New Antigravity Suit to Protect PAK FA Pilots

12 January 2017 1:45 Rubric: Russia, Industry, Future

An advanced antigravity suit was developed for pilots of the fifth-generation Russian fighter, a prospective airborne complex of frontline aviation (PAK FA), reported TASS on Wednesday, Jan 11, referring to Sergey Pozdnyakov, general director and head designer of the Zvezda scientific production enterprise.

"We have developed a new-generation suit with bladders enwrapping not only lower body but even hands in case of a G-effect. Thanks to additional compensation, it provides far better G-tolerance than available suits", Pozdnyakov said.

T-50

Military Review

According to him, the new suit helps a pilot to withstand 9-G overload through 40 seconds.

"Besides, we introduced preemptive actuation of antigravity system upon a signal from onboard computer. That happens not later than one second before an overload begins. Currently, the new suit is under flight trials", added the interviewee.

The Zvezda scientific production enterprise develops ejection seats, helmets, oxygen systems and antigravity suits for all types of Russian warplanes, as well as space suits.

PAK FA (Т-50) is a prospective fifth-generation fighter first tested in 2010. Although commissioning of T-50 is scheduled in 2018, Russian military want to get first preproduction batch this year.