 |
| The New Su-35s Fighter Has Greater Specifications Than the Su-35 Flanker |
Moscow - Russia has deployed the latest generation of fighter aircraft since early 2023, such as the Su-30 Flanker-C, Su-35 Flanker-E and Su-57 Felon. The Russian Ministry of Defense has officially confirmed that the Sukhoi Su-35 air force is the most widely used and dominates in aerial combat.
Russia relies heavily on the Su-35 fighter to replace the role of obsolete fighter jets. Moreover, the Su-35 has a very good radar and very effective long-range missiles. Even Moscow can use its Su-35 fighter to support ground operations. The Su-35 Flanker-E fighter is an advanced capable multirole air superiority fighter developed from the Su-27 Flanker.
Compared to the Su-27 design, the Su-35's forward fuselage has been upgraded to accommodate the larger 900mm diameter Irbis-E radar antenna. High-strength, low-weight, composite materials have been used for non-structural items such as the radome, nose wheels, doors, and leading flaps. Some of the fuselage structures are made of carbon fiber and lithium aluminum alloy.
The Su-35 fighter is 21.9 meters long, has a wingspan of 15.3 meters and is 5.9 meters high. The aircraft is operated by a single pilot and has the capacity to carry a maximum payload of 8,000 kg. The cockpit has a central control column and is equipped with a Zvesda zero-zero ejection seat which allows the pilot to eject at zero speed and zero altitude. The aircraft has quadruplex, digital fly-by-wire control developed by Avionika Moscow Research and Production Complex JSC (MNPK Avionika).
The aircraft has 12 hardpoints for carrying weapons, with each wing having four hardpoints. One at the wingtip and three stations under the wing. There are two hardpoints on the underside of the fuselage on the centerline and one under each engine. This hardpoint is to carry the Vympel R-27 air-to-air missile (NATO designation AA-10 Alamo). The medium-range radar-guided Vympel missile is known as the R-77 (AA-12 Adder) and the short-range infrared-guided Vympel is known as the R-73E (AA-11 Arrow).
There are also the Kh-29 (AS-14 Kedge) Molniya tactical air-to-surface missile, the Kh-31P (AS-17 Krypton) anti-radiation missile, and the Kh-58UShE (AS-11 Kilter) long-range missile. These include the Kh-31A anti-ship missile, the Kh-59MK (AS-18 Kazoo) long-range missile, the Kalibr long-range missile and the NPO Mashinostroenia heavy long-range Yakhont missile.
The Su-35 aircraft can be armed with various guided bombs, such as KAB-500Kr TV, KAB-500S-E satellite guided bomb, LGB-250 laser guided bomb, Kab-1500Kr TV guided bomb, and KAB-1500LG laser guided bomb. The aircraft can also be armed with 80 mm, 122 mm, 266 mm and 420 mm rockets.
Includes electronic warfare packages, such as a radar warning system, radar jammer, cooperative radar jamming system, missile approach warning, laser warning, and chaff and flare dispensers. The Su-35 fighter is also equipped with a Gryazev-Shipunov 30 mm GSh-30-1 cannon mounted on the right wing with 150 rounds of ammunition.
Latest Version Su-35
The latest version of the fighter, the Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker-E, is known as the Su-35BM (Bolshaya Modernizatsiya or Major Modernization). The SU-35BM entered serial production as Su-35s for the Russian Air Force in 2010.
The aircraft was developed, tested and manufactured by the Moscow-based Sukhoi Design Bureau and manufactured by KNAPPO Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The two companies are part of the Sukhoi Aviation Holding Joint Stock Company.
The Su-35s fighter has high maneuverability (+9g) with a high angle of attack which contributes to dogfighting capabilities. The Russian Air Force ordered 48 Sukhoi Su-35s in August 2009 and the first were delivered to the 929th State Flight Test Center (GLITS) for flight tests in August 2011.
The Russian Ministry of Defense received six production Su-35s from Sukhoi in December 2012. The Su-35s are equipped with the AL-41F1S thrust vectoring engine, upgraded avionics and radar. Its large and powerful engine gave it supercruise capability for a long time. The engine also makes it possible to reach supersonic speeds without using afterburners. The engines have three-dimensional thrust vectoring and make the aircraft highly maneuverable despite the lack of canards. It is currently the only production fighter to use two-plane thrust vectoring nozzles.
Other thrust-vector aircraft, such as the F-22 Raptor and Su-30MKI have a nozzle that vectors only one plane. This poses a major threat to Western generation 4+ fighters, such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, Dassault Rafale, F-15C or F/A-18E Super Hornet. However, the Su-35s are no match for the US F-22 Raptor, which has stealth capabilities.