Sukhoi T-3
The development of a new generation of fighters and interceptors was set by several resolutions of the USSR Council of Ministers back in 1953. The tasks were set by two design bureaus: A.I.I. Mikoyan and restored shortly after the death of I.V. Stalin OKB-51 P.O.Sukhoi. Returning to active work in the rank of chief designer, P.O. Sukhoi also did not begin to exchange for trifles and laid down four parallel projects, or rather, two vehicles - a fighter and an interceptor, each in two versions - with an arrow-shaped (series "S") and a triangular (series "T") wing (interestingly, that later, in OKB-51, apparently, they preferred to forget about the "deep" sense of these lettering, so later the T-8 (Su-25) and T-10 (Su-27) did not appear with triangular wings). Structurally, all four machines were united by a single power plant, based on the use of the powerful AL-7F gas turbine engine, the development of which was carried out in OKB-165 A.M.Lulka.
Since 1954, the Design Bureau has fully launched planned work on two new topics, which over the next ten years became the main ones for the entire design bureau staff. During this time, two main types of aircraft were designed, tested, put into production and adopted for service, which became the first-born of the design bureau after its revival. The S-1 front-line fighter, prototype of the serial Su-7, on the basis of which, in turn, a whole family of Su-7B-type fighter-bombers was created. Serial production of these aircraft lasted more than 15 years, more than 1800 aircraft were produced, including exported to 9 countries.
In the fall of 1954, a combined draft design on the options for an aircraft with a triangular wing was prepared and successfully defended. The differences in the layout concerned only the bow of the fuselage. On the interceptor, designated T-3, unlike the T-1 front-line fighter, an Almaz sighting radar of the NII-17 design (chief designer VV Tikhomirov) was installed. The dimensions and design features of this station required the use of an irregular air intake of complex shape on the interceptor. The use of built-in guns and the suspension of unguided rockets was originally planned as weapons, but later it was decided to equip the aircraft with K-7 (K-6) type air-to-air missiles, the design of which was carried out in OKB-134 (chief designer I.I.Toropov) and OKB-2.
In 1955, construction began on both versions of the aircraft, but in the middle of the year work on the T-1 was stopped and only the T-3 was being completed. The construction was completed in the spring of 1956, on the night of April 22-23, the aircraft was transported to the LII airfield for flight tests. May 26, 1956 test pilot V.N. Makhalin made his first flight on it, and less than a month later, on June 24, this aircraft participated in an air parade in Tushino. And the T-3 fighter, prototype of Su-9 and Su-11 interceptors, which were also produced in a series that exceeded the mark of 1,100 units. In the 60s, this type of aircraft was the fastest and highest altitude combat aircraft in the USSR and remained in service with air defense forces until 1980.
Khrushchev’s preoccupation with U-2 reconnaissance flights over the territory of the USSR was visibly reflected in the acceleration of work on air defense systems. An extended meeting was held in the CPSU Central Committee with the leadership of the Ministry of Defense and the majority of defense industries, and on August 25, 1956 a lengthy government decree was issued, in which all fighter bureau was tasked to increase the altitude of the aircraft being created as soon as possible. By order of the MAP, Sukhoi was determined to raise the ceiling of S-1 and T-3 aircraft to 21,000 m, for which they should be equipped with a modified version of the engine with increased thrust, which received the designation AL-7F-1 (product 31). To increase the ceiling of the aircraft, the military allowed a number of secondary systems to be removed from it.
The new engine had a slightly larger diameter, and for its installation it was necessary to expand the rear of the fuselage. A little earlier, according to the recommendations of TsAGI, the so-called influx (or tooth), generating a whirlwind at large angles of attack, performing the functions of an aerodynamic partition. According to the results of flight tests of the T-3, the area of ??ailerons was reduced. The design was completed in December 1956, the working drawings were transferred to pilot production and to Novosibirsk for implementation on serial T-3s, the production of which was decided to be deployed in 1957 in full (30 were planned according to the plan for the year).
In addition, a number of experimental works to increase the ceiling of aircraft were set by separate orders of the MAP for all fighter bureau designs. This explains the next surge of interest in aviation to liquid rocket engines in the late 50s. For OKB-51, the task provided for suspension on the base interceptor as accelerators of two types of liquid-propellant rocket engines: RU-013 developed by OKB-1 MAP (chief designer L.S. Dushkin) and SZ-20 created in OKB-3 MOS (Ministry of Defense Industry, Chief Designer D.D.Sevruk). At the same time, the option of increasing traction by injecting water into the afterburner was also considered.
They decided to combine the accelerator suspension work with the AL-7F-1 engine tests on a plane; this topic was designated T-43 in the Design Bureau. In addition, it was decided to test a new type of air intake. Work on the selection of a rational version of its layout has been carried out in the Design Bureau together with TsAGI since 1955. In principle, it was clear that in order to achieve high speeds specified by the TTT, an unregulated subsonic air intake with rounded edges becomes unacceptable due to large inlet pressure losses. An optimal intake would be optimal, due to the system of oblique jumps, a smoother decrease in flow rate and a lower total pressure loss.
But until now, the designers were connected by the need to place a large-sized radar station in the nose of the fuselage, and now, since the work was purely experimental, they decided to try out a new LFF with an adjustable input device on an airplane. The simplest and most obvious option was made by type of intake S-1, i.e. axisymmetric, with a movable central body in the form of a two-stage (two-jump) cone, but with sharp edges of the shell. The cone had 2 main provisions - cleaned and released. The control was automatic from the sensor of the number M: when reaching M = 1.35, the cone was completely released, and at lower speeds it was removed.
Since the aircraft was created as a flying laboratory, it did not provide any weapons and special equipment, a place in the LFF and a moving cone was used to accommodate short-circuit protection and centering cargo. In the pilot production, 3 sets of LRE suspension mounts were made, but their developers did not fit into the given deadlines, and OKB-51 began testing the aircraft without accelerators. V.S. Ilyushin was appointed the leading pilot, and M.I. Zuev as the leading engineer on the plane. Modifications of the T-43 were completed by the end of the summer of 1957, but the start of flights was delayed due to the lack of AL-7F-1.
By the end of September, the aircraft was taken to the airfield, and on October 1, an experimental copy of the engine was finally received from OKB-165. After its installation on October 10, the future chief pilot of the company Ilyushin first took the car into the air. Already in the third flight on October 30, he reached an altitude of 21500 m, and after another 3 days - a speed of 2200 km / h (M = 2.06). The leadership of the MAP this success came in handy for a report to Khrushchev. Gratitude was announced to Ilyushin by a special order of the minister, and the design bureau was set the task of ensuring the installation of a radar on an interceptor with a new configuration of the NChF. No one else remembered rocket boosters and water injection.
When working in the first direction, the OKB had little choice, because At that time, only one organization was officially engaged in the creation of aircraft radars in the Soviet Union - Mapovsky NII-17, which by 1957 had introduced only two main types of stations into the series: Emerald (RP-1 and its upgraded version of RP-5 for MiG-17PF and MiG- 19P) and Sokol (RP-6 for the Yak-25M). In addition, these stations were not suitable for a promising interceptor, because RP-1 and RP-5 had a low level of performance, and RP-6 was too large. The NII-17 also included new Hurricane and Panther radars, but work on them was extremely slow. And then it suddenly turned out that for some time yet another organization, OKB-1 MOS, has been engaged in aircraft radars.
There, on the basis of their own development of guidance systems for air-to-ground cruise missiles, a fairly compact station TsD-30 was constructed (chief designer A.A. Kolosov), which ensured the use of air-to-air missiles of the K-5 system designed by OKB-2 MAP (P.D. Grushin). The dimensions of this radar made it possible to place it in a movable cone of the T-43 type without problems. This option was also supported by the fact that by 1957 in the USSR the only air-to-air missile class adopted for service was precisely the K-5 (RS-1U). Just in October, the control tests on the MiG-19PM of its improved version K-5M were successfully completed. As a result, on November 28, another government decree was issued, obliging OKB-51 to equip the T-3 with the AL-7F-1 engine, the TsD-30 station and K-5M missiles.
The dimensions of this radar made it possible to place it in a movable cone of the T-43 type without problems. This option was also supported by the fact that by 1957 in the USSR the only air-to-air missile class adopted for service was precisely the K-5 (RS-1U). Just in October, the control tests on the MiG-19PM of its improved version K-5M were successfully completed. As a result, on November 28, another government decree was issued, obliging OKB-51 to equip the T-3 with the AL-7F-1 engine, the TsD-30 station and K-5M missiles. which ensured the use of air-to-air air defense system K-5 design OKB-2 MAP (P.D. Grushin).
Now the work in the design bureau has developed in two main directions: the search for an acceptable version of the arrangement of a radar in the dimensions of a small cone used on the T-43, and the study of the placement of the Almaz station in a large-diameter moving cone. The second work received the code T-47.
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