Su-47 "Berkut": photo, specifications. Why was the project closed?

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

Aircraft manufacturing, especially in the military sphere, we have always paid special attention to - the length of the borders is huge, and therefore there is no way without combat aviation. Even in the 1990s, this sphere managed to survive. Perhaps someone remembers the triumphant appearance of the S-37, which later turned into the Su-47 Berkut. The effect of its appearance was phenomenal, and the new technology aroused incredible interest not only in our country, but also abroad. Why did this happen?

Basic information on the program

The fact is that the plane attracted everyone's attention because of the reverse sweep of the wing. The excitement was such that even modern discussions of the PAK FA project fall short of those events. All experts predicted an impressive future for the new development and wondered when the Su-47 Berkut would appear in the troops. Why was the project closed if everything was so wonderful? About this, as well as about the milestones in the development of this aircraft, we todayand let's talk.

"Top-secret" object

It is known that the first prototype took to the skies of the Moscow region at the end of September 1997. But the very fact of its existence became known much earlier. Already at the end of 1994, the Western press wrote more than once that some secret aircraft was being developed in Russia. Even the proposed name was given - S-32. In general, it is very similar to the fact that the fact of the existence of the aircraft was a secret only for us, because the media of Western states openly wrote about the reverse sweep.

Domestic lovers of military equipment received confirmation of all this information only at the end of 1996. A photograph appeared in domestic periodicals, which immediately raised a lot of questions. There were two planes on it: one of them was easily guessed by the Su-27, but the second car was like nothing else. Firstly, it was completely black, which is not very typical for the Russian Air Force, and secondly, it had reverse-swept wings. A couple of months later (and this no longer surprised anyone) quite detailed diagrams of the new aircraft appeared in the same foreign media. If anyone didn't guess, it was the Su-47 Berkut.

In general, it was possible to keep some secrecy: it later turned out that work on the project had begun back in the 80s. After the collapse of the USSR, almost all information of this kind "suddenly" appeared in the public domain. Which, however, is not surprising.

How it all began

In the late 70s, all the senior leadership of the Air ForceThe USSR was thinking about the strategy of aircraft construction for all subsequent years. Already in 1981, a program was launched that aimed to develop a "new fighter for the 90s." Design Bureau of Mikoyan was appointed as the main design bureau. But the leadership of the Sukhoi Design Bureau managed to convince the project authorities that the existing Su-27 has an impressive reserve for modernization, and therefore the existing machine should be developed, and not “reinvent the wheel.”

Just at that time, MP Simonov became the general director of the design bureau, who nevertheless decided to abandon the modernization plans, proposing to create something really new. This is largely due to the fact that the designers really wanted to test a number of interesting ideas, without risking “burning out” on a failed project: in case of failure, everything could be attributed to novelty. However, even then no one doubted that these developments would be extremely valuable in any case, at least from a scientific and engineering point of view.

Why did you choose the "wrong" wing?

So, why did the innovative Su-47 Berkut get a swept back wing? Compared to traditional designs, it had several significant advantages:

• Excellent aerodynamics, and even at low speeds this advantage is immediately visible.
• Great lift, superior to conventional wings.
• Improve handling characteristics during takeoff and landing.
• Significantly less likely to go into a "deaf" tailspin.
• Excellent centering - since the power elements of the wing are shifted towards the tail, a lot of space is freed up in the central compartment for a rational arrangement of ammunition.

Design problems

All of the above theoretically made it possible to create a truly perfect fighter. But if everything was so good, all the armies of the world would have been flying on such planes for a long time. The fact is that when creating such machines, one has to solve the most difficult design problems:

• Elastic wing divergence. To put it simply, at certain speeds it simply twists. By the way, this phenomenon was also encountered in Nazi Germany, where there were attempts to create such aircraft. The logical decision was to increase the rigidity to the maximum values.
• Dramatically increased weight of the aircraft. When the wing was made from the materials available at the time, it turned out to be very heavy.
• Increased drag coefficient. The specific configuration of the wing leads to an increase in the area of resistance with all the ensuing consequences.
• The aerodynamic focus is strongly shifted, which practically excludes manual piloting in many situations: "smart" electronics are required for stabilization.

The designers had to work hard to solve these problems so that the Su-47 Berkut could fly normally.

Main technological solutions

The main technical solutions were determined fairly quickly. To achieve the desired rigidity, but withIn order not to overload the structure, it was decided to make the wing with the maximum possible use of carbon fiber. Where possible, any metal was abandoned. But then it turned out that all aircraft engines produced in the USSR could not produce the required thrust, and therefore the project was temporarily slowed down.

C-37, first prototype

Here, the creators of the Su-47 (S-37) "Berkut" have fallen on difficult times. In principle, the project was generally wanted to be curtailed due to growing economic problems, but the leadership of the Navy intervened, which offered to make a promising carrier-based fighter out of the aircraft. At the very beginning of the 90s, researchers again returned to the topic of a swept wing, using all the developments available at that time. In fact, it was then that the Su-47 Berkut project appeared.

Achievements of designers and engineers

The most significant achievement of the designers can safely be considered the creation of a unique technology for manufacturing long parts from complex composite materials. In addition, it was possible to achieve truly jewelry accuracy in their docking. The longest parts of the Su-47 Berkut aircraft, the photo of which you see in this article, are eight meters long. Simply put, there are few parts, all of them are connected to each other with the highest precision, the number of bolted and riveted joints has been sharply reduced. This had a very favorable effect both on the rigidity of the structure and on the entire aerodynamics of the aircraft.

The mass of the design aircraft was approaching 20 tons, with at least 14%accounted for complex composites. For maximum simplification, they tried to take some of the parts from mass-produced machines. Thus, the canopy, landing gear, and a number of other structural elements migrated unchanged to the Su-47 Berkut aircraft directly from its failed "ancestor" - the SU-27.

Wing slope is 20° along the leading edge and 37° along the trailing edge. A special influx was made in its root part, which makes it possible to significantly reduce the drag coefficient. Almost all the edges of the wing are entirely occupied by mechanization. Its entire construction is solid composites, with only 10% metal inserts added to achieve the required strength and rigidity.

Management

Directly on the sides of the air intakes there is an all-moving horizontal tail having a trapezoidal shape. The tail unit is also made according to the swept layout. The vertical tail is very similar to that of the same Su-27, but its total area is much larger. This was achieved by making significant changes to the design: it became more efficient, and therefore the dimensions were reduced.

The cross section of the fuselage is close to oval, the outside of the body is very "licked" and as smooth as possible. The nose with minor changes was almost completely borrowed from the Su-27. On the sides of the cockpit are simple, unregulated air intakes. They are also available on the upper part of the fuselage, but the pilot has the ability to control their area, towhat is resorted to during intensive maneuvering, takeoff or landing. As you can see in the photo, on the sides of the nozzles of the Su-47 Berkut aircraft, the characteristics of which we are considering, there are small nodules, inside which radar or other equipment can be placed.

Power plant

Since there was nothing more suitable, the engines were installed on the aircraft with the TRDDF D-30F11 model. They, by the way, were used on MiG-31 interceptors. Their thrust was clearly not enough for such a machine, but it was assumed that in the future it would be possible to develop a more high-torque and economical model. However, even with a takeoff weight of 25.5 tons, the performance of these engines was more than acceptable. At high altitude, the flight speed reached 2.2 thousand km / h, near the ground this figure was 1.5 thousand km / h. Maximum range - 3, 3 thousand kilometers, "ceiling" in height - 18 kilometers.

Equipment and weaponry

For obvious reasons, very little is known about the actual composition of onboard equipment. It can be rightfully assumed that part of it was transferred from the Su-27. The navigation system took full advantage of receiving real-time data from military satellites. It is known that an ejection seat of the K-36DM model was installed in the aircraft, and it differed significantly from typical serial models. The fact is that its back is located at 30 ° to the horizontal.

This was done so that the pilots could more easily endure the huge overloads that occurred during intensive maneuvering onlimit speeds. According to available data, other controls were directly taken from other domestic fighters, and the Su-27 was most often used as a "donor".

Since the plane was exclusively experimental, it did not carry weapons in principle (or information about it is classified). Nevertheless, on the left wing influx, a place for an automatic cannon is clearly visible (there is evidence that it was nevertheless put on an experimental aircraft), and in the middle part of the hull there is a spacious compartment for bomb weapons. Scientists and the military unanimously claim that the project was aimed solely at testing the flight qualities of such machines, and therefore there were no unique weapons on board the Su-47 Berkut. Why was the project closed, which has already shown itself to be quite promising?

Why was the project closed?

It should be remembered that active testing of this prototype continued until the mid-2000s. The project was closed because it was originally planned to be experimental. All the materials that have been accumulated in the course of these works are really priceless. It would be a global mistake to think that it was a fifth generation fighter. Su-47 "Berkut" is only its prototype, but extremely important. So, it is already known that its central bomb bay is almost similar to that on the newest PAK FA. Surely, it appeared on the last one not by chance … Only the military knows how many technical ideas from this aircraft will be used in the future. One can only be sure that there will be many of them.

Further prospects

Despite the theoretical closure of the project, the Su-47 Berkut model still causes heated debates on domestic and foreign resources: experts argue about the prospects for such machines. Thousands of times all the pros and cons of such a technique have been discussed. And there is still no consensus about what awaits similar aircraft in the future: either complete oblivion, or the transfer of all the air forces of the world to such equipment. Many agree that the main obstacle to such global changes is the unrealistic cost of materials and technologies used to create the Berkut.

In general, the project should certainly be considered successful. Although the Su-47 Berkut fighter did not become the predecessor (although, who knows) of the latest fighters, it coped brilliantly with its task of the “white mouse”. So, it was on it that dozens of new developments were tested, and all of them are still classified. Perhaps, with the development of materials science and the reduction in the cost of the process of creating some complex polymers, we will again see this most beautiful aircraft in the sky, really resembling a graceful bird of prey.