Sukhoi conducts ground and flight tests of Su-33 naval fighters, the company's press service reported. Work on the repair and modernization of aircraft is carried out at the Gagarin Aircraft Production Association (KnAAPO), which is part of the Komsomolsk-on-Amur holding, as part of the 2010 state defense order. Experts know that this aircraft is a multipurpose shipborne deck-based fighter with horizontal take-off and landing, with folding wings and horizontal tail for hangar storage. It was created to defend naval ships from enemy air attacks and is equipped with a system for refueling and transferring fuel in flight.
The first flight on an experimental aircraft in August 1987 was performed by test pilot Viktor Pugachev. During factory flight tests on November 1, 1989, he first landed on the deck of the aircraft-carrying cruiser "Admiral Kuznetsov". And in April 1993, the first batch of naval fighters was transferred from KnAAPO to the aviation of the Northern Fleet. They became part of the 279th shipborne fighter aviation regiment. By August 1994, it had 24 production aircraft. In the period 1993-1995, combat pilots of the 279th KIAP mastered the aircraft, after which the Admiral Kuznetsov, from December 1995 to March 1996, performed the first long-distance training trip in its history to the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. On August 31, 1998, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, the Su-27K was put into service under the designation Su-33.
Recently, information has appeared that the production of the Su-33 at the plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur has been suspended. In this connection, the experts concluded that the new promising nuclear aircraft carriers, which Russia is going to build, will be equipped not with "dry" ones, but with "flashes", especially since the Indians chose this aircraft for their Vikramaditya. But it turns out that this statement is still premature. The Su-33 will still be useful to our naval pilots. Moreover, they again began to train to take off on them and land on the deck in the Crimean Saki, at the Ukrainian complex NITKA.
