"Any time, any place." were the words of Sukhoi's Chief Designer, Mikhail Simonov, as he challenged any US aircraft to a mock combat after being questioned about the relevance of the Su37's Thrust Vectoring (TV) manouvers in combat. And it is a challenge which has not been taken up. The Su37 Super Flanker is yet another development of the Su27 (which now seems basic in comparision!). The main improvement/addition in this development is the addition of the AL-37FU thrust vectoring engines.
When the Su37 was displayed at Farnbrough in 1996 it stole the show. Under the control of Sukhoi's Cheif Test Pilot, Eugeny Frolov, the Su37 performed some astounding manouves. These included the "Super Cobra", demonstrated for the first time. In this move the aircraft enters with a speed of 400kmh and is pulled through to an alpha of 135 deg, then recovered to the vertical using TV and held in place for 4-6 seconds. After hanging in the air the nose is allowed to fall to the horizontal position and emerging at 150kmh and no loss of height! Another was basically using the TV to flip the Su37 onto it's back and then to rotate it upright and continue on level in the direct opposite direction to which it had come. All in not much more than the length of the whole aircraft!
The most impressive manouver though, was the kulbit (somersault). With an entry speed of 350kmh the aircraft is flipped onto it's back (a full 180 deg) facing the opposite direction, inverted and practically stationary. Then after 'pausing' there TV is used to complete the kulbit (360 deg somersault) with a nose down angle of 30 deg and an exit speed of 60kmh! While this is impressive to read it has to be seem to be believed. On the Janes WWW site there are a number of .mov films which show these amazing manouvers.
| Specifications for the AL-37FU | Data |
|---|---|
| Thrust, (sea level, static, after burning), {lb) | 30 866 |
| Two dimensional axisymmetric movable nozel range | +- 15 deg |
| Internal fuel, kg | ? |
| In flight refueling provision | Present |
| Specification | Measurement |
|---|---|
| Wing Span | 14.70 m |
| Length | 22.10 m |
| Height | 6.32 m |
| Wing surface | 62 m2 |
| Aircraft State | Weight |
|---|---|
| Empty | 18 500 kg |
| Take-off for air combat | 26 000 kg |
| Maximum take-off | 34 000 kg |
| Action | Data |
|---|---|
| Max speed at height | 2 400 kmh |
| Max speed at sea level | 1 400 kmh |
| Ceiling | 58 399 ft |
| Maximum range, clean | 3 300 km |
| Structeral maximum positive limit | + 10g |
| Number and Category | Type |
|---|---|
| One GSh-301 30 mm cannon | 150 rounds |
| 8000kg of Air to Air missiles on 14 hardpoints including: | R-40 (AA-6 "Acrid") |
| R-60 (AA-8 "Aphid") | |
| R-27 (AA-10 "Alamo") | |
| R-73A (AA-11 "Archer") | |
| R-77 (AA-12 "Alder") | |
| R-37 | |
| KS-172 (AAL-M) | |
| 8000kg of Air to Ground weapons on 12 hardpoints including: | Alpha (AFM-L) |
| Kh-65S | |
| Kh-31 (AS-17 "Krypton") | |
| Kh-59M (AS-18 "Kazoo") | |
| Kh-35U (AS-20) | |
| Kh-29 (AS-14 "Kledge") | |
| Kh25M (AS-10 "Karen and AS-12 "Kegler") | |
| TV and laser guided bombs | |
| Free fall bombs | |
| Rocket pods | |
| Gun packs |
Copyright © 1996 Andrew Juniper