The Sukhoi Su-27 (NATO designation: Flanker) is a Russian single-seat fighter aircraft designed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau under Pavel Sukhoi. Currently in service with the air forces of the CIS, China (as the J-11), Syria, and Vietnam. India has received a variant designated Su-30MKI (Flanker-C). The export cost is around $35 million per aircraft.
Background
In 1969, the Soviet Union decided to build an air superiority fighter under the PFI (perspektivnyi frontovoy istrebitel, advanced frontal fighter) program, intended to have greater range and weaponry than Western counterparts.
Eight years later designers at Sukhoi began testing a prototype named T10 (Flanker-A), making the first test flight on May 20, 1977. After the second prototype crashed in July 1978, killing a pilot, development was greatly slowed.
In 1981, the SDB built a new prototype, the T10S (Flanker-B), a radical redesign that entered service in 1984. From 1986, a special Su-27 designated P-42 set 27 new class records for rate of climb and altitude between 1986 and 1988.
It is a large and heavy aircraft, made of lightweight aluminium alloy with a complex fly-by-wire control system, making it very maneuverable. It famously demonstrates the Cobra maneuver — briefly sustained level flight at a 120-degree angle of attack. Certain variants with thrust vector control can perform hard turns with almost no radius.
A naval variant, the Su-33, was planned for the Admiral Kuznetsov. Around 680 were manufactured by the USSR, with 400 in service with the Russian Tactical Air Force.
Weaponry
- GSh-301 automatic cannon (30 mm, 1,500 rounds/min, 150 rounds)
- 10 hardpoints for ordnance
- Up to 6 medium-range R-27 AA missiles
- 4 short-range R-73 heat-seeking AA missiles
- X-31 anti-radar missiles (Su-27IB variant)