The Su-34 multifunctional front-line bomber has successfully passed the second and final stage of state flight tests. In the near future, based on the results of the tests carried out, a corresponding act will be signed and the aircraft will officially be adopted by the Russian Air Force, news agencies report. As you know, in December 2010, four such aircraft of the Air Force have already received and began to operate new bombers.
The Su-34 began to be developed in the 90s of the last century, this aircraft was supposed to become the first representative of a new class of combat aircraft - a multifunctional aviation combat complex that combines the functions of a front-line bomber and a fighter. Such a combination of combat qualities would make it possible to more effectively solve combat missions to defeat sea, land and air targets.
It was planned that the new aircraft would be able to replace obsolete and physically obsolete aircraft in service with the Air Force. It should be noted that the history of the creation of the Su-34, as completely as possible, reflects the problem period that befell at the turn of the millennium, both the domestic aircraft industry and the Armed Forces in general.
When creating the Su-34, the main task for the designers was the task of combining high maneuverability and speed with a flight range and a large combat load. The development of the new aircraft was based on the most modern at that time, which incorporated all the latest achievements of aviation technology and aerodynamics of the Su-27. The promising fighter-bomber received the designation Su-27IB, in January 1983 the corresponding order was signed and the Sukhoi Design Bureau began to develop a new combat vehicle.
Su-27
Su-27IB
The creation of the new aircraft was also conceived as a response to overseas aircraft manufacturers who developed the F-15E "multipurpose fighter", which was created on the basis of a combat training modification of the F-15B fighter. The Su-27IB was also created as a modification of the Su-27UB combat trainer. It was planned to preserve the structural and layout and aerodynamic schemes, most of the technical solutions and the combat capabilities of the prototype practically unchanged. The main changes and improvements were supposed to affect the mass and nomenclature of the combat load, it was also planned to install a new avionics (avionics).
F-15E
But in the process of further work on the project, the aircraft underwent significant changes. So, for example, to increase the safety and effectiveness of combat use, it was decided to place the crew of a combat vehicle nearby (as on the Su-24), this made it possible to facilitate interaction between crew members, avoid duplication of instruments and provide a fairly comfortable crew accommodation during many hours of flights. Also, the aircraft was equipped with a forward horizontal tail for stable flights at any speed and altitude, the engine air intakes were made unregulated.
In the end, the designers had to thoroughly redesign the fuselage: the nose of the aircraft became completely new - with an elliptical nose cone and new wing influxes; the contours of the gargrot and the landing gear fairings have changed significantly; the volume of fuel tank No. 1 has significantly increased; the air intakes were redesigned and the tail booms were partially changed. But some of the successive features of the Su-27 were nevertheless retained, in particular, the wing and anti-tank equipment. As a result of the work carried out, the internal useful volume of the airframe increased by 30%, the new aircraft became heavier by more than a third, and in terms of take-off weight - more than 1.5 times.
The capabilities of the avionics have also significantly increased, which includes: a multifunctional radar with a phased array, an integrated optoelectronic surveillance and sighting system with television and laser channels for detecting and recognizing ground targets and aiming weapons at them, thermal imaging equipment in a suspended container to provide round-the-clock combat applications, rear-view radar, navigation equipment, radio communications, powerful electronic countermeasures and other systems.
The new aircraft could carry a whole arsenal of guided (guided air-to-air, air-to-surface missiles, corrected and guided bombs) and unguided (up to 8000 kg at 12 suspension points, KMGU, NAR bombs) weapons.
On February 13, 1992, at the Belarusian airfield Machulishchi, a new promising aircraft was shown to the public for the first time. In that 1992, a new combat vehicle took part in an air show in Zhukovsky, and in the fall of 1993, the first Su-27IB (T10V-2, board number 43) was manufactured according to standard drawings.
But by 1994 it became clear that it would not be possible to create, as planned, "two in one" from the Su-27IB. A significant increase in weight, good armor and powerful armament did not give the new aircraft the ability to withstand on equal terms "clean" fighters, originally prepared for air superiority. The Su-27IB was retrained into a standard front-line bomber, which differed from similar aircraft by the presence of a decent arsenal of air-to-air missiles and a powerful radar.
In 1995, another version of the Su-32FN was demonstrated at Le Bourget. A two-seater coastal-based naval patrol and strike aviation complex, designed to conduct reconnaissance in the maritime theater of operations and combat enemy ships and submarines. It differed from the base aircraft in the composition of avionics and weapons, which could include special means of detecting and destroying sea targets. In particular, the complex search and sighting system "Sea Serpent" based on a modified radar, optoelectronic system, magnetometer, hydroacoustic buoys and a number of other sensors, as well as a wide range of "air-to-sea" weapons, including long-range anti-ship missiles and homing torpedoes.
Su-32FN
In 1996, another pre-production aircraft was built in Novosibirsk, which received a new display system - with color MFIs. Subsequently, it was renamed from Su-32FN to SU-32MF (multifunctional).
With the beginning of the new millennium, the program for the development of the future Su-34 has intensified dramatically. In 2000, the second pre-production aircraft (T10B-4) was demonstrated at the Farnborough Air Show. This modification was actively promoted for export, but despite the lucrative offers, potential customers did not manage to achieve great success in this direction.
In 2002-2003, the program for the development of the Su-34 still received a good impetus and began to actively develop. As Mikhail Pogosyan, General Director of the Sukhoi Design Bureau, emphasized at MAKS-2003, "the Su-34 program is one of the most important for the Russian Air Force … We have entered the stage of stable flight testing of the aircraft, connected additional machines and a flying laboratory for testing the onboard radar."
As a result, in the summer of 2003, the first stage of joint state tests of the Su-34 was successfully completed and a preliminary conclusion was signed on the launch of the aircraft into serial production. And in the fall of the same 2003, the Air Force Commander-in-Chief V. M. Mikhailov announced that the Air Force intended to order 10-series Su-34s in the near future, and the state tests were planned to be completed in 2004-2005. But these plans in the future, as it happens with us, had to be significantly corrected.
From its basic progenitor Su-27, the new Su-34 has received a rich "legacy", but it also has a number of significant differences. For example, a spacious armored cabin equipped with a cooking appliance, thermos, first aid kit and sewage disposal device. In addition to this, the new car has:
- a new information and control field of the cockpit with five multifunctional LCDs and a modified indicator against the background of the windshield, as well as modified flight and navigation equipment;
- front horizontal tail at the ends of the inflow of the wing with a change in configuration;
- air intakes - all-mode, unregulated;
- under each wing console equipped with one additional armament suspension unit (maximum combat load mass - up to 8000 kg); other.
In early autumn 2010, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, Colonel-General Alexander Zelin, while visiting an airbase in Voronezh, announced that in 2011 the first serial Su-34s would enter service with the units of this airbase. We can only hope that this time the plans for the Su-34 will not be corrected for the worse.
