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Sukhoi Su-34 “Fullback”
Historical background and description
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Type: Fighter-bomber
Developer: Sukhoi Design Bureau
Manufacturer: NAZ named after Chkalov V. P.
Chief Designer: Martirosov R. G.
First flight: April 13, 1990 (T-10V-1)
Began operation: March 21, 2014
Status: operated, produced
Operators: Russia, VKS of Russia
Years of production: since 2008
Development of the aircraft began on June 19, 1986 under code name T-10V (Su-27IB). Aircraft was created to replace the Su-24. The Su-34’s likely opponents could be F-15 and F-16, so it became necessary to equip aircraft with ability to conduct a defensive air battle with fourth-generation fighters on equal terms. The Su-27 was used as basis. Compared to the Su-27, bomb load and fuel reserve were increased. During development of aircraft, aerodynamic scheme “longitudinal triplane” was used, increasing maneuverability compared to usual scheme.
First flight of the T-10V-1 prototype took place on April 13, 1990.
The first public demonstration under the designation Su-32FN took place in spring of 1995 in France at international air show in Le Bourget.
Then two aircraft were produced for flight tests and one aircraft for a static test stand. After that, six pre-production aircraft and another aircraft for static test stand were produced.
First flight of the serial Su-34 aircraft took place on October 12, 2006 from the airfield “NAPO named after V. P. Chkalov”. Aircraft was piloted by test pilots Evgeny Rudakas and Rustem Asadullin.
State test program took place from October 30, 2006 to September 19, 2011 in several stages, simultaneously with production of aircraft.
On March 20, 2014, the Su-34 was adopted by Russian Air Force.
Construction:
The Su-34 two-seat aircraft with two serial AL-31F turbofan engines has a free-bearing adaptive wing mechanized along front and rear edges, a two-keel vertical tail, a front horizontal tail, an all-rotating stabilizer, and a tricycle landing gear. Main supports have a two-wheeled trolley with placement of wheels according to “tandem” scheme. Fuselage is made according to an integrated circuit. Head part begins with a radio-transparent fairing having an elliptical shape with sharp side edges. The trapezoidal wing of a small elongation located in the middle with inflows, on which consoles of front horizontal tail are mounted, smoothly mates with fuselage, forming a single load-bearing body, providing improved aerodynamics and lift of aircraft.
Development of aircraft was carried out taking into account modern requirements for reducing the effective scattering area. For this purpose, composite materials were used in production, allowing to reduce level of reflection of radar waves due to radio-absorbing coatings, when designing the integrated aerodynamic circuit, aerodynamic ridges (ventral keels) were excluded and geometry of airframe was specially calculated.
Front part of the plane is flattened, for which it received the nickname “Duckling”.
According to representatives of the Design Bureau of the Sukhoi Su-34, when flying at low altitudes, it has a degree of radar visibility at level of a cruise missile.
Glider
Aircraft is a longitudinal triplane, which has an integral layout. Wing, trapezoidal in plan, is integrally coupled with fuselage and has a sweep along the leading edge of 42 degrees. An additional horizontal tail is installed in front of the wing, which is made all-rotating. Tail is vertical two-keeled. Stabilizer is differentially deflected. Engines are placed in two gondolas mounted in center section. Nose of fuselage has an ellipsoid shape in cross-section, an onboard radar station is located here. In the rear part of fuselage, between engines there is a compartment with electronic equipment.
Cabin
Double cabin with a row of seats. Pilot and navigator-operator are placed in a row. This arrangement of a cabin allowed to get rid of duplication of some instruments and controls, as well as facilitated interaction of crew members and provided an opportunity for rest and nutrition during many-hour flight. Dimensions of a cabin allow one of crew members to stand up to his full height.
Outer body of the cabin is made of an armored shell made of titanium alloy. During its development, the shortcomings identified during the combat use of Su-25 aircraft were taken into account. Thickness of the Su-34 armor is 17 mm. The booking weight of the Su-34 is 1,480 kg, which is almost 1.5 times more than that of the Su-25. The Su-34 armor, unlike the Su-25, consists entirely of titanium alloy, without aluminum and steel plates. The cabin has armored glass.
Cabin is equipped with two K-36DM ejection seats, which allow ejecting at any height and speed, as well as from the ground. Entrance to the cabin is made through the lower hatch on the steps. Hatch is located near the front landing gear.
Crew life support systems
For effective work of crew when flying at a maximum range (up to 7000 km), the Su-34 is equipped with comfort systems:
- a bio-toilet;
- sealed cabin with oxygen system for flights without oxygen masks up to an altitude of 10,000 m;
- air conditioning and cabin heating;
- a kitchenette, a device for heating food and thermos flasks for storing rations and water;
- space behind the chairs, allowing you to straighten up to your full height.
Chassis
Chassis scheme was developed taking into account the possibility of using the Su-34 from unpaved airfields. Aircraft uses a new bogie chassis with a tandem arrangement of wheels on the main supports, which provides aircraft with good cross-country ability on poorly prepared airfields. Front landing gear of semi-lever type is reinforced and equipped with two wheels. Main supports are removed into niches on center section with a cart turn. Rear racks are equipped with braking systems.
For braking during landing, a braking parachute is used, placed in a container on the upper part of the fuselage. Before releasing parachutes, container is pushed out of the fuselage.
Automatic fire extinguishing system
Aircraft is equipped with an automatic fire extinguishing system, as well as means of duplicating and shielding all systems. Fuel tanks are protected from fire and explosion by filling with polyurethane foam with open cells. This isolates fuel from the air due to encapsulation effect, which prevents ignition.
Flight and navigation complex
It includes an inertial navigation system integrated with a satellite navigation system receiver, as well as radio navigation equipment. A digital multi-channel remote control system is used to control the aircraft. System automatically monitors current values of the angle of attack and overload, automatically controls the position of the front horizontal tail, providing damping of aircraft’s pitch fluctuations.
Active safety system automatically prevents access to unacceptable flight modes and collision with the ground during low-altitude flight. There is a mode of bringing to the horizon and bringing out of the corkscrew.
Specifications
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In short (there is few issues in this blue image but it’s nice):
Aircraft performance
There is some high-quality scale-model drawings↑
There is real Su-34 drawings↑
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Crew: 2
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Length: 23.34 m
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Wing Span: 14.7 m
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Height: 6.36 m
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Wing Area: 62 m²
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Maximum Takeoff Weight (combat): 44 360/45 100 kg
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Takeoff Weight for clean condition: 38 240/42 000 kg
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Empty Weight: 22 500 kg
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Fuel Weight: 12 100 - 19 300 kg (with 3х3 050 liters PTB-3000)
Engine: 2x Turbofan engine AL-31F
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Design: modular
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Afterburner thrust: 12 500 kgf
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Maximum thrust: 7 770 kgf
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Fuel consumption:
- minimum cruising consumption: 0.685 kg/kgf*h
- at maximum engine thrust: 0.75 kg/kgf*h
- at afterburner: 1.92 kg/kgf*h
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Air flow rate: 112 kg/s
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Diameter of the inlet: 905 mm
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Overall dimensions: 1140 mm
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Maximum length: 4 945 mm
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Dry weight: 1 520 kg
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Maximum Speeds:
- 1 900 km/h (1.8М, at altitude)
- 1 400 km/h (at sea level)
- 1 100 km/h (at sea level with armament)
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Landing speed: 250 km/h
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Air ceiling: 15 000/19 800 m
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Flight range:
- 7 000 km (with refueling)
- 4 000-4 500 km (distillation without refueling)
- 2 485 km (Hi-Lo-Hi)
- 1 400 km (Lo-Lo-Lo)
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Take-off distance: 850 - 1 260 m
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Landing distance: 950 - 1 100 m
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Maximum operational overload: 7 G
Electronics
Radar station: Sh-141-02E
- Viewing and tracking area:
- azimuth +60°
- elevation +60°
- Detection range of ground (surface) targets:
- railway bridge (EPR=1 000 m²) at least 100 km
- destroyer (EPR=5 000 m²) at least 135 km
- a van (EPR=30-50 m²) at least 30 km (driving speed 10 km/h)
- Permitted element in high resolution mode (VR) at a scale of 2.5x2.5 km: at least 10-15 m
- Detection range of aerial targets with a probability of 0.5 (EPR=3 m²): at least 120 km
- Number of simultaneously tracked targets: 10
- Number of simultaneously hit targets: 4
- Standard error (RMS) of measuring the coordinates of a ground (surface) target in the zone + 10° in azimuth and up to 15 km in range:
- in range not worse than 15 m
- in azimuth not worse than 15°
- in angle of location not worse than 15°
- Total number of tracked ground (surface) targets: at least 4
Electro-optical system: LTPS Platan
- Max Range: 55.6 km
- Identification Friend or Foe (IFF)
- Classification (Class Info)/Brilliant Weapon (Automatic Target Acquisition)
- Continuous Tracking Capability (Visual)
- LLTV/NVG/CCD (Night-Capable)/Searchlight (Visual Night-Capable)
Decoy dispenser: APP-50 IR
- Launch altitude envelope: 0 - 30 000 m
- Launch time intervals: 0.1 - 8.0 sec
- Round types: PRP-50, PPI-50
- Caliber: 50 mm
- Number of rounds: 98
- Dispenser weight (loaded): 53 – 56.5 kg
- Launch modes: continuous, salvo, by series
Armaments
Gun: Gryazev-Shipunov-30-1 aka GSh-301
- Caliber: 30x165 mm
- Rounds: 180
- Operaton: Gast principle
- Length: 1 978 mm
- Weight (complete): 46 kg
- Rate of fire: 1 500–1 800 rpm
- Muzzle velocity: 860 m/s
- Projectile weight: 386-404 g
Other
Air-to-air missiles:
- 6x R-73E/RVV-MD
- 8x R-27ER/R-27E/R-27T/R-27ET
- 8x R-77 (RVV-AE)
Air-to-ground, air-to-surface missiles:
- 6x Kh-29T/H-29L
- 6x Kh-25ML
- 6x S-25LD
- 6x Kh-31A/Kh-31AD/Kh-31P (anti-radar missile)/Kh-31PD
- 6x Kh-35UE
- 6x Kh-38MLE
- 3x Kh-59M/Kh-59MK/Kh-59M2E
Unguided rockets:
- 120x S-8 (6x B-8M1 rocket pods)
- 30x S-13 (6x B-13L rocket pods)
- 6x S-25
Bombs:
- 3x guided CAB-1500L//CAB-1500LG-F-E/CAB-1500TK
- 6x guided CAB-500KR/CAB-500L/CAB-500S-E/CAB-500OD
- 3x 1500 kg
- 16x 500 kg
- 36x 250 kg
- 48x 100 kg
- 8x KMGU
External fuel tanks:
- 3x PTB-3000 (3 050 liters)
Electronic warfare complex:
L005-S “Sorbcia”
L-175V “Khibiny-10V” (later)
Images
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Double wheels for take-off from the dirt strip
Seat-by-seat cockpit
One more
Cockpit of a military flight simulator
Engine afterburner
One more
Another camo
Reference materials
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Primary sources:
Mikheev A., Fomin A. Poligon. Su-34 [The Polygon. The Su-34]. Moscow, Lybimaya kniga Publ., 1995, 65 p.
Larionov O. “Tridcat’chetverka” atakuet s vozduha [“The Thirty four” attacks from the air], Aviaciya i Vremya [The Aviation and Time], 2005, no. 3, pp. 36—44.
Secondary sources:
https://www.sukhoi.org/products/samolety/254/
https://arsenal-info.ru/pub/srednie-frontovye-i-legkie-udarnye-samolety/su-34-fullback-flanker-c2
Su-34 (Su-32) Fullback Fighter Bomber | Thai Military and Asian Region
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