Did the SU-47 ever see service? What are the advantages of the upswept wing?

Question

WTF are you on about?

Answer 1

The Su-47 was experimental and considering the cash strapped Russian economy, unlikely to go into production. The correct terminology would be "forward swept wing". It is supposed to give a higher lift-to-drag ratio, more range, more maneuverability, improved stall resistivity and improved stability at high AoA. Furthermore, the Russians claims that the forward sweep minimizes the frontal radar returns by bouncing the RF energy towards the fuselage and away from the source. Dont know how plausible this is.

Answer 2

Like its western counterpart, the Grumman X-29, the Su-47 is primarily a technology demonstrator, one intended to lay the foundation for the next Russian fighter. Such a fighter must not only be as advanced as the US F-22 Raptor and German/British/Spanish/Italian Eurofighter Typhoon, but must also compete for funding with the more conventional MiG 1.44. However, Sukhoi is now attempting to market the Su-47 to the Russian military and foreign customers as a production fighter in its own right. The aircraft's performance has been so impressive that the Russian government has made funds available for further testing of the design

The forward-swept midwing gives the unconventional (and characteristic) appearance of the Su-47. A substantial part of the lift generated by the forward-swept wing occurs at the inner portion of the wingspan. The lift is not restricted by wingtip stall. The ailerons - the wing's control surfaces - remain effective at the highest angles of attack, and controllability of the aircraft is retained even in the event of airflow separating from the remainder of the wings' surface.

The wing panels are constructed of nearly 90% composites. The forward-swept midwing has a high aspect ratio, which contributes to long-range performance. The leading-edge root extensions blend smoothly to the wing panels, which are fitted with deflectable slats on the leading edge; flaps and ailerons on the trailing edge. The all-moving and small-area trapezoidal canards are connected to the leading-edge root extensions.

The downside of such a wing design is that it produces strong rotational forces that try to twist the wings off, especially at high speeds. This twisting necessitates the use of a large amount of composites in order to increase the strength and durability of the wing. Despite this, the plane was initially limited to Mach 1.6. Recent engineering modifications have raised this limit, but the new limit has not been specified.

Answer 3

The Su-47 was a technology demonstrator, and was extremely limited in performance.
According to General Ilyushin, the man who has been the first test pilot for every Russian fighter since the mig-21, the Su-47 is just a older production Su-27 modified with the forward swept wings. He said it had extremely small fuel tanks and the performance was not acceptable for a front line fighter.
There have been no contracts for further development, that is a rumor and there is no evidence to support it.

Answer 4

The forward swept wings increase the aircraft's manuverability due to airflow from wing tip to wing root preventing a stall of the wing tips and ailerons at high angle of attack.

In short, they reverse the direction of spanwise flow.

The SU-47 is an experimintal aircraft. It is still undergoing testing.

Answer 5

♠ Berkut SU-47 is a tax-consuming military toy monkey-ing an American one; a serious aircraft pilot would never use this machine in real fight because of her low reliability so far (and perhaps for ever). She was implemented in spite of common sense and math.
♣ see what they say themselves:
http://lenta.ru/lib/su47/
http://aviaros.narod.ru/su-47.htm
history and impressive pictures
http://aviacia.ru/view.php?lang=ru&req=fighter&id=9
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/fighter/s37.html

Answer 6

Please do your own home work.This is not the place.