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Su-14 attack aircraft Project

After the end of World War II and the beginning of the transition to the use of jet engines, the main efforts were aimed at creating new types of fighters and developing strategic aviation. A similar vector was set in the first place by the cold confrontation that began between the two prevailing geopolitical systems. Attempts to develop new attack aircraft were made, but all projects were curtailed at various stages of development.

The creation of a new battlefield aircraft began in 1948. It was developed under the index "H" (subsequently Su-14 ). Its main feature was to be the use of a VK-1 turbojet engine, which was created in OKB-117 under the guidance of V.Ya.Klimov . The first results were achieved by the fall of the same year. An initial outline sketch was prepared and submitted to the Ministry of Aviation Industry [MAP] and the military.

However, disagreements arose between representatives of various departments on individual issues. First of all, this concerned precisely the type of propulsion system. MAP insisted that new attack aircraft should be built using turbojet or turboprop engine types ( VK-1 or VK-2 ). The military believed that it was necessary to use a piston version of the engine ( M-251 ). The team of P.O.Sukhoi received an appropriate instruction to study this issue. After performing the necessary calculations, they came to the conclusion that if the M-251 engine was installed, the aircraft would not outperform the main competitors in the person of the Sh-218 and IL-20.

They decided to dwell on the option with the VK-1 engine. But the military had other requirements, under which the project had to be reworked. In particular, this concerned the composition of armaments, take-off and practical range. Ultimately, the Su-14 attack aircraft was decided to be included in the pilot aircraft construction plan. However, on November 14, 1949, all work on it was curtailed, and OKB-134 was abolished. A few years later it was decided to restore it, but naturally they did not return to the project of the jet attack aircraft. At the time of the disbandment of the OKBa mock-up was built and a preliminary design was prepared. Later they were destroyed. Overall preparedness was estimated at 40 percent. It was supposed to build a prototype and transfer it to testing by September 1950.

During the development of the preliminary design, the requirements and, as a consequence, the layout of the machine changed repeatedly. The composition of weapons and equipment also changed. The final version was a double midplane with a V- plumage. The heated cockpit and the arrow-radio operator was shifted closer to the bow of the fuselage. The nose itself was somewhat dulled. In the frontal part of the flashlight 100 mm bulletproof glass was installed to protect the pilot. Trapezoidal wing. Chassis tricycle. The size of the nose wheel is 580 x 240 mm. The size of the main wheel is 950 x 350 mm. It was planned to install the VK-1 engine, which was supposed to be located in the rear of the fuselage.

The air intake was also planned to be placed behind. The fuel system consisted of five tanks with a total capacity of 2460 kg. Three of them were located in the fuselage, two in the wing. Suspension and additional tanks for 225 kg of fuel in overload were allowed. They were mounted at the ends of the wing consoles. The attack aircraft was supposed to have homogeneous armor type KVK-2 and ABA-1.

The armor scheme involved the protection of the crew and the engine compartment from heavy machine guns and partially from 20 mm cannons. The total weight of the armor was to reach 752 kg. On take-off, it was planned to use rocket launch boosters of the PRS-280 type. A fire extinguishing system was installed in the engine compartment. The power supply system included a generator of the type GS-9000. The armament was supposed to include six guns NR-23 (ammunition in 900 shells) for firing forward and down; a defensive installation with the same type of weapon and ammunition in 150 shells; from 400 to 1000 kg of bombs that were located in the bomb bay; It was possible to use six rocket guns of the ORO-132 type in reloading.

It is worth noting that it was planned to install a rather "rich" set of navigation and radio equipment on the attack aircraft. Of the latter, one can note the VHF radio station RSIU-3 and the HF radio station RSB-5. The radio altimeter RV-2 was also installed.

The radio altimeter RV-2 was developed at LETI at the Department of Radio Systems with the participation of E.I. Minaev and Yu. M. Kazarinov in 1947-1948 and was the first mass-produced radio altimeter in the USSR. It serves to determine the true flight altitude above the earth's surface in the range of 0-1200 m. It was used during flights in difficult meteorological conditions without the visibility of the earth and when landing in conditions of poor visibility.

Also, an AFA-MK type personnel camera was to be installed on the aircraft . It was supposed to be used for route photography, aerial photography of individual objects and photo monitoring of the results of their own bombing. The navigation equipment included the AGK-47B horizon , a variometer, a speed indicator, a NI-46 navigation indicator, and some other devices.

Of course, the project was interesting, but it was decided to completely abandon the attack aircraft, although this decision was erroneous. But after almost twenty years, the Sukhoi Design Bureau team returned to such topics and created the legendary Su-25 attack aircraft.