Russian Air Force to Upgrade Fighters

Guardian ^ | Friday December 26, 2003 | VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV - Associated Press Writer

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia has begun fitting its aging fighter jets with new engines and electronics as part of the most ambitious military modernization plan since the 1991 Soviet collapse, aimed at strengthening the armed forces' sagging might, officials said Friday.

The first batch of five upgraded Su-27SM fighters flew Friday from the aircraft plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Far East to the air force's Lipetsk combat training center in western Russia for testing.

Russian TV showed the sleek, twin-engine blue-and-grey fighters landing at a snowy airfield and enthusiastic pilots hailing their performance.

``They still smell of fresh paint. They are like factory-fresh cars,'' a smiling squadron leader, Yuri Gritsenko, told NTV television.

Maj. Gen. Alexander Kharchevsky, the commander of Lipetsk, said the upgraded fighter ``features the latest achievements in electronics, weapons and navigation.'' The planes have computer displays instead of analog gauges, a satellite-guided navigation system and sophisticated weapons control systems.

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly promised to increase funds for combat training and modernize military arsenals.

Since the Su-27 entered the Soviet arsenal during the 1980s - built as an answer to the American F-15 Eagle fighter - the cast-strapped Russian air force has bought just a handful of new jets. Russian pilots have complained bitterly that their aircraft were falling apart while Russia's aircraft builders were producing new jets for China, India and other foreign customers.

Next year will see the most ambitious weapons modernization program since the Soviet collapse. The government plans to spend $11.7 billion, or about 14 percent of the 2004 federal budget, on modernizing fighters, upgrading strategic bombers and buying new helicopter gunships, missiles and other weapons.

Ivan Safranchuk, head of the Moscow office of the Center for Defense Information, a Washington-based think-tank, said fitting old Soviet weapons with modern electronics was the cheapest way to upgrade Russia's aging arsenal.

``The military has a lot of hardware that can remain in service for a long time,'' Safranchuk said in a telephone interview. ``Modernizing it by inserting new software appears to be the most cost-efficient way.''

Lt. Gen. Alexander Zelin, air force deputy chief, said the program to overhaul Russia's fleet of Su-27s will be completed in 2005, the Interfax-Military News Agency reported. Zelin wouldn't say how many of the several hundred Su-27 fighters in service would be converted to the new standard.

Zelin said the plane's new version has better capabilities than the Su-30MKK and Su-30MKI - the advanced versions of the Su-27 sold to China and India in recent years.

``We can't have aircraft in our inventory that would be worse than those sold to foreign customers,'' Zelin said.

Increasing wear-and-tear on Russian air force planes and lack of pilot training have contributed to an increasing number of crashes of combat aircraft in recent years. Because of fuel shortages, Russian pilots fly an average of only some 20 hours a year compared to a minimum of 200 hours in Western air forces.

[Willie Green]

Related thread:

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[RightWhale]

Because of fuel shortages

A management problem. They could float their entire airforce in fuel if they wanted.

[AdA$tra]

I had better clean out my garage so I will have a place to park my new, updated, Flanker.

[PAR35]

They apparently aren't going to waste money trying to keep up with America - they just want to be sure they can take anyone else on if they need to.

[matrix2225]

The Su-27 (NATO designation Flanker) is the front-line fighter aircraft designed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau. The export version is the Su-27SK. The aircraft is equipped to operate autonomously in combat over hostile territory, in escort of deep-penetration strike aircraft and in the suppression of enemy airfields. The aircraft provides general air defence in cooperation with ground and airborne control stations. A naval variant with folding wings, the Su-33, exists.

Su-27 entered production in 1982 and is in service with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vietnam, and is built under license in China as the F-11. A variant, the Su-30MK, has been sold to India with licensed local production. 50 aircraft have been ordered and the first entered service with the Indian Air Force in September 2002. China has ordered 38 two seat Su-30MKK. Indonesia ordered two Su-27SK and two Su-30MK aircraft in May 2003.

The latest version is the Su-27SM, an upgrade for the Russian Air Force which has improved N001 radar, glass cockpit and improved avionics.

DESIGN

The Su-27SK is a highly integrated twin-finned aircraft. The airframe is constructed of titanium and high-strength aluminium alloys. The engine nacelles are fitted with trouser fairings to provide a continuous streamlined profile between the nacelles and the tail beams. The fins and horizontal tail consoles are attached to tail beams. The central beam section between the engine nacelles consists of the equipment compartment, fuel tank and the brake parachute container. The fuselage head is of semi-monocoque construction and includes the cockpit, radar compartments and the avionics bay.

WEAPONS

The aircraft is equipped with a 30mm GSh-301 gun with 150 rounds of ammunition and a range of missiles, rockets and bombs mounted externally on ten hardpoints.

The aircraft's infrared search and track system, laser rangefinder, radar, and helmet-mounted target designator provide detection, tracking and attack capability.

The range of air-to-air missiles carried by the Su-27K aircraft includes: R-27R1 (NATO designation AA-10A Alamo-A), all-aspect medium-range missile with semi-active radar homing and R-27T1 (AA-10B Alamo-B) with infrared homing and a range from 0.5 to 60km; and R-73E (AA-11 Archer) all-aspect, close-combat air-to-air missile with infrared homing and a range from 0.3 to 20km.

Ordnance for air-to-ground missions include: 100, 250 and 500kg freefall and retarded aerial bombs; 500kg incendiary devices; 25 and 500kg RBK cluster bombs; and C-8, C-13 and C-25 unguided aerial missiles.

COUNTERMEASURES

The Su-27SK is equipped with a new electronic countermeasures suite for individual aircraft, and for mutual and group protection in the forward and rear hemispheres. The countermeasures system includes a pilot illumination radar warning receiver, chaff and infrared decoy dispensers, and an active multi-mode jammer located in the wingtip pods.

SENSORS

The Su-27SK is equipped with a Phazotron N001 Zhuk coherent pulse Doppler radar with track-while-scan and look-down/shoot-down capability. The range of the radar against 3-square-metre targets is over 100km in the forward hemisphere and 40km in the rear hemisphere. The radar has the capacity to search, detect and track up to ten targets with automatic threat assessment and proritisation.

The aircraft has an OEPS-27 electro-optic system, which includes an infrared search-and-track (IRST) sensor collimated with a laser rangefinder. The range of the electro-optical system is 40-100km, depending on the aspect angle presented by the target.

COMMUNICATIONS

The radio communications suite provides: voice and data; VHF/UHF radio communications between aircraft and ground control stations within sight range; voice radio communication with ground control stations and between aircraft up to a range of 1,500km; an encrypted data link for combat information exchange between aircraft; and command guidance from ground control stations using automatic interception mode.

SYSTEMS

The Su-34 is equipped with an electro-optical fire-control system, supplied by the Urals Optical and Mechanical Plant (YOM3), and a Geofizika FLIR (forward-looking infrared) pod. Leninetz of St Petersburg supplies the radar systems and TsNIRTI the electronic countermeasures suite.

ENGINES

The Su-27SK is powered by two AL-31F turbofan engines, designed by the Lyulka Engine Design Bureau (NPO Saturn). Each engine has two air intakes: a primary wedge intake and a louvred auxiliary air intake. The twin-shaft, turbo-fan engine has after-turbine flow mixing, a common afterburner, an all-mode variable area jet exhaust nozzle, an independent start and a main electronic control, and a reserve hydromechanical engine mode control system. The high-temperature sections of the engines are made of titanium alloy.

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http://www.airforce-technology.com

[Pukin Dog]

Somebody wake me when the headline reads: "Russian Air Force to Upgrade Pilots".

[ditto h]

They also said that in a year or two they will have a fish that hangs on your wall and sings songs.WOW!!!

[Cobra64]

Al Gore invented the aeronautics of these birds. And John Kerry was the first to fly one over Viet Nam.

[Servant of the 9]

Russian pilots fly an average of only some 20 hours a year compared to a minimum of 200 hours in Western air forces.

That is not enough time to stay current in a single engine Cessna, much less a sophisticated supersonic fighter.

So9

[Seselj]

The 20 hour figure is the average out of the entire Russian airforce, and includes even pilots who fly non-combat aircraft. The pilots who fly the Flankers get a lot more flying hours.

[RusIvan]

The 20 hour figure is the average out of the entire Russian airforce, and includes even pilots who fly non-combat aircraft. The pilots who fly the Flankers get a lot more flying hours.===

Pilots of military transportation has more flight hours then figher pilots. But russian planes designed like AK-47 (as everything of russian design) so it is easy to flight. SO maybe they don't need much flight time?

[rmlew]

The Su-27SK cannot carry the R-77/AA-12 Adder?
Aside from the Zhuk pulse-doppler radar, the upgrades seem quite limited. (Of course the avionics and software side is not mentioned in the story.)

It is a shame that they cannot purchase some Su-35 varients of the Su-27. These have upgraded avionics, canard wings, and thrust vectoring.
The Su-37 looks even more impressive,