Sukhoi Su-27/30/33/35/37 Flanker series & Su-34 Fullback - History, Design, Performance & Dissection (Part 2)

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Almost forgot to mention the camo, but that’s more of an inside joke at this point, Gaijin clearly just wanted to achieve the museum look, and they definitely did ;)

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You see dem russkies have no money for fresh paint so thats just authentic military look. Source - trust me bro i saw podcasts on Russian economy, they won’t lie

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Nah. While these change are good. The FM is still bad. Note how these new change are only mean for when your flying above 1000km/h.

All of them do nothing at low speed handling. Meaning TVC its just a stupid gimmick.

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I wouldn’t expect Gaijin to fix that any time soon. It seems that there is some internal “balancing factor” that makes every single Flanker into a missile bus because it can carry more missiles than most competition. At least that seems to be the case, looking how stubbornly gaijin ignores any and all bug reports on that topic.

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That’s true tho, and since the thrust buff comes in to play at 600kmh (a speed that flankers struggle to hold while doing a sequence of turns), the TVC maneuvers don’t differ from how the FM is right now on Live server.

At least one day the AL-41’s will help a bit.

I love that Su-30 looses lift at lower AOA than Rafale in game. And the fact that Rafale can’t even achieve the AOA needed to even start to loose lift during a turn. So Flanker falls to the ground while glorious delta just floats around.

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Yea that its the only part that its getting buffed. The Missile Bus Flanker.

Yea hope. That At least they do something Right with Su-35s/AL-41. Current TVC is trash.

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I think I saw you mentioning that the AL-41 has different angles for the TVC nozzles no?

Would that change much compared TVC we have now (especially the Su-35 that has no canards as well)?

Its hard to explain. But if AL-31FP move in two way diagonally. AL-41 move in 3 different way. The 3rd way its horizontally (I think). So even if they aren’t true 3D. Like Mig29ovt. Or the ones made for the Eurofighter. They move the plane around like they are 3D.

Spoiler

In some show you can see how Su-30sm can perform some Maneuver a bit faster than Su-35s. Mostly because it have canards +tvc. But even without Canards the Su-35s its not much less agile.

Maneuver like this Russian Knights Su-35S aerobatics at the Dubai Airshow 2023 11:45 should be harder in Su-35s without canards or the TVC of AL-41.

And then you have Su-57. That thing is beautiful. Just compare How fast and easy its for the Su-57 enter and leave the Fallen Leaf. To how slow its the F-22 to even perform it. The only thing close to the Su-57 should be the Su-37.

My problem with the TVC on Su-30sm in game its mostly that its stop working and the plane freeze doing nothing for like 2 second. That its so unrealistic. Did you turn the engine off?. Why would TVC stop pushing the plane around?. Why are the control surface not working?. And also that it don’t help the plane turn.

With Su-35s Gaijin won’t have excuse like the plane its underpower. Like with the Su-30sm.

Edit; the video its not working for whatever reason… Name its “Russian Knights Su-35S aerobatics at the Dubai Airshow 2023” minute 11:44

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True, it feels like the TVC with limitations off completely overshadows the authority of the rudders and stabilizers, the jet (as you mentioned) freezes up and stops responding to both keybind controls and mouse aim, and then it suddenly start working again.

That’s a pretty annoying thing especially with some maneuvers where you are literally just trying to reverse a turn.

Edit: I think there was a report for this made long ago by @unluckyg, it was mostly for how bad mouse aim feels with the AOA off, but iirc it had this issue too.

Ah thanks, thought it was unavailable for my country lol.

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exactly, so annoying considering how IRL it seems like they’re in control the entire time they’re post stall

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also gotta love the blue afterburners on the su35

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Idk why but when I do similar stall maneuvers in the eurofighter or rafale, with limitations off, the rudder, ailerons or flaps always hit max deflection that they can reach, meanwhile the Su30 has barely any movement of the canards, rudders and horizontal stabs… Ik TVC nozzles put a lot of work into those maneuvers, but it’s even clear from videos that the other surfaces have more authority compared to wt.

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Simply delicious.

get ready for the blue Su-24 afterburner

image

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AL-41F-1 has fully 3D TVC nozzles. They can move up to 16 degrees in any direction and up to 20 degrees in a single plane. MiG-29OVT has only 15 degrees in any direction. But interesting thing i found about the nozzles on MiG-29OVT. Had a talk with one of the engineers that worked on this project over social media and apparently this type of nozzle is universal and can be installed on pretty much any engine with as little work as possible. While AL-31 and 41 have nozzles designed specifically for them.

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Idk man. Its has always said. That No flanker have fully 3D TVC nozzles. Usually people discuss that Fully 3D. Its something like the on 29OVT. Or the one made for the Eurofighter. That can move in every single angle with not limitations. I know that its said that they work like 3D. So no much difference.

Now i have problem with what is the difference between both AL-31FP and AL-41F1s. I have always read that in AL-31FP only the Feather of the nozzle move. And that they are 2D but how they placed and how it move it make push the plane like 3D TVC. Yesterday i posted part 2 of this video to answer a question that @ILuvAnneHathaway did on another topic; ФГУП САЛЮТ модернизация АЛ-31Ф часть 1.VOB - YouTube

The video Show a Su-30MK/SM. And the test done by MMPP SALUT. On their work for an ALL-SPECT TVc Nozzle for the AL-31F engine. In the video they even show how its “Fully” 3D in a test bench and late they show how only the Feather move. This engine should have be AL-31FP.

But. This is a pic of AL-37FU. The engine of Su-37.
pc4_3 Made by Saturn. And late develop into 117s/AL-41F-1S.

And how its has always being describe the whole Nozzle move.

The thing its that if you look Pic of Su-30sm or even the Su-30mk. It look like they never use the TVC nozzle that Salut/Salyut made. An instead AL-31FP use AL-37FU/AL-41F1s one.

Now I’m really confused.

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AL-31 only has single plane TVC, but the nozzles are placed at an angle to a pitch axis, to allow a combined thrust vector to be 3D. AL-41F1 has fully 3D nozzles that can work in multiple planes.

Here’s a YT video with Su-35S you can clearly see how nozzles move here

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This engine was never installed on Su-37. Every single flight was done with AL-31FP. AL-37FU never went past prototype stage and all work done was later used in development of AL-41F.

Whole nozzle indeed moves, but on AL-31FP it can only move in a single plane, up and down if you want to describe it in a simpler language.

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