ROY'S RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT RESOURCE

The New Lord of the Air

((Very long article extolling the virtues of the Su-35.  The "Irbis-Eh" ((Siberian panther)) radar control system was developed especially for the aircraft. EXTRACT follows.))

At the present time the Su-35 is undergoing flight tests. And series production of this type of airplanes is supposed to begin in 2009 – 2010. An aircraft with this designation has existed since 1992. It was victorious in tenders in South Korea and Brazil; however, for a number of political reasons, contracts for the delivery of such airplanes were not entered into. But today's appearance of the Su-35 notably differs from the previous. As Aleksandr Klement'ev has noted, today's Su-35 is a fusion of the latest achievements of aeronautical science and very serious marketing study of the aircraft in export markets.

The Su-35 is regarded as the basis of the Sukhoy company's foreign trade activity in the near future – until the appearance of the export variant of the fifth generation airplane… If needed, the Su-35 can be adapted for basing on aircraft carrying ships. 

Developers of the Su-35 decided to return to the aerodynamics of a "pure" Su-27. ... The weight of the present Su-35's aircraft equipment is less than its predecessor, and at the same time it will be equipped with the upgraded 117S ((sic)) engine with increased thrust in afterburner to 14,500 kilograms. The basic AL-31F engine, witch which all airplanes of the Su-27 family are equipped today, has a maximum thrust in afterburner of 12,500 kilograms. Thus, the Su-35 airplane's thrust-to-weight ratio is being increased more than 15 percent. The Su-35 also is equipped with an all-aspect rotating jet nozzle that allows in combination with the airplane's decreased weight achieving essential improvements of its dynamic characteristics (rate of climb, acceleration and the like), bringing it to the level of super maneuverability.

Improvement of the maneuvering characteristics has allowed giving up the canard. Owing to the creation of a modern control system, the Su-35 crew has been decreased to one man, and equipping the airplane with a modern fly-by-wire control system has allowed giving up the braking flap, the role of which deflecting planes ((OTKLONYAEMYE PLOSKOSTI)) now fulfill.  Giving up these elements has freed a place in the airframe for additional fuel and, correspondingly, increased the flight range, too. Maximum flight range of the Su-35 at altitude is 3,600 kilometers, and at sea level, at a speed of 0.7 Mach, 1,580 kilometers. The aircraft's takeoff and landing characteristics also have been improved. Takeoff run of the Su-35 is 400 – 450 meters, length of landing roll-out is 600-650 meters.

The Su-35 has a completely new avionics structure, the integrator of which the Sukhoy company itself is for the first time in our country. Included are the KSU-35 redundant ((REZERVIROVANNAYA)) digital complex control system with a single computer hub ((YADRO)). The KSU-35 is intended to resolve the tasks of remote and automated control of the fighter (all three control channel have been automated: pitch, bank and speed), the generation of limiting and aerial control signals for braking the undercarriage, turning of the forward strut and also deflection of the control surfaces and rotating parts of the engine nozzles – that is, the engine nozzles are controlled on the new airplane not by the engine control system, but the airplane's control system. HOTAS ((in English)) has been realized in the cockpit which allows the pilot to control all the aircraft's systems while not removing his hands from the controls.

The Su-35 has a "glass" cockpit. The main source of visual information for the pilot are two MFI-35 monitors measuring 9 x 12 inches. The can have two and four frames The tactical frame is depicted on the left display, on the right is the flying, which is joined with the airplane's operating system ((SISTEMA FUNKTSIONIROVANIYA)) and the defense frame. An electronic computer which operates in parallel with the airman provides automatic interchange of these "pictures." While the placement of the indicators and frames is not final – according to the results of tests and "flights" in a simulator, the airmen are expressing their desired about how the would like to see the apparatus for transmitting visual information.

The Su-35 avionics complex is highly integrated, and it is possible to install additional equipment and new weapons system of any manufacture, Russian or foreign, onto the airplane as the customer wishes without revising the airplane.

The "Irbis-Eh," developed at the V.V. Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Building has been installed on the Su-35, which provides detection, tracking and coordinate measuring of aerial, ground and surface targets by day and night, in any weather conditions in the presence of natural and organized interference. All the best that has been achieved in the radar area for the past 20 years is accumulated in the design of this system. 

The range of target detection with an effective radiated power ((EhRP)) equal to 3 meters is 400 kilometers in the new radar – this figure already has been confirmed really during tests.  The "Irbis-Eh" phased antenna array has been supplied with a hydraulic drive which allows slewing ((DOVORACHIVAT')) the radar in the necessary direction. Owing to slewing, the phased antenna array field of view is approximately 125 degrees. The station allows simultaneously detecting and tracking up to 30 targets, simultaneously firing at up to eight enemy flying vehicles or up to four ground targets. The "Irbis-Eh" also has such an important function as tracking one ground (surface) target with preservation of the view of the air space and locking onto targets which can be extremely useful in during "operation" against an enemy's ships which are protected by an aerial escort. 

At the present time four examples of the "Irbis-Eh" have been assembled and are being tuned. One of them has been installed onto an Su-30 flying laboratory, and a second is being modified for installation onto the first Su-35 example. The documentation for series production of these systems has been published and transferred to the Ryazan' instrument plant. It is intended to finalize all the radar's main operational parameters ((REZHIMY)) in the coming 2 years. The realization of "exotic" functions, such as identification of targets according to a radar portrait or determination of the number of targets in dense groups may extend beyond the boundaries of these short terms, although a staged build-up of the characteristics of the radar's extremely complex elements is fully a traditional worldwide practice. 

Included in the Su-35 avionics is also a jamming complex which combines electronic suppression means and heat decoys. For providing save exiting of the airplane, a new seat is being installed in the cockpit which provides safe ejections at any range of speeds and altitudes, including from an inverted position from an altitude of 70 meters. G-loading during ejection is optimized according to the airman's weight. Measures for lowering the radar signature using the newest Russian technologies which will be applied to the Su-35 will lower its vulnerability. At the same time, the airplane's maximum combat payload will be up to eight tonnes using new types of aerial weapons of the air-to-air and air-to-surface classes.

The Su-35 is intended both for single and for group usage. In the latter case, the aircraft can operate in a group numbering up to 16 of the same type or older airplanes. The commander of a combined group receives full information about the target situation which is received from his own supporting aircraft and commanders of interacting groups. He will have the capability to operating in networks of ground and naval forces and also in networks of AWACS airplanes. As a result, on the group commander's display will be presented full tactical and operational information which prevails at the given time.  This is one of the most important features of the Su-35 avionics, which is evidence  of its position in approaching the fifth generation aviation complex. As is known, the effectiveness of a combat unit which has inserted into a common control system grows in numbers in comparison with traditional types of combat equipment.

Source:  15.11.06, VPK, Correspondent:  Il’ya Kedrov