Our new attack aircraft is designed to engage highly protected point targets day and night, as well as for round-the-clock search, detection, classification and destruction of surface and underwater targets in any weather conditions in the presence of active electronic countermeasures. The Su-34 is called the direct successor of the Su-24, but the similarity of the indices and, in part, the purpose should not be misleading - there is no structural continuity between these combat vehicles. The Su-24 was developed in the 1960s as a Soviet response to the revolutionary F-111 family, created within the walls of the American corporation General Dynamics. The F-111 Aardvark in various modifications performed a whole range of tasks: from a tactical bomber to a reconnaissance aircraft and a strategic bomber (FB-111FA) and embodied several revolutionary technologies, such as: the use of dual-circuit turbojet engines with an afterburner, terrain monitoring radar and variable wing geometry. The F-111 turned out to be such a successful machine that Soviet aircraft designers decided, if not to repeat it, then, in any case, to build an aircraft with similar capabilities based on similar design solutions. This is how the Su-24 appeared - a tactical front-line bomber.
Some statistics
The Russian Aerospace Forces is armed with 83 Su-34s (75 serial and 8 experimental pre-production models). One plane is lost. On June 4, 2015, when landing at an airfield in the Voronezh region, the Su-34 did not open its braking parachute. The plane skidded out of the runway and overturned.
Another pedigree
The Su-34 is also written as a front-line bomber, and in this role it may well be used, but it is worth remembering that its prototype at the development stage was called the Su-27IB. IB stands for "fighter-bomber". Thus, our strike flagship is a constructive development of the Su-27 fighter, which was created in the 1970s in response to the emergence of the American McDonnel Douglas F-15 Eagle fighter. By the way, on the basis of the F-15 they built a fighter-bomber, or, as they call it in the United States, the F-15E Strike Eagle multipurpose attack aircraft, which, obviously, should be considered the closest American analogue of our Su-34.
The Strike Eagle made its maiden flight in 1986 and entered service in 1988. The first flight of an early prototype of the Su-34 - "T-10V products" (aka Su-27IB) took place on April 13, 1990. It would seem that the time difference between the first flights of competitors was not so great, but the Su-34 was adopted by the Russian army not two, but 24 years after it first "took the wing". It seems unnecessary to explain why our defense industry made such a pause.
Armored house
The spacious cockpit of the Su-34, protected by titanium armor, is perhaps one of the most interesting features of the attack aircraft. You can sit, lie and stand in the cockpit. A toilet and a kitchenette with a microwave are provided. This is unprecedented comfort for an aircraft of this class.
Nevertheless, the work is done, and we can only rejoice at this. The aardvark F-111, which once inspired the creators of the Su-24, has been in museums for a long time, and our heroic “bomber” still flies, although it has long become obsolete. The factors of obsolescence of the Su-24 include, first of all, its narrow specialization: now there is a tendency in the world military aviation to create more universal platforms. Our old bomber is too slow-moving and low-maneuverable to have any chance in aerial combat against a modern fighter. After the Su-24 was shot down by an F-16 fighter of the Turkish Air Force, the Russian command decided to conduct all strike work only under the cover of Su-30SM fighters. The Su-24's lot is to deliver missile and bomb strikes against ground or surface targets, and to ensure the relative accuracy of strikes, the aircraft has to (due to outdated aiming systems) work from heights that are attainable for light anti-aircraft weapons such as MANPADS, and they are with much greater likely to end up in the hands of the same Islamist militant groups in Syria.
More wheels!
Due to the increased weight of the head of the fuselage (compared to the Su-27), the front landing gear was completely redesigned. They moved it forward and changed the scheme of its cleaning, providing also a pair of wheels instead of one.
Six-winged Seraph
The Su-34, being based on one of the best domestic fighters, undoubtedly outperforms the Su-24 in maneuverability and is capable of delivering accurate fire at ground targets while remaining at a safer altitude. The new aircraft also has a higher combat load (according to unofficial data, up to 12,000 kg versus 7,500), a combat radius (1,100 km versus 560) and a maximum speed (at a high altitude of 1,900 km / h versus 1,600). At the same time, the Su-34 has gone quite far from the Su-27, which is noticeable even to an inexperienced eye. Su-34 is a "triplane", that is, in addition to the wing and stabilizers, it is equipped with two additional empennage consoles located in front of the wing. This design improves the maneuverability of the aircraft at low speeds. But it was decided to abandon the ventral keels characteristic of the Su-27.
Another striking feature is that flattened "nose" (radar fairing). This design feature is due to the fact that, compared to the SU-27, the Su-34 has an expanded cockpit. As in the Su-24, the crew of the aircraft consists of two people, who are located in one row of seats. This layout originates directly from the development of the T-10KM-2 carrier-based training aircraft project (also based on the Su-27). By the way, the F-15E also has two pilots, but they are seated one after the other.
There is a passage between the seats, in which one of the crew members can lie down and rest. It is assumed that the plane will also make long voyages with refueling in the air - for this, a retractable rod is provided, so a short rest may be useful. At the rear of the cockpit there is a toilet and a kitchenette for warming up food. You can even stand up to your full height here.
The entry into the cab is carried out not in the traditional way - through the canopy, but along the ladder through the hatch in the niche of the front landing gear support. By the way, due to a change in the design of the cab, the front pillar was redesigned and reinforced. Unlike the Su-27, it has not one wheel, but two, located next to each other. For the first time to protect the crew, the cockpit was made in the form of a titanium armored capsule. The cockpit is pressurized and "inflated" - up to an altitude of 10,000 m, the crew will not need high-altitude suits.
Compared to the Su-27, many other significant improvements have been made to the design. Reinforced wing, added two additional suspension points for weapons (12 versus 10). In general, the Su-34 is much heavier than its base model - its maximum take-off weight has been increased by about one and a half times (up to 45,000 kg), which makes it possible to carry more fuel (up to 12,000 kg) and more weapons on board.
For greater protection of the aircraft, in addition to the main radar (B004 with passive HEADLIGHT), located under the "duck" nose, an additional radar is installed in the extended stern beam, facing the rear hemisphere. When detecting hostile targets in the air, the Su-34 can attack them both with the standard for the Su-27 family of the automatic 30-mm GSh-30-1 cannon, and with the use of small air-to-air missiles (R-73) and medium (R-77) ranges. The range of air-to-surface weapons is quite numerous and includes both corrected aerial bombs such as KAB-500, KAB-1500, and unguided (S-25, S-13, S-8) and guided (Kh-25, S -25L, Kh-29, Kh-31, Kh-35, Kh-58 (U), Kh-59 (M)) missiles.
Fight test
The Su-34 is capable of performing combat missions at any time of the day, in all weather and climatic conditions. Currently, 12 vehicles are operating as part of the Russian air group in Syria.
Winged electronics
However, the effectiveness of strikes nowadays depends not only on the quality and range of ammunition, but also on the aiming systems and, in general, on the "advanced" airborne electronic equipment. In addition to a radar with a viewing range of 120 km for ground targets and with the possibility of simultaneously firing at four targets, the avionics include the Khibiny-10V electronic warfare system (electronic reconnaissance, active jamming), as well as thermal imaging and television aiming systems.
It is worth noting that it is electronics, in contrast to the airframe or engines, that is, in a sense, the Achilles' heel of our aviation, and indeed the defense industry in general. It is known, for example, that foreign-made avionics are installed on export versions of Russian combat aircraft sold to countries such as India or Malaysia. Despite the fact that the Su-34 was officially adopted only in 2014, the first batches of a promising strike aircraft began to enter the troops already in the zero years of this century. In the first years of operation of the Su-34, various "childhood diseases" of the machine were revealed, and they concerned, in particular, the unstable operation of the radar and the sighting system, which became a serious obstacle to delivering high-precision strikes.
At the beginning of this decade, following the results of the first years of use, including (unofficially) during the Russian-Georgian conflict in 2008, the aircraft underwent modernization, receiving, in particular, new high-temperature engines AL-31F-M1, an updated radiation warning station and a gas turbine auxiliary power unit. It is also reported that, as part of the modernization, navigation and sighting systems were updated, and their capabilities are now being tested in the course of air strikes against targets in Syria. At the same time, it is known that the Sukhoi Design Bureau is developing a new, modernized version of the attack aircraft - the Su-34M, which, in particular, provides for the installation of more advanced avionics systems. The new modification should be ready by 2016-2017, and the same Novosibirsk Aviation Plant, which is building the basic version, will begin its production. Subsequently, it is planned to modernize the entire available Su-34 fleet to the level of the Su-34.
Be that as it may, until the T-50 (Su-50) is put into mass production, the Su-34 remains the most advanced combat aircraft in service with the Russian Aerospace Forces. Possessing many serious advantages over similar aircraft of the previous generation and in many respects not inferior to foreign competitors (and in some ways surpassing them), the Su-34 will undoubtedly play a significant role in strengthening the country's defense capability. Eliminating design flaws and defects is a matter of increasing the technological competence of our defense industry.
