Characteristics of the Su-35. Su-35 aircraft: specifications, photo of the fighter. Comparative characteristics of the Su-35 and F-22

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

In 2003, the Sukhoi Design Bureau began the second in line modernization of the Su-27 fighter to create the Su-35 aircraft. The characteristics achieved in the process of modernization make it possible to call it a 4++ generation fighter, which means that its capabilities are as close as possible to the PAK FA fifth generation aircraft.

Development history

In the early 1980s, while the Su-27 was still being mastered by the Soviet Air Force, its general designer, Pavel Sukhoi, was already planning to develop an upgraded version. Initially designated as the Su-27M, it was equipped with significantly improved avionics, which gave grounds to consider it the best fighter of those years. It was also equipped with a more diverse set of weapons, which allowed the Su-27M (see photo below) to carry out the tasks of destruction and ground targets.

The upgraded version was characterized by many changes in aerodynamics, avionics, power plant design, andalso had an increased carrying capacity. High-strength composite materials and aluminum-lithium alloys have been used to reduce weight and increase fuel capacity.

The Su-27M was equipped with a turbojet engine with a thrust of 125 kN, more powerful than the Su-27. The Su-27 modernization program itself was designated "Su-35BM", where the letters meant "big modernization". Much of what was done at that time was incorporated into the modern Su-35 aircraft, the technical characteristics of which significantly exceed its original prototype Su-27M.

Further modernization

In 2003, a project was launched to produce a fighter to bridge the gap between the upgraded versions of the Su-27M and Su-30MK and the fifth-generation combat vehicle PAK FA. The aim of the project was the second modernization of the airframe of the Su-27 aircraft (hence its classification as a 4++ generation fighter) in such a way that the performance of the Su-35 would correspond to the level implemented by the PAK FA. In addition, the aircraft was supposed to become an alternative to the Su-30 family in export deliveries.

The development of the aircraft continued until 2007, when it became available for sale. Somewhat later, the Sukhoi Design Bureau reported that the Su-35 development program was launched due to fears that the PAK FA project could face a lack of funding.

Updating the horizontal stabilizer

The characteristics of the Su-35 in terms of the design of its airframe include numerous differences from the Su-27M, although outwardly the aircraft retains a strong external resemblance to itspredecessor.

One of the distinctive design features of the Su-27M airframe was the aerodynamic design of the canard-type controls, which allows the aircraft to fly at maximum angles of attack up to 120°. With this scheme, the horizontal tail of the aircraft - stabilizers with elevators - is located ahead of its wings.

However, with this arrangement of the horizontal tail, the radar signal reflected from the surface of the aircraft is greater than with the traditional scheme behind the wings. This facilitates the detection of the aircraft. Therefore, modern aircraft that are hardly visible to radars (F-22 Raptor, PAK FA, and Su-35) have the traditional location of the horizontal tail - behind the wings. To maintain the advantages of using the front horizontal tail, they, along with the main tail, behind the wings also have turning sections of the wing bulges.

What new was brought by these changes to the appearance of the Su-35 aircraft? The characteristics (the photo below shows the differences between its appearance and the Su-27M) of the fighter turned out to be as close as possible to the 5th generation aircraft, with the exception of its greater radar visibility and the absence of an active airborne radar.

Other airframe modifications

The characteristic of the Su-35 in terms of its braking method differs from the Su-27M in the absence of an air brake (shield). Su-35 braking method is that its rudders, located in the rear of the twovertical keels, when landing, they deviate in different directions, which creates a braking force. Other aerodynamic improvements include a reduction in the height of the vertical stabilizers, a smaller canopy protrusion, and coating it with a conductive coating to camouflage when the aircraft is exposed to radar.

Strengthening of the strength of the airframe was achieved through the widespread use of titanium alloys, which increased its service life to about 30 years of operation while increasing the maximum takeoff weight to 34.5 tons. The internal fuel capacity has been increased by more than 20% to 11.5 tons and can be raised to 14.5 tons with additional tanks.

Advanced Avionics

The Sukhoi Design Bureau did everything to ensure that the performance of the Su-35 in terms of avionics was only excellent. The operation of all units and devices of the aircraft is controlled by an information control system equipped with two on-board computers. It collects and processes data from various tactical and flight control systems and presents relevant information to the pilot through two primary multifunction displays (MFDs), which together with three secondary MFDs form the cockpit glass. The aircraft has many other upgrades to its avionics and electronic systems, including a digital wireless flight control system, and the pilot is equipped with a helmet-mounted information screen and night vision goggles.

Radar and aiming system

This partThe characteristics of the Su-35 include the presence of the Irbis radar with a passive phased antenna array, which is an important component of the aircraft's fire control system. The radar is capable of detecting an air target with an area of 3 square meters. m at a distance of 400 km and can give target designation for 30 air targets, and lead eight of them.

The radar is also capable of reproducing a map of the earth using various modes, including aperture synthesis mode. The Irbis radar is complemented by an optical-electronic aiming system that uses the functionality of a laser rangefinder, TV, and an infrared target detector.

Armament aircraft

What weapons can the Su-35 fighter carry? The characteristics of its weapons systems include the use of a variety of long-range and short-range air-to-air missiles, accurate and unguided air-to-ground weapons, which include rockets, volumetric explosion bombs and conventional bombs. The maximum weapon payload is 8 tons, which can be carried on fourteen hardpoints. The fighter can use missiles with a range of up to 300 km.

Fighter engines

Su-35 is equipped with a pair of turbojet engines, the thrust vector of which is controlled in one plane. This engine is a simplified version of the power plant of the Saturn-117 type of the fifth-generation fighter PAK FA. Its thrust is estimated at 145 kN, which is 20 kN more than that of the Su-27M. It has a service life of 4000 hours. Pair of enginesaircraft has the ability to control the resulting thrust vector. Each of the nozzle thrust vectors has its own axis of rotation inclined to the vertical plane. In this case, the deviation of the thrust vector of each nozzle can be represented as a result of the deviation of the nozzle itself in the down-inward and upward-outward directions. If the thrust vectors of both nozzles deviate synchronously, then the position of the aircraft can be controlled only by the pitch angle, but with different deviations of the thrust vectors of the nozzles, the yaw and roll angles can also be controlled. A similar control system is also implemented on the PAK FA fighter.

The engine allows the Su-35 to achieve sustained supersonic speed without the use of afterburner. Radar absorbing coating is applied to engine parts to reduce the radar signal reflected from the aircraft.

Comparative characteristics of the Su-35 and F-22

To date, the only 5th generation fighter in the world that has been put into service is the American F-22 Raptor. As you know, the Ste alth technology implemented in its design and ensuring the ste alth of the aircraft by radars is based on two principles:

• giving the airframe of the aircraft a specially designed geometric shape, which ensures the reflection of the radar signal in the direction opposite to the direction of its arrival;
• scattering (absorbing) the energy of the radar signal in the materials that make up the surface of the aircraft in order to attenuate it to such a level that the detection of the reflected signal becomesunlikely.

According to American data, the reflectivity of the F-22 fighter is equivalent to a golf ball, according to Russian data, it is 0.3-0.4 m². For comparison: for the MiG-29 it is 5 m² , and for the Su-27 it is 12 m^{2. Is it possible, at least partially, to achieve the performance of the Raptor on the Su-35? The characteristics (their comparison with the F-22 is given below) of the Russian aircraft allow us to express cautious optimism in this matter.}

Russian designers and scientists have developed materials and methods that significantly reduced the reflectivity of the Su-35. Russian scientists have created mathematical tools to calculate the scattering of electromagnetic waves by objects of complex configuration, such as the Su-35, breaking them into small facets and adding the effects of edge waves and surface currents. Antennas are modeled separately and then added to the entire simulation model.

A new radar-absorbing material has been developed to cover aircraft engines. It does not interfere with the operation of anti-icing systems and withstands high-speed air flows and temperatures up to 200 ° C. A radio-absorbing layer 0.7-1.4 mm thick is applied to the surfaces of engines and to the front stages of a low-pressure compressor using a robotic spraying system.

The Su-35 also has a treated cockpit canopy that reflects radar waves, reducing the contribution to the image intensifier tube from metallic cockpit components. Russian technologists have developed a process of plasma deposition of alternating layers of metallic and polymeric materials. This waycreates a coating that blocks RF electromagnetic waves, resists cracking, and does not trap solar heat in the cab.

Of course, all these activities only bring the characteristics of the Su-35 closer to the capabilities of the F-22 Raptor, but do not make them identical. Real parity (and possibly superiority) will be achieved after the adoption of the Russian 5th generation fighter PAK FA.

As for the other flight characteristics, their comparison for the Su-35 and F-22 gives the following picture. The Russian aircraft is four meters longer (21.9 m versus 18.9 m) and almost a meter taller (5.9 m versus 5.09 m) than the American aircraft with a larger wingspan (14.75 m versus 13.6 m). At the same time, the mass of the Su-35 (empty) is almost equal to the mass of the F-22 (19,500 kg versus 19,700 kg), but the maximum mass of the “American” is two and a half tons more (34,500 kg versus 38,000 kg). The maximum speed for both aircraft is almost the same - about 2400-2500 km / h, as well as the practical climb ceiling - 20,000 m.

But the flight range of the Su-35 with two external tanks is higher (4600 km against 2960 km), without tanks, the "drying" will also fly further than the Raptor (3600 km against 3220 km).