On February 19, 2008, the Su-35 multifunctional fighter took off for the first time. Today, the "thirty-fifth" is becoming the face of Russian military aviation: by 2020, about 100 aircraft will be delivered to the Russian Aerospace Forces. Consider five interesting facts about the Su-35, the world's most powerful fourth-generation fighter.
1. There were two Su-35 aircraft in the history of aviation
The first under such a code in the early 1990s at international exhibitions was the so-called Su-27M - the modernization of the base Su-27. This was actually the first attempt to make a multi-functional fighter out of an interceptor. For a number of reasons, the plane did not go, and it was only in 2005 that they returned to the 35 index.
Already on February 19, 2008 from the Ramenskoye airfield of the LII them. Gromov's new "thirty-fifth" took off. The plane was piloted by the honored test pilot of Russia Sergey Bogdan.
At first, the fighter was designated as Su-35BM (large modernization), then it was simply called Su-35 with an eye on export. After the appearance of interest from the Russian Air Force, a variant of the Su-35S appeared, with the traditional letter "C", denoting options for equipment for the supply of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
2. How "thirty-fifth" was compared to a UFO
Abroad, the Su-35 (NATO code designation: Flanker-E +) was first presented in 2013 at the international air show in Le Bourget. The demonstration flights of the Russian fighter jet became the highlight of the airshow program.
The plane was piloted again by Sergei Bogdan. When he made the so-called "pancakes" in the sky, Le Bourget literally froze. This aerobatics - a horizontal turn of 360 degrees in flight without loss of speed and altitude - cannot be performed by any other fighter.
“Our planes flew like a pancake over the airfield - no plane in the world does that. And the integrated control system on these airplanes is KRET's, the engine control system is also ours,”Nikolai Kolesov, general director of KRET, commented on the flight of our thirty-fifths later.
And foreign experts immediately compared the Su-35 with a UFO for such an “unearthly” show. “I've been in this industry for 22 years, I've seen a lot, but this flight is something incredible,” said French engineer Christian Kunovski. - It's not a fighter, it's just a UFO! Frankly, for the first time in my life I cried with delight!"
3. Su-35 can "see" the target for 400 km
Despite the absence of AFAR, the "thirty-fifth" radar system can detect targets at a distance of up to 400 km, as well as track up to 30 air targets and simultaneously fire on eight of them.
Such capabilities of the fighter are provided by a radar control system (RLS) with a passive phased antenna array "Irbis". The system was developed at the N. I. Tikhomirov, and its production is carried out by the State Ryazan Instrument Plant, which is part of KRET.
In terms of its performance, the radar system of the Su-35 fighter is at the level of the most modern foreign developments in this area, surpassing most of the American and European radars with passive and active phased array.
4. In the cockpit of the Su-35 there are no analog instruments with arrows
The cockpit on the Su-35 resembles the cockpit of fifth-generation fighters. Unlike the Su-27, it does not have analog instruments with the usual arrows. Instead, there are two large color LCD screens, which display all the information the pilot needs in picture-in-picture mode. The "glass cockpit" of the Su-35 also has a collimator indicator on the windshield. Thus, the pilot sees the corresponding symbols and signs against the background of the sky, they seem to float in the air in front of the aircraft.
Hydrodynamic control drives of the power plant are replaced by electric ones. This not only saves space and weight, but also allows parallel control to be introduced into the machine control. In practice, this means that the role of the pilot becomes less visible: the computer decides at what speed the vehicle will reach the target and at what point to allow the pilot to use the weapon.
At the same time, the machine takes on part of the complex aerobatic modes, for example, flying at extremely low altitudes with rounding the terrain.
5. Su-35 lifts 8000 kg of bombs
Another of the main advantages of the Su-35 is that it can carry a huge load of air-to-air missiles - a ton of such missiles.
All in all, the Su-35 at 12 hardpoints can lift 8,000 kg of high-precision missiles and aerial bombs. The 35th armament includes a whole set of air-to-surface guided missiles, including such novelties as five Kh-58USHE extended-range anti-radar missiles, three Kalibr-A long-range missiles and one large anti-ship missile. range of the "Yakhont" type.
The Su-35 fighter also raises up to 11 corrected aerial bombs with television, satellite or laser guidance systems. In the future, it will be able to use improved and new models of aerial bombs of 500 and 250 kg caliber and missiles of 80, 122 and 266/420 mm caliber, including those with laser correction.
At the same time, the Su-35 is capable of using its weapons at supersonic speeds with a Mach number of about 1, 5 and at an altitude of more than 13,700 meters. For example, the American F-35 fighter operates at an altitude of 9100 meters and at a speed with a Mach number of about 0.9.
