Su-34 and F-15E. Meeting is inevitable
... Iraq was destroyed by the war under the wing, everywhere the consequences of the recent NATO bombing were visible aviation: the desert surface was dotted with countless funnels, wreckage of cars and cars on the broken roads tanks. Once blooming oases of towns now turned into dusty ruins, a terrible haze from burning oil wells covered the horizon.
In the winter of 1991, tactical strike aircraft once again proved its high combat capabilities: using precision-guided munitions, fighter-bombers for 30 days of continuous bombardment completely paralyzed the country. Multi-purpose machines F-16, F-15E, F-111 and F / A-18 caused much more damage than the thick-bellied B-52 and the notorious stealth.
Among foreign multipurpose impact machines, the F-15E "Strike Eagle" is becoming increasingly important - having successfully debuted in Operation "Desert Storm", "Strike Needles" committed crimes in the land of Yugoslavia, in order to return to the Persian Gulf (2003). This time F-15E became the main force of aviation: thanks to a solid combat load and perfect aiming equipment, F-15E could find and destroy the most difficult targets.
The idea of creating a universal strike aircraft was relevant not only abroad. Back in the middle of 80-ies in the OKB im. BY. Sukhoi began work on creating a new shock machine of the 4 generation based on the Su-27 fighter. The project under the code T-10B was subsequently implemented as a Su-34 front bomber. In connection with the well-known political and economic changes that occurred in our Fatherland, mass production of the Su-34 began only a few years ago, at present new bombers are gradually replacing the previous-generation Su-24 aircraft at the combat position. Let's hope that in the near future, the Su-34 will become the main aircraft of the front-line bomber aviation of the Russian Air Force, and their export modifications will be widely recognized in the world market.
Two completely different machines - Su-34 and F-15E are focused on performing the same tasks. Which car was perfect? And in general, is it correct to compare the Su-34 with the F-15E? We will try to answer these questions.
Pedigree heroes
Kick from the flank
Multipurpose highly maneuverable fighter with unrivaled flight performance. Su-27 raised aerobatics to a new level, opened previously unattainable flight modes in aviation. Domestic and foreign experts recognize that the best aerodynamic configuration realized to date on the aircraft. Thanks to the integral layout and the static instability incorporated into the design, the Su-27 fighter gained superiority in close-combat maneuvering over any airborne enemy.
Killer genes A proven killer who scored 104 confirmed air victories. The first plane in the world of the fourth generation, which for ten years, before the advent of the Su-27, was the undisputed ruler of the heavens - anyone who dared to challenge the F-15, at the same moment replenished the list of trophies "Needle".
Su-34
Supersonic armored cruiser designed for insane low-altitude raids on enemy positions. A powerful fighter-powered attack machine specializes in the destruction of heavily protected targets, night and day, in the densest fog and furious thunderstorms, under conditions of powerful radio-electronic interference and echelonized air defense.
Su-34 combines the experience of the combat use of shock machines in local conflicts. First time in stories aviation, cockpit front bomber made in the form of durable armored capsules. The crew and the most important units of the aircraft are covered with titanium armor up to 17 mm in thickness.
Entry to the cab through the front landing gear niche
Despite the doubts of some experts in the feasibility of such protection on a modern aircraft (the DShK machine gun bullet pierces 20 mm armor steel from a distance of 500 m, 23-mm automatic anti-aircraft shells tear such pieces of armor at a distance of a kilometer, but about the striking factors of anti-aircraft missile combat units even worth mentioning) - despite all these doubts, armor protection reliably protects the aircraft from a stray bullet from a rifle weapons, which increases the survival rate of the machine in low-altitude flights over enemy territory.
A unique feature of the Su-34 was the presence of a second radar to review the rear hemisphere - the system will warn the crew in time about the threat, and, if necessary, respond with a volley of guided missiles to an enemy fighter’s attempt to hit the “dry” in the back.
Strong turbulent eddies and sudden gusts of wind near the ground will not prevent the crew from completing the combat mission - sensitive electronics Su-34 will determine the increase in loads and the aircraft will receive forward horizontal tail, the system automatically damps harmful aerodynamic phenomena.
The Su-34 brand has become a double cabin in which the pilot and the navigator do not “breathe in the back of the head” to each other, but sit “shoulder to shoulder” - this solution improves the ergonomics of workplaces and simplifies the interaction between crew members. The “dry” cabin is equipped with everything necessary for long-distance raids - there is a bathroom and a mini-kitchen with a microwave on board, there is enough space for rest in the cabin - one of the crew members can take a nap right on the floor between the seats.
Smart electronics independently leads the plane to the target, the pilots satisfy their hunger, and comfortably settled in a warm spacious cabin in comfortable ejection seats K-36DM ... Idyll! Despite the stinging remarks about the need for such comforts aboard a front-line bomber, whose combat sortie lasts from an 2-3 force for an hour - what's wrong with the designers being able to provide such unprecedented measures for the convenience of the crew? If, on the contrary, the pilots were sitting in a narrow cramped cockpit, conversations would begin that engineers do not pay attention to ergonomics at all.
And what about weapons? What will please the Russian “probable enemy” front-line bomber? Eight tons of combat load on 12 external suspension nodes, built-in 30 caliber aircraft gun. A wide range of weapons: free-fall bombs and blocks of unguided missiles, a range of precision weapons based on adjustable bombs and air-to-surface missiles of various types and sizes.
In addition to strike weapons, the aircraft can carry electronic warfare containers, outboard fuel tanks, small cargo containers and aircraft weapons for air combat, which are generally similar to the Su-27 fighter — for example, the RNV-AE medium-range missiles.
Despite the short life span, the Su-34 had already had a chance to take part in a real combat conflict. During the “Three Eight” war, the Su-34 of the Russian Air Force was used to conduct electronic warfare over Georgian positions. During one of the combat missions, he destroyed the X-31P key radar 36D6-M near the village of Shavshvebi, using the radar missile, thereby paralyzing the Georgian air defense system.
F-15E "Strike Eagle"
"Strike Eagle" - largely ambiguous machine, often referred to as a multi-purpose fighter. Alas, this is a fallacy: in fact, the F-15E is a powerful strike aircraft designed to destroy ground targets. If you call a spade a spade, then the F-15E is a front-line (tactical) bomber - choose a name to your liking. I have enough good reasons for this:
1. The claim that the F-15E are assigned to the fighter units of the US Air Force proves absolutely nothing. For example, in the fighter units, along with the F-15E, there are anti-tank attack aircraft A-10 "Thunderbolt". Paradox? Or senseless secrecy?
2. Tactical bomber (I repeat: bomber!) F-15E is able to use the widest spectrum of air-to-air ammunition in the world, including:
- guided and unguided bombs weighing up to 5000 pounds (2270 kg),
- JDAM ammunition line (GPS-based kit that turns any free-fall bomb into a precision weapon),
- three types of CBU cluster munitions
- AGM-65 Mavrik guided missiles, heavy AGM-130 and AGM-158,
- Harpoon anti-ship missiles,
- HARM anti-radar missiles,
- Tactical nuclear weapons - B61 bombs with eight types of combat units of different power, for the destruction of highly protected targets. Just in case.
3. The crew of two people, the ability to fly at a very low altitude in the following terrain mode, a radar station optimized for detecting ground targets, 10 400 kg of suspended elements (bombs, fuel tanks, sighting and navigation systems) need to look at these positions aircraft.
4. Finally, the experience of using the F-15E leaves no doubt - in front of us is a bomber bashfully disguised as a fighter. A terrible bloody trail stretches for “Strike Eagle” through the mountains of Afghanistan and the oil-rich Mesopotamia, through Palestine, the Balkans and Libya ... Only in winter 1991 of the year in Iraq, then 24 “experimental” F-15E made 2142 combat sorties! What work did the Strike Needles do in Iraq? We were engaged in the search and destruction of important ground targets: the Scud missile positions, command posts, convoys, anti-aircraft missile systems that had accidentally escaped after a deafening strike by Tomahawks.
The power of the “Strike Needle” in its hanging containers, first of all, of the LANTIRN sighting and navigation system (Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night), which amplifies the light of stars 25 thousands of times. In technical terms, the system consists of two electronic units - navigation AN / AAQ-13 and sighting AN / AAQ-14, the data from which are projected on the indicator of the windshield of the cab. The weight of each container within 200 kg, the navigation contains a thermal imager and a radar for tracking the terrain, the target - an additional high-resolution thermal imager, a laser range finder and target tracking sensors. All this allows the Strike Needle to make high-speed throws at an ultra-low altitude (30-70 m depending on the terrain), to detect and destroy point targets at any time of day and in all weather conditions.
Indicator on the windshield of an F-16 fighter equipped with a LANTIRN container
LANTIRN is an indispensable attribute of most US Air Force aircraft operating in local conflicts - in addition to the F-15E, this kit is equipped with the latest F-16 modifications. But the Strike Needle also has some unique features, for example, the APG-70 radar with high resolution when detecting ground objects: at a distance of 300 km, the resolution is 38 m (this is enough to notice the bend of the riverbed or the contrast building in the zone urban development), from the 30 km distance, the resolution of the “Strike Eagle” radar improves to 2,5 m - any point target becomes visible. Another feature of the APG-70 was the ability to map the underlying terrain, while the “picture” retains sufficient quality even when maneuvering with multiple overloads.
The 20 years have passed and the APG-70 with a slit antenna array has finally become obsolete - the old radar is being replaced with the advanced APG-82. “Strike Needles” are the only tactical bombers in the world equipped with an active phased-array radar.
Representatives of the United States Air Force emphasize that the F-15E was created specifically for action in the face of strong enemy air defenses, and if the situation worsens, it can independently stand up for itself in air combat - changes in the aircraft’s specialization have little affected its destructive qualities. “Strike Eagle” is still able to carry and use short-range medium-range air-to-air missiles, including AIM-120 (a favorite F-15 fighter, usually at international exercises, representatives of foreign air forces ask not to use this weapon - otherwise, the air battle ends, and not having time to start).
The fighter’s flight characteristics have also been preserved to achieve air superiority - the Strike Eagle climb rate reaches 250 m / s, and the maximum speed without suspensions exceeds 2,5 sound speed (2650 km / h). Of course, this has little to do with the implementation of his “main work” - at extremely low altitude, hung with clusters of Strike Eagle bombs, like the Su-34, flies at transonic speeds.
The high combat characteristics and versatility of the Strike Eagle have earned it a certain popularity on the international arms market. In addition to the US Air Force, the expensive and complicated "Strike Eagle" limitedly exploits Israel (25 machines, modification F-15I "Thunder"), corrupted by oil and its own greatness Saudi Arabia (84 machines, modification F-15S) and the city-state of Singapore (24 machine modification F-15SG) - by the way, this tiny country has a truly huge air force - more than 100 most modern combat aircraft, while the area of Singapore is 4 times smaller than the area of Moscow! Another F-15E operator is South Korea - in 2002, despite the participation of such “luminaries” as the Eurofighter Typhoon, Dassault Rafale and Su-35, the tender for the supply of 40 combat aircraft was won by the Strike Eagle (Korean modification F-15K).
At the front F-15E, under the engine nacelles, containers with an aiming-navigation system are clearly visible.
It is clearly seen that only the richest US allies order the "top" modification of a tactical bomber, the small European countries of NATO prefer to buy relatively cheap F-16. NATO aviation often has to act in local conflicts, where there is no powerful air defense, and enemy aircraft are destroyed on airfields. When using overhead containers with aim-navigation equipment, the difference between F-15E and F-16 Block 60 in such conditions is not critical, and F-16 is half the price. Although some talk about saving is appropriate, if only a set of containers LANTIRN worth 5 million dollars!
Results of the correspondence fight
The Russian front bomber was created as a result of a global rethinking of the Su-27 fighter. Despite the apparent external similarity, any element of the design Su-34 is a completely new detail. The armored cabin, chassis, onboard electronics ... literally everything has changed. The front horizontal tail appeared, but the ventral ridges and adjustable air intakes of the engines disappeared. When creating a promising Su-34 bomber, the results of recent local conflicts were taken into account, as a result, a powerful and balanced strike aircraft appeared.
The American F-15E is a successful impromptu based on the serial fighter, more precisely its two-seater training modification F-15D. On the plane, only the key elements - its avionics and weapons - were changed. “Strike Eagle” impresses with its high technologies: radar with AFAR, all-view active jamming station, conformal fuel tanks (made in the form of streamlined overlays on the side surfaces of the aircraft).
Each car is strong in its own way. The only convincing advantage of the Strike-Needle is its vast combat experience. But, despite all the long arguments, the truth is quite obvious - being in the place of the pilot, each of us would prefer the Su-34 armored cabin.
Information