Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Russia's Sukhoi markets new multi-role fighter at Chinese air show
Ria Novosti,Russia ^ | 31/ 10/ 2006

Posted on 10/31/2006 5:16:42 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki

Sukhoi markets new multi-role fighter at Chinese air show

ZHUHAI (China), October 31 (RIA Novosti) - Sukhoi, Russia's state-owned aircraft manufacturing holding, said Tuesday a prototype of its advanced multi-role fighter has been undergoing flight tests.

Sukhoi is among more than 50 Russian companies showcasing their aircraft and aerospace technologies at the sixth China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition (Airshow China 2006), which opened today in Zhuhai, in southern China.

"A prototype of the Su-35 has already conducted test flights, but I cannot give you more details," said Sergei Sergeyev, deputy general director of the holding and head of Sukhoi's China office.

He also said the company has started to promote the Su-35 fighter on the Chinese market.

The Su-35 Flanker-E is an advanced version of the Su-27 interceptor and is powered by two AL-37F engines. It is a versatile fighter that combines high maneuverability and the capacity to intercept air targets with ground and sea attack capability using both unguided and guided, including high precision, weapons.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: china; india; russia; su35; sukhoi
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
1 posted on 10/31/2006 5:16:45 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki

Sure looks a lot like our F-18 Eagle.


2 posted on 10/31/2006 5:19:33 AM PST by Obadiah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jeff Head
Perhaps of interest.
3 posted on 10/31/2006 5:20:06 AM PST by Joe Brower (The Constitution defines Conservatism. *NRA*)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Obadiah

F-15 Eagle,you mean.Well it's a advanced derivative of the Su-27,which is the Russian equivalent of the Eagle.


4 posted on 10/31/2006 5:20:54 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki

D'Oh. Yes, the F-15.


5 posted on 10/31/2006 5:26:30 AM PST by Obadiah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki

Looks like it would sure give off a heat source don't it.


6 posted on 10/31/2006 5:29:14 AM PST by badpacifist (I want you, I need you. But there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you. So don't be sad.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki

A rather dated,but detailed article on the SU-35

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3897/is_200102/ai_n8939909/pg_1

The Ultimate Bad Guy?Sukhoi's SU-35 Super Flanker

Flight Journal, Feb 2001 by Miller, Jay

Sitting on the tarmac at the Zhukovsky flight-test center about 30 miles southeast of Moscow, the Sukhoi Design Bureau's most powerful and capable fighter, the stunning Su-35, gives every impression of it Coiled cobra. Prepared to Strike at the slightest warning it honkers down, nose low, poised on its rough-field Landing gear, peering forward through the single, offset eye of its infrared search-and-track ball.

Currently viewed its the most potent threat to Western military air forces, there is little question that the Su-35 is a superb air-combat platform. Typical of its parent design bureatt's prodticts, it mixes modern technique and technology with a strong (lose of Russian mechanical pragmatism. Sukhoi and the Russian government promote the Su-35 as the chosen standard-bearer fighter of non-western air forces. They explore export opportunities around every international comer. To date, however, no foreign air force has bought a single one.

The reasons are simple: the Su-35 is too big, too expensive and too complex (and it's backed by the questionable goodwill of an unstable, undependable government). Without significant financial and trade offsets-something unlikely to happen-it has little chance of realizing any legitimate international military sales. In a market glutted with American F-16 wannabes, it is sitting at the bottom of a very large pile. It is Russia's extremely capable-but totally unknown-contender.

During a recent trip to Russia, I was privileged to spend three days with the Sukhoi Design Bureau at its ramshackle Zhukovsky flight-test facility on the massive base's northeast side. With hundreds of out-of-service MiGs,

Tupolevs, Antonovs, Mils, Ilyushins and Myasishevs providing a varied backdrop, I observed the awesome Su-35 in action firsthand. While contemplating the big fighter at rest and in the air, it became apparent that I was watching what was conceivably the last of a very long line of highly strung Russian aircraft. Sleek and strong, it represents everything a fighter should be-and everything a fighter pilot would like to fly into combat.

Sukhoi has built fewer than a dozen Su-35s to date. None represent fully operational or production-standard hardware. Rather, each of the prototypes serves as a system, structural, or performance-envelope test bed; and typical of a prototype program, each has been continuously modified since the first Su-35 (initially referred to in prototype form as the T10M, and later, as the Su-27M) arrived at Zhukovsky in 1988.

Cockpit configurations represent some of the most noticeable differences. For instance, four monochromatic (Russia lags behind the West in color-video technology), multifunctional display screens present flight- and weapons-system information to the pilot (virtually standardized in arrangement and presentation symbology in the West) and have been installed in a somewhat random order from aircraft to aircraft. This apparently has been to accommodate everchanging Russian combat requirements and ill-defined ergonomic specifications.

The Su-35 has a "digital quadruplex fly-by-wire flightcontrol system" that makes it comparable, in many respects, to the latest Western standard. This sophisticated approach to flight control permits the pilot-via a complex system of super-high-speed mini-computers-to fly the aircraft at the ragged edge of stability. The computers combine flight-data input from many static pitot sensors, various attitude references and pilot flight-control systems feedback; they then output control-systems actuator data to the horizontal tail surfaces, the ailerons, the rudders and the hyperactive canards. The latter play a key role in virtually all pitch-related maneuvers and can be seen moving almost constantly while the big fighter is in flight. Otherwise, the Su-35 is an amalgam of miscellaneous stock components and materials that can trace their origins back to the 1960s. It is, in many respects, a technological anachronism.

Incorporating older, proven technologies and materials, however, is not a serious flaw but rather an exercise in common sense. For Russian designers, the pragmatics of design far outweigh the Western propensity for state-of-the-art sophistication and complexity at every opportunity.

Arguably one of the finest-looking fighters of the postWW II era, the Su-35 actually represents little in the way of advanced aerodynamic thinking. It is, however, highly maneuverable and surprisingly agile-particularly for an aircraft that has a gross takeoff weight approaching 35 tons. Roll, pitch and instantaneous turn rates throughout most of its 9G envelope are comparable to Western fighters, though it reportedly requires exceptional physical exertion on the part of the pilot to maneuver through an extensive aerobatic repertoire.

The Su-35's air-to-air Phazotron NIIP N-011 multi-mode, look-down/shoot-down radar (which also has an air-to-ground capability out to a range of 124 miles) is sophisticated but not up to state-of-the-art Western standards. Typical of Russian radars, it depends more on its enormous power than on sophistication to accomplish search-andtrack tasks and overcome countermeasures. Regardless, Sukhoi claims the unit can track up to 15 targets simultaneously while it engages any six at ranges of up to 249 miles. Few Russian aircraft observers truly believe the latter, but military strategists often use it anyway for threat analysis purposes.

Interestingly, Sukhoi's chief during Su-35 development, Mikhail Simonov, has alluded to a small Zhuk-Ph aft-facing radar with a range of up to 2.5 miles mounted in the rear end of the fuselage, but no such system has been seen on any of the flightworthy Su-35s currently being tested. Aft-facing radar could serve any of several purposes, including early warning of rear attack or active guidance for aft-facing air-to-air weapons (which the Su-35 purportedly is designed to carry).

The Su-35's external. finish, which I reviewed in great detail during my visit, is not up to Western standards. Close scrutiny shows it to be very rough, and in some places, downright crude. Panels don't fit precisely, and many are dented as a result of mishandling (and deliberately left that way); most have apparently been abused at one time or another by maintenance personnel. Many parts, such as the massive glass-fiber nose radome, simply appear to be poorly made.

These parts, however, do work! And they are easier and less expensive to manufacture than their more refined Western counterparts. While the finish on the Su-35 is not up to Western standards, such refinement makes very little difference operationally. Construction latitude simplifies the production process and lessens the burden of field repairs during battle.

Russian designs for military hardware have historically been influenced by the lessons learned during WW II, which the Russians invariably refer to as "The Great Patriotic War." Equipment must be able to function in extraordinarily harsh climactic and field conditions.

The Su-35 is no exception to this. It is designed to operate from virtually any imaginable unprepared surface, including hard dirt, mud, snow and ice. High-flotation tires, extremely rugged landing-gear struts, mud guards on the nosewheels, independent self-contained maingear disc-brake cooling fans and nosewheel brakes represent weight and system complexities that would be unacceptable in Western countries.

As one might expect of such a large fighter, the Su-35 can carry an extraordinary complement of weapons and stores. In addition to an internally mounted conventional GSh-30-1 30mm cannon, it can also transport a large assortment of air-to-air missiles (R-37, R-33, R-77), air-to-surface missiles (Kh-31, Kh-59), anti-ship missiles, air-to-surface rockets, conventional iron bombs, laser-guided bombs, a "buddy" pod for in-flight refueling and, most likely, tactical nuclear weapons-- all mounted externally on at least a dozen wing and fuselage pylons. Maximum external weapons load is 17,634 pounds.

This diversity of weapons, though impressive, represents as much a burden as a blessing. Each bomb, rocket, or missile requires a different set of aiming equations (and, sometimes, hardware swaps), a different set of launch parameters, special mounting equipment and, for the pilot, a different set of performance concerns. Less directly, each weapon also requires a separate and totally independent production line, and invariably, an independent, logistical support system.



The Su-35 is powered by two large NPO Saturn AL-31FM turbofan engines, each rated at over 29,000 pounds of thrust in afterburner. Surprisingly, these exceptionally powerful propulsion units appear to be quite miserly when it comes to fuel consumption. Most important, they provide the more than ample muscle needed to shove the Su-35 out to nearly two and a half times the speed of sound. All missions are flown with internal fuel only, as the Su-35 is not known to be capable of carrying or using external fuel tanks. Ferry range is in excess of 2,500 miles, and the aircraft is in-flight refuelable beyond that.

Victor Pugachev, Sukhoi's chief test pilot during the course of our visit to Zhukovsky, flew the Su-35 six times over three days specifically for us. I witnessed each takeoff and landing and also reviewed nearly seven hours of high-end tape shot by our team's air-to-air photographer, Katsuhiko Tokunaga. I also watched Pugachev fly several complex demonstration routines, including one that lasted nearly an hour.

The Su-35 has an extraordinary rate of roll and can perform vertical and horizontal maneuvers and virtually all the rest of its aerobatic routine well within the confines of the Zhukovsky airfield boundaries. And like its predecessor, the exceptionally capable Sukhoi Su-27, it, too, can perform the famous "Cobra" pitch-up maneuver (made famous by Victor Pugachev during the 1991 Paris Airshow) in very capable fashion,

Few Western observers-including this author-question the impressive performance of what some of us consider to be the last great Russian fighter. Whether it will ever become a threat to Western combat aircraft has yet to be seen. Obviously, if the type were to become the West's main competition, nothing would make Sukhoi and its engineering staff happier!

Copyright Air Age Publishing Feb 2001
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved


7 posted on 10/31/2006 5:29:34 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Obadiah
If you saw them side by side, you'd see how different they are. Similar layout, but very different airplanes.
8 posted on 10/31/2006 5:32:06 AM PST by GBA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki

Good read, thanks.


9 posted on 10/31/2006 5:53:17 AM PST by Obadiah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki

Looks like Raptor bait to me.


10 posted on 10/31/2006 5:57:28 AM PST by neodad (USS Vincennes (CG-49) Freedom's Fortress)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neodad

Hey, Sukhoi! Comin' to gitcha!

11 posted on 10/31/2006 6:05:50 AM PST by Dr. Thorne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki
Add canards to an SU-27, and you have an SU-35.

NASA added canards to the F-15 for the ACTIVE program.


12 posted on 10/31/2006 6:28:10 AM PST by Yo-Yo (USAF, TAC, 12th AF, 366 TFW, 366 MG, 366 CRS, Mtn Home AFB, 1978-81)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neodad

"Looks like Raptor bait.."I agree.Bring it on!


13 posted on 10/31/2006 8:15:24 AM PST by Thombo2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: neodad
Beat me to it. A flight a five of these would be dead before they knew the Raptor was around.

Since it's Halloween, Bush needs to announce that we're going to build 1000+ Raptors and deploy them worldwide and scare the shit out of everyone who whines about American hegemony. :-)

14 posted on 10/31/2006 8:21:17 AM PST by gura
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki
The Su-35 has a "digital quadruplex fly-by-wire flightcontrol system" that makes it comparable, in many respects, to the latest Western standard.

Lots of weasel words in there.

15 posted on 10/31/2006 10:10:01 AM PST by denydenydeny ("We have always been, we are, and I hope that we always shall be detested in France"--Wellington)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: denydenydeny

"The Su-35 has a "digital quadruplex fly-by-wire flightcontrol system" that makes it comparable, in many respects, to the latest Western standard."

So does my balsa wood airplane with the rubber band propulsion system.


16 posted on 10/31/2006 10:50:39 AM PST by EQAndyBuzz (Obama in 08)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: EQAndyBuzz

"digital quadruplex fly-by-wire flightcontrol system" is not big deal.
chinese indigenious J10,J11B(chinese indigenious su27),JH7 all has adopted it!
Chinese aeroindustry has made rapid progress .
although China still much lag behind U.S.,it can catch E.U and russia in the coming decade!
after living on soviets' fat for over a decade,poor russia can't provide any new toys to attract chinese any more!


17 posted on 10/31/2006 7:12:23 PM PST by sinoguy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

Comment #18 Removed by Moderator

To: sinoguy; Skog

Umm,the J-10 is an Israeli "Lavi" fighter boosted with technology from Russian firms & Russian engines.Don't know what is essentially Chinese about it.The J-11 wouldn't have existed if the Russians didn't grant license manufacturing rights to it.The FC-1/JF-17 is a souped up Mig-21 originally developed with American assistance.Not trying to belittle Chinese industry & the progress it's made.But it's got miles to go before playing catch up with the Russians or EU.

About not providing new toys to China....well that's why China is still buying Kilo class boats & SU-33 fighters from Russia.


19 posted on 11/02/2006 5:51:55 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki
That's a great camo job. You can barely spot the aircraft in the pic.

/sarcasm off.
20 posted on 11/02/2006 8:05:49 AM PST by taxed2death (A few billion here, a few trillion there...we're all friends right?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson