Ukrainian Air Force Flanker Solo Display
Country
Ukraine
Aircraft
Su-27 Flanker
Base
Mirgorod Air Base
Sukhoi Su-27P1M Flanker B
The Sukhoi Su-27 (NATO reporting name: Flanker) is a Soviet-origin twin-engine supermaneuverable fighter aircraft designed by Sukhoi. It was intended as a direct competitor for the large United States fourth-generation fighters such as the Grumman F-14 Tomcat and F-15 Eagle, with 3,530-kilometre range, heavy aircraft ordnance, sophisticated avionics and high manoeuvrability. The Su-27 was designed for air superiority missions, and subsequent variants are able to perform almost all aerial warfare operations. It was designed with the Mikoyan MiG-29 as its complement.
The Su-27 entered service with the Soviet Air Forces in 1985. The primary role was long-range air defence against American SAC B-1B and B-52G/H bombers, protecting the Soviet coast from aircraft carriers and flying long-range fighter escort for Soviet heavy bombers such as the Tu-95 "Bear", Tu-22M "Backfire" and Tu-160 "Blackjack".
There are several related developments of the Su-27 design. The Su-30 is a two-seat, dual-role fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions. The Su-33 'Flanker-D' is a naval fleet defence interceptor for use on aircraft carriers. Further versions include the side-by-side two-seat Su-34 'Fullback' strike/fighter-bomber variant, and the Su-35 'Flanker-E' improved air superiority and multi-role fighter. The Shenyang J-11 is a Chinese licence-built version of the Su-27.
The Su-27's basic design is aerodynamically similar to the MiG-29, but it is substantially larger. The wing blends into the fuselage at the leading edge extensions and is essentially a cross between a swept wing and a cropped delta (the delta wing with tips cropped for missile rails or ECM pods). The fighter is also an example of a tailed delta wing configuration, retaining conventional horizontal tailplanes.
The Su-27 had the Soviet Union's first operational fly-by-wire control system, based on the Sukhoi OKB's experience with the T-4 bomber project. Combined with relatively low wing loading and powerful basic flight controls, it makes for an exceptionally agile aircraft, controllable even at very low speeds and a high angle of attack. In airshows the aircraft has demonstrated its manoeuvrability with a Cobra (Pugachev’s Cobra) or dynamic deceleration – briefly sustained level flight at a 120° angle of attack.
The Su-27 is equipped with a Phazotron N001 Myech coherent Pulse-Doppler radar with the track while scan and look-down/shoot-down capability. The fighter also has an OLS-27 infrared search and track (IRST) system in the nose just forward of the cockpit with an 80–100 km range.
The Su-27 is armed with a single 30 mm Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-30-1 cannon in the starboard wing root and has up to 10 hardpoints for missiles and other weapons. Its standard missile armament for air-to-air combat is a mixture of R-73 (AA-11 Archer) and R-27 (AA-10 'Alamo') missiles, the latter including extended range and infrared homing models.
The Ukrainian Air Force inherited about 66-70 Su-27 aircraft after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Lack of funds in addition to the Su-27's high maintenance led to a shortage of spare parts and inadequate servicing, resulting in approximately 34 remaining in service as of 2019. Years of underfunding meant that the air force has not received a new Su-27 since 1991. Between 2007 and 2017, as many as 65 combat jets were sold abroad, including nine Su-27s. In 2009, amid declining relations with Russia, the Ukrainian Air Force began to have difficulty obtaining spare parts from Sukhoi. Only 19 Su-27s were serviceable at the time of the Russian annexation of Crimea and the subsequent War in Donbas in 2014. Following the Russian invasion, Ukraine increased its military budget, allowing stored Su-27s to be returned to service.
The Zaporizhzhya Aircraft Repair Plant "MiGremont" in Zaporizhzhia began modernizing the Su-27 to NATO standards in 2012, which involved a minor overhaul of the radar, navigation and communication equipment. Aircraft with this modification are designated Su-27P1M and Su-27UB1M. The Ministry of Defence accepted the project on 5 August 2014, and the first two aircraft were officially handed over to the 831st Tactical Aviation Brigade in October 2015.
During the post-Euromaidan Ukrainian crisis of 2014, a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 was scrambled to intercept Russian fighter jets over Ukraine's airspace over the Black Sea on 3 March. With no aerial opposition and other aircraft available for ground attack duties, Ukrainian Su-27s played only a small role in the ongoing war in Donbass. Ukrainian Su-27s were recorded performing low fly passes and were reported flying top cover, combat air patrols and eventual escort or intercept of civil aviation traffic over Eastern Ukraine. On 15 April 2014, a video purportedly showing a Ukrainian Su-27 being shot down was released, but the video proved to be a hoax, taken from a previous video of the Syrian Civil War involving a different aircraft model. Videos taken of low-flying Su-27s involved in the operation revealed they were armed with R-27 and R-73 air-to-air missiles.
There were two fatal crashes involving Ukrainian Su-27s in 2018. On 16 October, a Ukrainian Su-27UB1M flown by Colonel Ivan Petrenko crashed during the Ukraine-USAF exercise "Clear Sky 2018" based at Starokostiantyniv Air Base. The second seat was occupied by Lieutenant Colonel Seth Nehring, a pilot of the 144th Fighter Wing of the California Air National Guard. Both pilots died in the crash, which happened at about 5:00 p.m. local time in the Khmelnytskyi province of western Ukraine. On 15 December, a Su-27 crashed on final approach about 2 km from Ozerne Air Base in Zhytomyr Oblast, after performing a training flight. Major Fomenko Alexander Vasilyevich was killed.
On 29 May 2020, Ukrainian Su-27s took part in the Bomber Task Force in Europe with B-1B bombers for the first time in the Black Sea region. On 4 September 2020, three B-52 bombers from the 5th Bomb Wing, Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, conducted vital integration training with Ukrainian MiG-29s and Su-27s inside Ukraine’s airspace
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Sukhoi Su-27UB1M Flanker C
The Su-27UB (Combat Trainer) is a two-seat combat trainer version of Su-27. The Design Bureau started work to develop a two-seat combat trainer version of the Su-27 in 1976, with the conceptual design of the Su-27UB (factory code T-10U) successfully passing critical design review in 1978. In 1980, the Sukhoi Design Bureau developed the conceptual design of the Su-27 combat trainer version (dubbed the T-10U in the SDB). The first prototype of the two-seater was made at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur production plant to the design bureau specifications and returned to Moscow for engineering follow-up in the spring of 1984. The first flight of the T10U-1 was performed on the 7th of March 1985 by the design bureau's test pilot N.F. Sadovnikov. Official testing took place between 1985 and 1987.
Production of a Su-27UB development batch was set up in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and in 1985 MAI gave the order for the production of the two-seat trainer to be moved to Irkutsk. In the middle of 1986, its production run started at the IAIA. The first mass-produced Su-27UB was flight tested at the Irkutsk plant on 10th September 1986 by a crew of test pilots G.Ye. Bulanov and N.N. Ivanov. The combat units received the first production Su-27UB in 1987.
Its special feature is the capability to perform all the combat missions the basic Su-27 is designed for. The excellent flying capabilities of the Su-27UB aircraft enabled to perform the widely known "Pugatchyov's Cobra" with a 120o angle of attack. The Su-27 nose fuselage configuration was changed. The instructor station located under the same canopy (with the trainee pilot's station in the front cockpit) is elevated to ensure a better forward-and-downward view. The two-seater has wings with a 0.5% higher wing section thickness ratio and the fins are 425 mm higher. Additionally, the oxygen system capacity was increased, the air conditioning and control systems were optimised. In spite of the inevitable increase in drag and the aircraft weight, its characteristics practically are the same as those of the Su-27.
The Su-27UB is classified as a combat trainer only by tradition. Unlike most "trainers," it retains all weapons and weapon control systems. The customer decides which aircraft to have in the inventory - the single-seater or two-seater. For example, the two-seater interceptor is more acceptable for guarding Russia's northern borders. The psychological climate onboard is significantly better when a two-man crew controls an aircraft on patrol over the freezing sea.
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