Su-30SM
The Su-30SM is sometimes called a "Russified" version of the popular export Su-30MKI. The aircraft was equipped with AL-31FP engines with controlled thrust vectoring. The Su-30SM (SM standing for serial-produced, modified) multipurpose fighter jet is designed both to gain air supremacy and attack ground and surface targets. The fighter jet has canards and engines with a controlled thrust vector, which makes the aircraft supermaneuverable. The Su-30SM fighter jet is equipped with the Bars multipurpose control radar.
The Su-30SM is a two-seat multirole heavy fighter developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau. The fighter made its maiden flight in 2012. The Su-30SM is designed to both gain air superiority and strike ground and surface targets. The aircraft design uses forward horizontal tail and engines with controlled thrust vector. Due to this, it has super-maneuverability. The Su-30SM is equipped with a multifunctional radar. Controls with a passive phased antenna array. The fighter's ammunition includes a wide range of weapons, including air-to-air missiles and high-precision guided air-to-surface weapons. The Su-30SM can be used as an aircraft for training pilots for promising single-seat fighters.
The fighter jet’s ammunition load comprises a wide range of munitions, including air-to-air missiles and air-to-surface precision guided weapons. The Su-30SM fighter jet can be used to train pilots for future single-seat fighter jets. The Su-30SM fighter jet has been manufactured for the Russian Air Force since 2012.
The Su-30SM, a localized version of the Su-30MKI fighter exported to India, will serve as a second security blanket for the Russian Air Force. The Defense Ministry commissioned 30 such aircraft. First Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Sukhorukov told the press in August 2012 that an additional contract for the supply of these all-purpose fighters was very likely.
The Su-30SM is the latest modification of the Su-30 multi-role heavy fighter of the "4+" generation. It has super maneuverability, engines with controlled thrust vectoring and a canard. Export versions of the Su-30 were in great demand abroad. Thus, 200 Su-30MKI aircraft were delivered to India alone. Deliveries of Su-30 modifications to Russian aviation have been underway since 2010. The Su-30SM can carry a wide range of air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles and bombs on 12 hardpoints. It is equipped with a phased array radar, which allows it to simultaneously track 15 or more air targets, select priority ones and attack four of them. The target detection range reaches 140 km. Among the advantages of the Su-30SM is the ability to cover a distance of up to 3 thousand km without refueling or external tanks.
The X-31 family of anti-ship and anti-radar missiles (NATO classification: AS-17 Krypton) was created by the Tactical Missiles Corporation. Krypton became the world's first serial missile equipped with a combined jet engine. Its capabilities allow the missile to implement a low-altitude flight mode (3-5 meters) and at the same time maintain a speed of Mach 2 (more than 2,300 km/h). Due to this, in combination with high maneuverability, the survivability of missiles when overcoming object air defense and the effective destruction of the selected target, despite the counteraction of enemy electronic warfare systems, is increased.
Today, there were four versions of high-speed air-to-air guided missiles of the Kh-31 type: anti-radar Kh-31P and Kh-31PD, anti-ship Kh-31A and Kh-31AD. Thus, the latest modification of the Kh-31PD is designed to destroy radar stations of anti-aircraft missile systems and complexes. The missile launch range is up to 250 km, the weight of the warhead is up to 110 kg. It is equipped with a combined guidance system, and due to the increased launch range, the capabilities of delivering a preemptive strike were increased.
In April 2016 the Defense Ministry and the manufacturer inked a contract on the delivery of more than 30 multipurpose Su-30SM jets to the Russian Aerospace Forces. The aircraft is capable of air-to-air and air-to-ground missions with a wide variety of precision-guided munitions, and features thrust-vectoring engines to enhance maneuverability. The Russian Armed forces were undergoing a massive rearmament program and the Su-30SM is going to gradually replace its predecessor the Su-27.
Air-Space Forces (VKS) Russia in 2017 will receive 17 new multi-role Su-30SM and 10 combat training aircraft Yak-130, according to Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov. "With the plant signed long-term contracts, according to which in the current year it should pass us 17 Su-30SM and 10 Yak-130", - he said 09 March 2017 when visiting the Irkutsk aviation plant (IAP), which produces these aircraft. He recalled that the IAP is one of the executors of the state defense order, and supplies for videoconferencing aircraft tactical aviation - Su-30SM and combat training of the Yak-130. The Su-30SM is the last modified Russian multipurpose heavy fighter Su-30 generation "4+". It has a super-maneuverability, equipped with radar with a phased antenna array, engines with thrust vector control and canards. The aircraft is capable of applying modern and future precision weapons "air-to-air" and "air-to-surface". Su-30SM can without refueling and to overcome the external fuel tanks up to 3 thousand Km.
The electronic filling of the Su-30SM is built on the concept of "open architecture of the board". This allows new domestic and foreign systems to be easily included in the avionics. This is what determines the high versatility of the Su-30SM, allowing the fighter-interceptor to be converted into a strike aircraft in the shortest possible time. The combat load of the Su-30SM fighter is 8,000 kg. The aircraft has twelve hardpoints, which can accommodate a wide range of missile and bomb armament. These can be six guided missiles for air combat at medium or short distances, unguided aerial bombs weighing 500 or 250 kg, containers with unguided aviation missiles. In addition, the aircraft is armed by default with a 30-mm GSh-30-1 cannon.
The Su-30SM fighter is equipped with two AL-31FP bypass engines with variable thrust vectoring. They were positioned at an angle of 32 degrees to each other. Their nozzles can be deflected in the vertical plane by ±16° and up to ±15° in any direction. This allows their thrust vector to be directed. The nozzles can be deflected both together with the aircraft's control surfaces and separately from them. One of the main advantages of the Su-30SM is its super-maneuverability: its flight is provided by a fly-by-wire control system that controls the rudders and rotating engine nozzles. The aircraft's high degree of maneuverability is achieved by the front horizontal tail and engines with controlled thrust vectoring.
However, the main highlight of the Su-30SM is its cockpit. The aircraft is equipped with an onboard electronic station with a phased array, which allows it to detect and track up to fifteen air targets and attack four of them simultaneously. The Su-30SM uses a helmet-mounted target designation system, as well as a head-up display. In addition, the pilots' cockpits were equipped with multifunctional liquid crystal displays. All this provides pilots with the highest level of awareness of the air situation.
In the course of modernization, the Su-30SM fighter will be unified with the newest Su-35 combat aircraft. This will expand the combat capabilities of the fighter and reduce the cost of its production. "After completion of the modernization of the Su-30SM aircraft will be unified with the Su-35 on-board equipment and weapons. This will give the aircraft a “second life” and reduce the cost of its production, ” Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said 27 February 2019 at the aircraft plant in Irkutsk, which produces Su-30. The deep modernization of the Su-30SM will open up new prospects for Russia in India, the vice-premier said. The Indian Air Force has a fleet of 200 Su-30MKI, which became the basis for the Russian Su-30SM.
The modernization of the Su-30SM includes the replacement of engines on the AL-41F-1C that meet the requirements of the fifth generation, the installation of a new Irbis radar with enhanced capabilities for detecting and tracking targets, integration of onboard electronics and digital information management system, and other improvements. Tests of the upgraded fighter jets were scheduled for completion by the end of 2019.
Among pilots, the Su-30SM is considered one of the best aircraft. A second person in the cockpit significantly increases the crew's capabilities. For example, the peculiarity of working on drones is often a lack of time. In the case of the "thirty", the pilot does not have to simultaneously pilot and control weapons. There is a navigator who unloads him, so everything can be done quickly, at short ranges and quite successfully.
According to the recollections of the honored test pilot Sergei Mikhailyuk, who participated in the testing of the first export "thirties", in joint Indian-American exercises the Su-30MKI won all battles over US equipment. But these were training battles, and it is quite possible that soon in the skies of the SVO our crews will meet American F-16s in real battles. And they were already preparing for the meeting to test both the planes and their knowledge and skills. According to the commander of the special fighter group, the "thirty" surpasses the F-16 in all respects: in maneuverability, in armament, and in the targeting system.
The combat capabilities of the Su-30SM were tested most extensively during the military operation of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria. There, in addition to other qualities of the fighter, the two-man crew also proved useful. In the complex and rapidly changing situation of the counter-terrorist operation, when there were only a few meters between friendly troops and the enemy, the pilot and navigator could distribute combat tasks between themselves. "The aviation complex allows you to simultaneously perform a task on the ground and in the air. There is a "separate" mode, where the pilot can perform airborne targeting, conduct airspace surveillance, and at the same time the navigator can perform tasks to strike the ground," emphasizes one of the pilots who flew the Su-30SM in the skies over Syria.
The Su-30SM is a fourth-generation fighter, and its design does not use stealth technology. However, the aircraft is equipped with the Sorbtsiya and Khibiny electronic warfare systems, which were not only capable of suppressing the relatively low-power radar of fighters, but also neutralizing ground-based radar systems, which largely compensates for its lack of stealth in the radar field. The Su-30SM is considered one of the best fighters in the world, it has excellent characteristics, this machine can rightfully be called the pinnacle of the development of the Su-27 aircraft line. Some Russians claim the tactical and technical data of the Su-30SM were in many ways comparable to those of the American F-22 fighter. At the same time, the Russian aircraft is slightly larger in size, and its combat radius is almost twice that of the F-22 (1,500 km versus 760 km).
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