Su-27

Sukhoi Su-27
Two Sukhoi Su-27s taking off
Description
Role	Fighter Aircraft/Air superiority fighter
Crew	1
First Flight	1977
Entered Service	1984
Manufacturer	Sukhoi Design Bureau, Russia
Dimensions
Length	21.935 m
Wingspan	14.7 m
Height	5.932 m
Wing area	62 m&sup2
Weights
Empty	16,380 kg
Loaded	23,000 kg
Maximum takeoff	33,000 kg
Powerplant
Engines	2 Lyulka AL-31F turbofans
Thrust	75kN
Performance
Maximum speed	2,500 at altitude
Combat range	? km
Ferry range	3,900 km
Service ceiling	18,500 m
Rate of climb	325 m/s
Wing loading	kg/m²
Thrust/Weight	?
Armament
Guns	30 mm GSh-301 cannon with 150 rounds
Missiles	8000kg on 10 external pylons Up to 6 medium-range AA missiles R-27, 4 small-range thermal-seeking AA missiles R-73 Su-27IB can be used to launch X-31 anti-radar missiles, Air-to-Ground missiles X-29L/T (laser/TV guidance, which may be projected to helmet), KAB-150 and UAB-500 bombs with laser, TV or IR guidance

The Sukhoi 27 (Su-27 - NATO designation: Flanker) is a Russian single-seater fighter aircraft designed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau (SDB) under Pavel Sukhoi. The aircraft is currently in service with the airforces of the CIS, China (as the J-11), Syria, and Vietnam. India has also received a variant of Su-27s, designated Su-30MKI's (Flanker-C). The export cost is around $35 million per aircraft, or $70 million on a ten-year supported lease.

Background

In 1969, the leaders of the Soviet Union decided to build an air superiority fighter aircraft that would be a match for the U.S. and other NATO fighters of the time, the PFI (perspektivnyi frontovoy istrebitel, advanced frontal fighter) program. It was supposed to have a greater range and weaponry than its Western counterparts.

Eight years later the designers at Sukhoi started to test a prototype named T10 (Flanker-A), making the first test flight on May 20, 1977. However, due to several technical flaws the aircraft did not meet the expectations of the Soviet airforce — VVS. After the second of the two prototypes crashed in July 1978, killing a pilot the development work was greatly slowed.

It was not until 1981 that the SDB built a new prototype, the T10S (Flanker-B), which was a radical redesign of the T-10. The new design showed sufficient improvements that it was accepted and became the Su-27, entering service in 1984. However, it was not until 1990 that certain problems were fully resolved. Despite that from 1986 a special Su-27 designated P-42 started to set the first in a series of performance records for rate of climb and altitude, the aircraft setting 27 new class records between 1986 and 1988.

It is a large and heavy aircraft, made of lightweight aluminium alloy and flown with a complex fly-by-wire control system, making it very manoeuvrable. In airshows the aircraft demonstrated its manoeuvrability with a Cobra or dynamic deceleration - briefly sustained level flight at a 120 degree up angle of attack. Certain Su-27s were also tested with thrust vector control, allowing the craft to perform hard turns with almost no radius, incorporate vertical somersaults into level motion and limited nose-up hovering.

The fighter expert Bill Gunston and others have described it as one of the most manouevrable fighter aircraft in existence, though at that time the F/A-22 Raptor was not yet in production. Since then a study by the British agency DERA claims that one derivative (or variant?), the Sukhoi Su-35, is much less capable than either the F/A-22 or the Eurofighter Typhoon. The same test found that the Su-35 was roughly twice as capable as its closest equivalent, the F-15. However, the basis of the study, the information used and the reliability of the tests is unclear.

A naval variant, the Su-33, first tested in August 1987 was planned for the Admiral Kuznetsov.

Around 680 were manufactured by the USSR, and 400 are in service with the Russian Tactical Air Force. Of the CIS member states, Kazakhstan has around 30 and is due a further 12 under agreement; Belarus has, possibly, 20; the Ukraine has around 60; Uzbekistan perhaps 25. China received 26 in 1991-92 and a further 24 in 1995-96 before signing a agreement for licensed manufacture of 200 as the J-11 in 1998. Vietnam has twelve and has order a further 24. Ethiopia has 8 Su-27A and 2 Su-27U. Malaysia on the other hand has ordered 18 Su-30MKM in 2003 worth US$900 million and expecting deliveries in 2006. Indonesia has 2 Su-27 and 2 Su-30KI.

Source for technical and weaponry data: Modern Combat Aircraft: Reference guide pp. 50-51 Minsk, "Elida", 1997, ISBN 985-6163-10-2 (Russian language).

See also: Comparison of 2000s fighter aircraft

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