Russia’s PAK-FA versus the F-22 and F-35

[sicsok]

OK, I enjoyed your point, and I even share some of it.
The T-50 does not seem to me anything more than the MiG-142 and the Berkut was. I am glad that these were built for learning processes but should not be considered more than stepping stones. For practical, tactical and strategic purposes (i.e. at the command and field level) there are enough planes with widely varied systems and weaponry to deal with the tasks and scenarios that may (but not likely to) emerge.
The development of the "PAKFA" was (unlike the MiG 142 and the Berkut) not entirely an internal matter. India is a partner or sponsor, provess was another initiative, and standing orders make a deployed plane from a prototype.
So it is timed and shaped by sales and profit. There are only a few examples of "clean and pure" ingenuous leaps in aircraft design where the compromises were not the final quides to success.
Currently I see the main stumbling block is the human factor: there are enough varieties of Flankers, Fulcrums, etc. with assortments of radars, sensor suites, weapons, etc. popping out of the factories yearly that there is not enough time for any crew to accustom, inure deep enough to compare the skills to fully exploit the mastery of a plane in the short time available between modifications, add-ons, etc.
It is somewhat similar to the car industry and market of the former Eastern Bloc: When there were about half a dozen basic types of vehicles, everyone recognised any parts, could repair any of it any time and occasion (with nearly closed eyes). The transportation needs were met pretty well.
Enter the new age when many hundreds of cars, models and makes run about...Almost all which are "revolutionary" improvements and alterations of the previous years' cars. We can not find a reliable mechanic, because all of those guys have to improvise, rush, and guess and fake procedures and we do not even know asmuch as to recognise when we are just taken down the garden path by them...I do not even mention the cost of all these "improvements" and the price tag on the vehicles/parts themselves too.
The knowledge used to cover less but went deeper...now it is getting to knowing nothing about a lot.
The only way this can succeed is with breaktrough and thorough applications that changes entirely the man-machine interfacing (a lot could be talked about this, perhaps worth a new forum-topic!).
I think that the US again managed to be a step ahead realising the trend to chaos and aiming to reduce the number of applied types.