Sukhoi Su-47

The Sukhoi's candidate for the Russian air force requirement for a Mnogo-funktsional'ny Frontovoy Istrebitel' (MFI - multifunctional frontal fighter) is less known than its rival Mikoyan article1.42. Vladimir Ilyushin, Sukhoi's veteran test pilot, revealed in mid 1997 that the aircraft was "close to completion", adding that it will be a "worldwide sensation" when it is unveiled. The scarce information on Simonov's new fighter indicate that it had already underwent high-speed taxi tests by the end of the summer and made its maiden flight at Zhukovsky at September 25th, 1997, in hands of Sukhoi's test pilot Igor Votintsev.

The S-32 (do not mix with Su-32!) is an internal Sukhoi OKB designation which is rationalized in terms of commonly used yet controversial indexing originated with Sukhoi Su-7 and Su-9 prototypes. These were designated S-1 and T-1 respectively, with "S" being a first letter of swept wing in Russian "Strelovidnoe krylo" and "T" from the Russian for delta wing "Treugol'noe krylo". Clearly, the "S" in S-32 implies that new Sukhoi has a swept wing but the index conflicts with another S-32 taken by Sukhoi SU-17 prototypes few decades ago. There is a great deal of hints that S-32 is a phony designation and presently a different designation is used in conjunction with new Sukhoi fighter -- S-37 (do not mix with SU-37!). The S-37 index was formerly allocated to a single-engined lightweight multirole combat aircraft broadly similar to French RAFALE which was cancelled in 1994. In any event, both S-32 and S-37 are internal bureau designation, and could become Su- anything. Reported name of S-37 is Berkut (Ber-koot) which means golden eagle in Russian. The NATO reporting name for this aircraft is "Firkin