentially a larger X-29. Anyone who thinks it is a fighter or some sort of original breakthrough is an ID10T.
defo one of the coolest looking planes ever made.
The SU-47 was every bit as much a technology demonstrator as the X-29. Only one was ever built (versus 2 of the X-29) and while it had provision for weapons it was never actually armed. Also while it had provisions for advanced radar and avionics none were ever installed. If the X-29 was a "failed technology demonstrator" then that exact term equally applies to the SU-47. Whoever did the research on this segment truly dropped the ball biggly.
When I was a kid I had one of these as a micro-machine toy. I thought it was the most bad ass plane to have ever existed. When I would have imaginary dog fights, this was the one that would always win. 😂
I doubt that it can go supersonic with the its wings swept ahead like that since the shock wave created by the nose would hit the wingtips, making it wobble and the ailerons useless.