Western fighter aircraft the past year or so have had much more capability to multirole compared to USSR top tier for quite some time while retaining a very capable FM/avionics/payload/etc. The only thing I’ve seen on Soviet/Russian fighter aircraft that’s just about better is… range (which also isn’t usable at night because the missiles are TV seeker) on their A2G missiles and that’s about it.
We can talk about the Su-34 but I consider that to be more of a strike aircraft than a fighter, and it lacks some of the nicer fighter features like a targeting pod, HMD, FM, etc to make it easily capable of fending off for itself against other fighters.
Like I said, it would be nice if the Su-30SM had basically the equivalent of, say an F-16C or a Gripen in terms of multirole, but I’m not sure how capable it would be hence why I was asking what it could theoretically get.
some people say that “multirole” is a marketing-focused definition, and that “fighter-bomber” is more accurate. in that sense, USSR tech tree already has at least one multirole jet.
One thing they need to fix is the totally fake engine SFC (make it dynamic) on all jets. If they fix it, people will need to take full internal to even have 5 minutes play time.
Would this be a Su-30SM or is this a different variant?
Given if it could carry x6 A2A missiles (#5-8 pylon) and x5 Kh-29TD or TE (#3, 4, 10-12 pylon) with a Damocles TGP (#9 pylon), it would make for a very capable platform for doing both CAS/CAP on level with something like current western aircraft ingame.
The Su-30SM is a later version of the Su-30MKI/MKM, that is, export variants adapted to Western weapons via the data bus…The Su-30MKI has been adapted in terms of radio communication systems, radar, aerial object recognition and a number of other auxiliary systems for use by the Russian Air Force.
At the same time, it was mass-produced from 2012 to 2018 (before the widespread introduction of the Russian import substitution program), so it retained some of the Western and Indian-made equipment…
The Su-30SM is also in service with Kazakhstan/Belarus./Of Armenia, which belong to the USSR tree… Российские истребители пришлось оснащать импортными комплектующими
МАКС-2013 ч.9: Су-30СМ 55 черный
If we talk about the electronic stuffing of the Su-30SM, it has the concept of an “open board architecture”. This makes it possible to include new systems of domestic and foreign production into the avionics at the lowest cost. This is what determines the high versatility of the Su-30SM, which makes it possible to convert the interceptor fighter into a strike aircraft in the shortest possible time …
So that with a 100% probability it can use a Litening suspension container, like the Su-30MKI…
