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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 1257.PDF
Russian fighters over 300km against a warship. A 3-6m resolution ground-mapping mode is being tested, says Phazotron-NIIR general direc tor Ana'toly Kanashenkov. The company is developing an active-array antenna and intends to test it on a development radar in mid-2003. The Su-27IB was to have a Leninets sensor suite, integrating a forward-looking passive electronically scanned radar, with provision for an active array, and an active rear-looking unit. Development ran into technical and financial difficulties, so NIIP is offering the compact Osa electronically scanned radar for tail protection and precision-weapon targeting. New designs Sukhoi's newest designs are set to be 100% digital. Organisations in the holding com pany - OKB Sukhoi, KnAAPO, IAPO, Beriev, NAPO, and NITsASK, the scientific research centre for automated design sys tems - are thousands of kilometres apart and so built a corporate network to link them. With the LFI in mind, they have pursued continuous acquisition and life- cycle support, and computer aided design/manufacturing (CAD/CAM) tech nologies. KnAAPO and OKB Sukhoi are Russia's largest users of the US Unigraphics, Nastran and Autodesk packages. The Su-30MKK has a redesigned air frame developed using three-dimensional modelling and CAD/CAM. It was strength ened to allow a 38,000kg (83,7001b) maxi mum take-off weight. The fighter can carry an 8,000kg weapon load on 12 stations and 10,000kg of internal fuel. The aircraft has two 150 x 200mm LCDs in each cock pit. The Su-27's ground-attack weapons capability - limited to unguided rockets - has been replaced by an integrated system allowing the use of precision munitions. The electronic warfare suite has been revised, receiving a sensitive radar warn ing/intelligence-gathering unit with an enlarged library of potential threats as well as the potential for expansion. The Su-30MKK has an improved N-001 with additional data processors and an air- to-ground mode. Targeting is provided for a host of Russian air-to-surface missiles and guided bombs. The Su-35 "Super Flanker" flew in 1988, as the Su-27M, and is marketed as the Su-27/30's successor. A higher degree of aerodynamic instability (the Su-27 is close to neutral), a canard-wing-tailplane config uration and thrust-vectoring requires a fully digital quadruplex flight control sys tem (FCS). "We even made a corkscrew spin a controllable manoeuvre - the pilot can leave it at any moment by a single motion of the stick that engages thrust- vectoring and aerodynamic surfaces," says Sukhoi general designer Mikhail Simonov. "The greatest challenge was to make a highly sophisticated, naturally unstable supersonic jet's handling qualities resem ble those of the Polikarpov Po-2 biplane. "In fact, we cheat the pilot using com puter technologies. The. Super Flanker's flight control system automatically observes limitations on the angle of attack, pitch, speed and so on, reducing workload on the pilot and letting him focus on the combat task." The Su-35's take-off weight is boosted to 38,800kg, the weapon load to 8,500kg and the internal fuel capacity to 10,250kg. Airframe life is 6,000h. From 1992 to 95, KnAAPO made 12 single-seat prototypes, followed last year by a Su-35UB twin-seater. Development of a two-seat strike version of the Flanker has proceeded slowly The N-011M Bars radar is standard, while the core avionics suite and systems are from the Su-30MKK, but software is further improved to enable a single pilot to employ the same weapons that can be used by the Su-30MKK's two crew. Chief designer Sergei Korotkov believes that the Su-35's competitiveness lies not so much with the avionics and "super manoeuvrability", but the ability to carry a heavy weapons load over long ranges using only internal fuel - all at a $35-40 million sticker price. "Competitors fall short when it comes to payload/range, yet some try giving range with external tanks and still claim that all munitions are on board. External tanks produce high levels of drag and K sit on pylons that otherwise would be £ occupied by weapons." | The Su-30MK1 is the best-selling export 1 Flanker, with an orderbook exceeding $5 5 billion. IAPO is to deliver 50 airframes this year and next, while India's Hindustan Aeronautics will build 170 under licence in 2003-17. Over $300 million has been invested in research and development since 1996 and the Su-30MKI has aerody namic performance, thrust-vectoring eng ines, an FCS and radar similar to those on the Su-35. Avionics Unlike the Su-35, however, it has extensive non-Russian avionics. The tandem cock pits have Thales multifunction colour dis plays (MFDs) and Elop head-up displays (HUDs). The Rif navigation/weapons sys tem has been integrated by Ramenskoye RPKB, but includes French, Indian, Israeli and Russian items. The Su-30MKI also has an UOMZ OLS- 30 electro-optical sensor with a 90km detection range, 12 weapons stations able to carry targeting, reconnaissance and elec tronic warfare pods, and the gamut of Russian air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons. At a take-off weight of 38,800kg, the aircraft has a 3,000km range on inter nal fuel and 5,200km with one in-flight refuelling, says Sukhoi. IAPO chairman Aleksei Fiodorov says the Su-30MKI's aerodynamics and Lyulka Saturn AL-31F turbofan engines will stay competitive without major upgrades for 10-12 years. "Launching an all-new fighter with new engines and airframe into full- scale development is premature. "Instead, financial resources available should be concentrated on weaponry, avionics and materials. The Su-30MK can bridge the gap, incrementally developing from a 'fourth-plus' to 'fourth-plus-plus' generation fighter, with more 'pluses' gradually bringing it closer and closer to the fifth generation." • www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 23-29 APRIL 2002 29
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