of tandem-triple layout, with canards ahead of wings and tailplanes. The Su-47 has two tailbooms of unequal length outboard of the exhaust nozzles. The shorter boom, on the left-hand side, houses ECM system, while the longer boom houses a rear-facing radar. Maneuverability The Su-47 has extremely high agility at subsonic speeds, enabling the aircraft to alter its angle of attack and its flight path very quickly while retaining maneuverability in supersonic flight. The Su-47 has a maximum speed of Mach 1.6 at high altitudes and a 9g capability. The swept-forward wing, compared to a swept-back wing of the same area, provides a number of advantages: higher lift-to-drag ratio better agility in dogfight situations higher range at subsonic speed improved stall resistance and anti-spin characteristics improved stability at high angles of attack a lower minimum flight speed a shorter take-off and landing distance Wings The forward-swept midwing gives the Su-47 its unconventional appearance. A substantial part of the lift generated by the forward-swept wing occurs at the inner portion of the wingspan. This inboard lift is not restricted by wingtip stall and the lift-induced wingtip vortex generation is thus reduced. 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. A downside of such a forward-swept wing design is that it geometrically produces wing twisting as it bends under load, resulting in greater stress on the wing than for a similar straight or aft-swept wing. This requires the wing be designed to twist as it bends—opposite to the geometric twisting. This is done by the use of composites wing skins laid-up to twist. The plane was initially limited to Mach 1.6. Because the forward sweep was primarily beneficial at transonic speed while losing out to aft-swept wing at supersonic speed, it was not further pursued. Thrust vectoring The thrust vectoring (with PFU engine modification) of ±20° at 30°/second in pitch and yaw will greatly support the agility gained by other aspects of the design. Specifications (Su-47) Gallery See also References Bibliography External links S-37 Berkut at Fighter-Planes.com Stealth aircraft 1990s Soviet and Russian experimental aircraft 1990s Soviet and Russian fighter aircraft Abandoned military aircraft projects of Russia Aircraft first flown in 1997 Canard aircraft Forward-swept-wing aircraft Relaxed-stability aircraft Su-47 Twinjets