By 2020, the Russian Air Force is waiting for a massive upgrade of its fleet of combat aircraft. Only some Su fighters from the military pilots should receive at least 440 units. Among them are the newest T-5 X-generation systems, created on the basis of the Russian-Indian Su-50MKI fighter - Su-30CM, Su-30, front-line bomber Su-35 and multifunctional fighters Su-34М30. The appearance of these machines should significantly increase the combat potential of the Air Force. However, experts express concern that a similar raznosortitsa similar in combat capabilities of machines, by contrast, will lead to the opposite effect. With the T-50, everything is more or less clear. This machine is the quintessence of everything modern that is in Russian aviation. A fighter that implements a number of innovative solutions related to the development of low-visibility technologies, new structural materials and coatings, artificial intelligence, and the elemental base that take our military aircraft industry to a fundamentally different technological level. And around the Su-30SM and Su-35 there are still more questions than answers. And the main one is why the Russian Air Force should buy several types of aircraft close in combat capabilities at once, when it is possible, but rather it is necessary to concentrate resources on the procurement of one fighter. It is planned to engage in its improvement and modernization, as most Western manufacturers do.
For example, those of the United States, which, with the 2010 of the year, in anticipation of the appearance of the newest F-35, are conducting a large-scale program to refine their fleet, upgrading the F-15 fighter-bombers Strike Eagle. Which today received new optical sighting containers "Sniper", instead of finalizing the standard radar AN / PG-70, pendant radar with synthetic aperture AN / ASQ-236 from the company Raytheon and new aviation weapons appeared. In the course of such modernization, not only the combat characteristics are improved, but also they are extended twice - from 16 to 32 in thousands of hours - resource characteristics. According to the calculations of the US military, the updated F-15E will last 10 – 15 years. This year, the same program began upgrading the X-NUMX F-300 fighter jets, previously planned to replace the newest F-16. Received new multifunctional radar, sighting systems, and before that equipped with new suspended sighting containers "Sniper", in their combat capabilities have become identical to the more expensive F-35E.
DEVELOPMENT LIMIT
A similar development path today is proposed by the Su-30CM fighter, created on the basis of the Russian-Indian Su-30MKI. As part of the state armament program up to 2020, the Air Force plans to receive at least 60 of such vehicles. In terms of its combat characteristics, the Su-30CM is already taking Russian aviation to a new level of combat capabilities. The vehicle has super-maneuverability, a good on-board equipment complex, a radar that provides detection of large-sized sea targets at a distance of up to 400 km with a resolution of 20 m, as well as small-sized targets at a distance of up to 120 km.
Manufacturers of the machine associate a further increase in combat characteristics with the installation of containers with infrared and laser sighting equipment on the fighter to detect and destroy small ground targets. And, despite the fact that this approach will somewhat worsen the other characteristics of the aircraft, nevertheless, it fits into the global trend of modernizing the equipment in service.
For the Russian Air Force, the Su-30CM is good because it is actually a plane from the "shelf" - worked out, proven over the years of operation, and most importantly - mass-produced (the Irkutsk aircraft factory is able to produce fighter jets a year before the 30, which practically corresponds to Soviet production volumes). But there is one significant "but." The technical appearance of the Su-30MKI and their almost complete analog Su-30CM was formed in the middle - the end of 90-s, which, in fact, limits the ability to increase their combat capabilities and maintain the high competitiveness of Russia in the heavy fighter segment in the foreign market. In addition, no one still knows the specification of the on-board equipment of this machine, supplied by the Russian Air Force.
Since the Su-30CM was originally created for Delhi with the use of French, Israeli and Indian equipment, it is very likely that in this form it enters the Russian Air Force. And here you do not need a special conspiracy thinking to suggest what this may be fraught with. The CIA defector Edward Snowden made this clear. As well as the experience of operating Western military equipment and equipment by the armies of Iraq and Libya, which simply stopped working during the military conflict with the United States.
For successful export we need new solutions. The main one, of course, is the T-50, and before it appeared, a radical solution to the issue of updating the Russian Air Force fleet could only be found in the way of purchasing new generation 4 ++ fighters, such as the Su-35.
DEVELOPMENT PRIORITY
Multi-purpose fighter generation 4 ++ MIG-35.In the West, this car is already called the Russian 5 fighter, the main competitor of the American F-22 Raptor, behind the eyes. Nevertheless, the Su-35 is still a fighter of the generation “4 ++”, in which the technologies of the fighter of the 5 generation are widely applied. The start-up deliveries of the Su-35 to the Air Force will ensure a smooth transition to the new-generation airline complexes without weakening the country's defense capability due to the mass abandonment of previous-generation planes in service. The Sukhoi Design Bureau calls this fighter an intermediate stage for the development of new generation equipment by combatant pilots. However, the word "intermediate" does not quite correctly reflect the essence of the new machine.
The aerodynamic layout of the fuselage Su-35 is the most perfect of all the predecessors. It differs more rapid forms than the 30-th, and the lack of anterior horizontal tail (GIP). Horizontal rudders on the Indian-made Su-30MKI were responsible for enhancing the maneuverability of the fighter. Thanks to them and the engine with a rotary nozzle, the Su-30 became the best fighter in the world. Figures of aerobatic "Pugachev Cobra" - when the plane is rapidly gaining altitude and at some point, stopping, hangs in the air literally on the tail, and then starts to nose down like a falling leaf, turn around in place around its axis, does not another combat fighter. “Dry” can also, having accelerated, sharply brake the entire plane of the fuselage, standing on the tail, and in such a position to continue flying at the minimum speed at which any other machine would simply fall.
These tactical capabilities are fully used by Indian pilots during joint exercises with the US Air Force and other countries. In the course of one of them, the Indians smashed the Americans to the F-15C / D Eagle. As it turned out, the Russian-Indian machines both maneuvered and saw the Americans better and further, which means they were the first to hit the target.
SUPERMANUVURAL AND SUPER SECONDARY
In addition to improved aerodynamics and a more sophisticated control system, the engine of NPO Saturn - 35C is responsible for the super-maneuverability of the Su-117. The engine was developed on the basis of AL-31F engines installed on Su-27 airplanes, but differs from them in increased 14,5 tons of tons against 12,5 tons, like its predecessor, a long life and lower fuel consumption. This gives the car not only greater speed and maneuverability, but also the ability to take more weapons. This engine will stand on the first serial fighter T-50. It is also called the engine of the first stage. The motor of the second stage, closely approximating the T-50 to the American F-22, is still in development. But, as was noted at the recently held Le Bourget aerospace show in France, it is almost ready.
Speaking of Su-35 engines, Sergey Bogdan, a Sukhoi experimental test pilot, noted that during the first flight the new Su-35 accompanied Su-30MK. This made it possible to compare the traction characteristics of the engines of two aircraft. During the flight, the Su-35 performed overclocking on the maximum unformed mode, and the escort plane pilot had to use the afterburner, periodically lagging behind the new car. This is a very serious advantage, which gives the combatant pilot more opportunities in air combat, the pilot said.
EYES AND EARS OF THE 5 GENERATION
From the 5 generation to the Su-35 and cockpit. She was shown more than once at the MAKS aerospace show in Zhukovsky near Moscow. Unlike the Su-27 and other non-digital aircraft, there are no analog instruments with familiar arrows. Instead of them - two large color liquid crystal screens. On them, as in a regular TV, in the “picture in picture” mode, all the information necessary to the pilot is displayed. Moreover, because of its complexity and volume, it is not in the usual form - the “figures” are indications of height, range, etc., but figuratively. That is, the pilot can turn on the three-dimensional display of the environment: terrain, location of targets. Just like in a computer flight simulator. Some of this information may be transmitted to the protective glass of the helmet. True, he is still in development. Due to this, the pilot is not constrained by the need to constantly look at the instrument panel and will be able to freely turn his head, visually assessing the flight and combat information.
The hydrodynamic actuators of the Su-35 power plant are replaced by electric ones. According to the designers, this not only saves space and weight, but also allows for the introduction of parallel (remote) control into the machine's control. In practice, this means that the role of the pilot becomes less noticeable. That is, the computer decides at what speed and in what modes the car will hit the target and at what point allow the pilot to use weapon. In this case, part of the complex flight regimes - flying at extremely low altitudes with rounding of the terrain - the machine takes over. It will also ensure that the pilot is safe for the fighter to use a weapon or not to bring the plane into an uncontrolled corkscrew.
At the Su-35 for the first time stands the domestic inertia-free navigation system - SINS. This is an electronic-mechanical device, without which no fighter today can not be considered modern. Its task is to collect and analyze all flight information and to ensure the departure and return of the aircraft to its aerodrome. The BINS works in conjunction with GPS and GLONASS receivers, but maybe without them.
In addition, the fighter is promising, designed specifically for the T-50, radar complex with an active phased antenna array (AFAR). This is more 1000 miniature transceiver modules, combined into a single antenna field. The power of each - 10 watts. Such a radar is today only on the F-22. Thanks to him, the Su-35 sees everything that is done in the air and on earth at a distance of several hundred kilometers. Can lead to 30 targets while simultaneously aiming at 10 of them. And, as the designers say, at the same time shelling them all. Literally a fan launching rockets.
Multi-purpose fighter generation 4 ++ Su-35.NON-ALTERNATIVE FAVORITE
Russia is still lagging behind in creating the 5 generation fighter from the United States. American F-22 Raptor has long been in the army. Nevertheless, the Su-35, the fighter of the previous generation “4 ++”, shows today how much more advanced the Russian T-50 can be. It is for this reason that Moscow was so important to show the Su-35 at the Le Bourget aerospace show. This is both a political component of military-technological rivalry with Washington, and a purely economic one.
The T-50, like the F-22, will not become a tradable export item. The price of one “predator” - 133,1 million dollars, the Russian T-50 will be at least cheaper, but also not cheap. But the Su-35 will cost slightly more than the predecessors of the generation "4". That is, it will be an excellent export product with the “generation 5 minus” tag. With an eye to the main Russian buyers of the Su brand: China, India, Malaysia, Algeria. If we take into account the technological effectiveness of the new machine, then Moscow can fight for the Brazilian market. After all, Su-35 surpasses all European fighters of the “4 +” type such as Rafale and Eurofighter 2000, modernized American fighters like F-15, F-16 and F-18 and can counteract fifth-generation fighters F-35 and F-22A.
“If we compare Su-30CM and Su-35,” said Vadim Kozyulin, a professor at the Academy of Military Sciences, it turns out that the first is just a “bridge” from the old Su-27 to the more advanced Su-35. The second is a truly modern fighter, showing the evolution of Russian military aircraft to the fifth generation of technology. ”
According to the expert, a possible solution to the raznosortitsy problem could be the proposal of the Military-Industrial Commission and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin personally to consider the possibility of unifying the model line of Su fighters based on what plants in Komsomolsk and Novosibirsk are doing. Or offer Irkutsk to start developing a new model of the promising Su-35 fighter. All this could not only reduce the cost of aircraft for the Russian Air Force, simplify their maintenance, facilitate the development of new aircraft in the army, but also eliminate the competition of our aircraft factories in the domestic and foreign markets.