Russian T-50 Stealth Fighter Jet to Start State Flight Tests in March 2013.

Russian T-50 stealth fighter jet to start state flight tests in March 2013, Russian Air Force Commander, Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said on Sunday.

Russian fighter jets are performing test flights at the Zhukovsky airfield outside Moscow, the fourth plane is undergoing factory test trials and the fifth plane is in the process of factory approvals, the commander said.

There will be a total of eight planes involved in state trials in Akhtubinsk throughout 2013, the commander said.

The complete them [the tests] within 2-2.5 years and somewhere in 2015-early 2016 these planes are expected to go into serial production and we’ll start receiving them and supplying our combat units .

The T-50, which will be the core of Russia's future fighter fleet, is a fifth-generation multirole fighter aircraft featuring low-observable technology (stealth), super-maneuverability, supercruise capability (supersonic flight without use of afterburner), and an advanced avionics suite including an X-band active phased-array radar.

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