Posted on 06/15/2009 10:04:42 PM PDT by pobeda1945
OSCOW, June 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia would like to expand sales of such warplanes as the Su-34 throughout the world, President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Chinese TV released on Monday.
Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback, an advanced two-seat fighter-bomber and attack aircraft, was flown by Medvedev in March. The president told China Central TV his flight was supposed to "deliver several messages."
He said he wanted to "learn firsthand about the potential of Russian equipment," and was able to see for himself that "this equipment is really great." He added that as commander in chief, he wanted to share firsthand experience with "people serving in the Armed Forces," including the "strain and other challenges." Medvedev said Russia was "interested in expanding the geographic base" for the export of these aircraft "to include our neighbors, as well as other countries." The Su-34 is armed with a 30mm GSh-301 gun and 180 rounds of ammunition and can fire up to 1,500 rounds a minute.
The aircraft can carry an array of missiles, including air-to-air, air-to-surface, anti-ship and heat-seeking missiles, and guided and unguided bombs. Full-scale production began in January 2008, and 24 Su-34 aircraft are expected to be in service by 2010. In January 2008, the Russian Air Force said it would procure 70 aircraft by 2015.
Experts say the new bomber has the potential to become the top plane in its class for years to come.
In blue.
Looks like the designer is, uh, compensating...
Wow. 180 rounds, huh? I hope it has select fire.
We used to have a president who flew fighter jets.
Now we have a president who doesn't know the first thing about flying a fighter jet, but would no doubt not hesitate in acting like he did.
Well, this particular cannon has a ROF of 1800Rounds Per Minute. which suggests 30 shells per second, which indicates you could be out of ammo in... ohhh... 6 seconds, if youre on a full on burst.
Dunno what it would do to your groundspeed though.
Wow. 180 rounds, huh? I hope it has select fire.
It's enough for 6 seconds of sustained fire.
The F-22 carries 480 - enough for 5 seconds (In theory, but because the M-61 takes a while to spin up to speed, the F-22 has more than 5 seconds)
But this also means than in the critical first half second the number of rounds is not that much different, and in weight of fire, the Soviet gun rules.
Factor in shell weight and accuracy and it's like M-16 against a .50 cal Ma Deuce
No. It can fire 180 rounds a minute. 7.2 seconds of fire, followed by 52.8 seconds of silence.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.