PAK DP (, ) is a Russian programme to develop a

stealth Stealth may refer to: Military *Stealth technology, technology used to conceal ships, aircraft, and missiles **Stealth aircraft, aircraft which use stealth technology ** Stealth ground vehicle, ground vehicles which use stealth technology ** Ste ...

interceptor aircraft An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are c ...

/heavy fighter under development by

Mikoyan Russian Aircraft Corporation "MiG" (), commonly known as Mikoyan and MiG, is a Russian aerospace and defence company headquartered in Begovoy District, Moscow. Mikoyan was the successor to the Soviet Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau (Ми� ...

to replace the

Mikoyan MiG-31 The Mikoyan MiG-31 (; NATO reporting name: Foxhound) is a supersonic interceptor aircraft developed for the Soviet Air Forces by the Mikoyan design bureau as a replacement for the earlier MiG-25 "Foxbat"; the MiG-31 is based on and shares de ...

in the

Russian Aerospace Forces The Russian Aerospace Forces or Russian Air and Space Forces (VKS) comprise the air force, aerial, space force, space warfare, and Missile defense, missile defence Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It was ...

in mid-2030s. It is often referred to as the Mikoyan MiG-41, because its project code is ''izdeliye 41'' (product 41), but an official designation has not been given, as Russian planes only receive an official designation when they are about to enter service. According to Russian defence analyst Vasily Kashin, the MiG-41 would be considered a 6th generation project.

Development

It's been said at first that progression on the supersonic PAK DP MiG-41 interceptor was making use of the MiG-701 (Izdeliye 7.01) and

projects begun in the 1990s. As of July 2016, no official data was available concerning the aircraft's capabilities. It was speculated that it could enter service by the mid-2020s or 2030s. As an interceptor, its primary mission was rumored to offset future reconnaissance aircraft currently being developed by the United States and China. To achieve high speeds, the aircraft would need to be equipped with

ramjet A ramjet is a form of airbreathing jet engine that requires forward motion of the engine to provide air for combustion. Ramjets work most efficiently at supersonic speeds around and can operate up to . Ramjets can be particularly appropriat ...

turboramjet The air turborocket is a form of combined-cycle jet engine. The basic layout includes a gas generator, which produces high pressure gas, that drives a turbine/compressor assembly which compresses atmospheric air into a combustion chamber. This ...

engines. The design of the PAK DP was finalized by the end of 2019, at the same time the research work was completed. In 2020, within that research framework, the Russian Ministry of Defense selected the most promising project. Work in this area now continues in R&D and with wind tunnel models. Ilya Tarasenko, the general director of the MiG corporation, as well as the head of the Sukhoi company, said in an interview in July 2020 that the PAK DP will be created on the basis of the

MiG-31 The Mikoyan MiG-31 (; NATO reporting name: Foxhound) is a supersonic interceptor aircraft developed for the Soviet Air Forces by the Mikoyan design bureau as a replacement for the earlier MiG-25 "Foxbat"; the MiG-31 is based on and shares de ...

's design. According to ''

Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, r=Izvestiya, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in February 1917, ''Izvestia'', which covered foreign relations, was the organ of the Supreme Soviet of th ...

'', the PAK DP is envisioned to become an interceptor of hypersonic missiles by carrying a multifunctional long-range interceptor missile system (MPKR DP) that will dispense several sub-missiles in order to increase the chance of intercepting hypersonic weapons. The PAK DP is also intended to carry

anti-satellite missiles Anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) are space weapons designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites for strategic or tactical purposes. Although no ASAT system has been utilized in warfare, a few countries (China, India, Russia, and the United State ...

. In January 2021, Rostec Corporation, the owner of

, announced that the PAK DP had entered the development phase.

Design

In an interview for RT, the Director General of RSK MiG, Ilya Tarasenko, speculated that it would be a new construction capable of

Mach number The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physicist and philosopher Erns ...

4–4.3, equipped with an anti-missile laser, and said would be able to operate at very high altitudes and even in

near space Near space is the upper region of the Earth's atmosphere between airspace and outer space. It is sometimes referred to as the " edge of space". There is no legal definition for this extent, but typically this is the altitude range from . Rang ...

. He also stated that it could be transformed into an unmanned version later. If purchased by the

, he said that the first production PAK DP would be completed in 2025. The aircraft may cruise at speeds of at least and fly at high altitudes (at levels between the

stratopause The stratopause (formerly mesopeak) is the level of the atmosphere which is the boundary between two layers: the stratosphere and the mesosphere. In the stratosphere, the temperature increases with altitude, and the stratopause is the region where ...

and the

tropopause The tropopause is the atmospheric boundary that demarcates the lowest two layers of the atmosphere of Earth – the troposphere and stratosphere – which occurs approximately above the equatorial regions, and approximately above the polar regi ...

, i.e. below 45,000 meters and above 12,000 meters). It could use a variant of the Izdeliye 30 engines currently under development for the

Su-57 The Sukhoi Su-57 (; NATO reporting name: Felon) is a Twinjet, twin-engine stealth aircraft, stealth Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft developed by Sukhoi. It is the product of the PAK FA (, prospective aeronautical comp ...

. It was said that the PAK DP will use stealth technology. An unmanned version is also under consideration.

References

{{Stealth aircraft Mikoyan aircraft Proposed military aircraft of Russia Russian fighter aircraft Stealth aircraft Twinjets

Development

Design

See also

References