DTN News - RUSSIA DEFENSE NEWS: Russian Defense Ministry To Buy 92 Su-34 Fighters

DTN News - RUSSIA DEFENSE NEWS: Russian Defense Ministry To Buy 92 Su-34 Fighters      
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Ria Novosti
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 3, 2012: The Russian Defense Ministry has signed a deal for 92 Su-34 Fullback fighter-bombers from the Sukhoi aircraft maker, the ministry said on Thursday.

The deal under which the warplanes are to be delivered by 2020 was signed by Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Sukhoi General Director Igor Ozar.

This is one of the largest warplane contracts under the government arms procurement program and it will help replace all of the Su-24 bombers currently in service with the “4+ generation” aircraft, Serdyukov said.

The Ministry will take delivery of 10 Su-34s in 2012, all of them to be deployed in the Western Military District. Last year six fighter-bombers were delivered to the Air Force. These come under an initial contract for 32 Su-34s.

At present the Air Force has 12 Su-34s.

Factoring in the new contract, the Air Force will have a total of 124 Su-34s. 

The ministry previously said a total of 70 Su-34s will be delivered by 2015.

Commenting on the deal, Douglas Barrie, air warfare specialist at International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said “the Su-34 - previously known as the Su-27IB - has been long in the gestation.”

“The program began in the 1980s and has suffered as a result of funding problems. It is entering service well over a decade after it was envisaged originally to be replacing the Su-24 Fencer.”

However the Su-34 will - with the appropriate avionic and weapons systems - provide the air force with a capable long range strike platform, with considerably more punch than the Su-24, he said.

“Work is continuing to integrate modern air-to-surface weaponry now in development in Russia on the Su-34, with trials being carried out at the air force test center at Akhtubinsk.”

The news of the contract comes a week after Russia partially resumed flights of Su-24 Fencer tactical bombers after one of them crashed in Russia’s Urals.

All Su-24s were grounded after the crash, in the woods of the Kurgan region during a routine flight on February 13. Both pilots ejected safely. The crash was the third of a Su-24 in Russia over the last four months. The two previous crashes occurred in October and December 2011.

It has been in service with the Russian Air Force since the mid-1970s. However, in recent years Russia has gradually been phasing out the planes, which have a patchy safety record.

The Defense Ministry earlier said the Air Force will procure over 1,500 new aircraft by 2020.

Russia started the full-scale production of Su-34s in 2008 at a Novosibirsk-based aircraft-manufacturing plant, a subsidiary of the Sukhoi Aircraft Holding.

Designed by Sukhoi, the $36-million Su-34 fighter-bomber is a two-seat strike aircraft fitted with twin AL-31MF afterburner turbojet engines.

It is designed to deliver high-precision strikes on heavily-defended targets under any weather conditions, day or night, and is equipped with a 30-mm GSh-301 cannon, up to 12 Alamo or Archer AAMs, ASMs, and bombs.

Related News

• Russia Signs Contract for Navy MiG-29K Fighter
• Russia to Increase Number of 5G Fighters in Test Flights
• Sukhoi to Remain Top Combat Aircraft Seller Until 2015
• Sukhoi signs record $2.5 bln deal with Russian defense ministry

Multimedia

• Workshops Where Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback Fighter-Bombers are Assembled
• Su-24M (Fencer). INFOgraphics

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Ria Novosti
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

DTN News: Kazakh Su-24 Attack Aircraft Drops A Bomb On Residential Area

DTN News: Kazakh Su-24 Attack Aircraft Drops A Bomb On Residential Area

*Source: DTN News / RIA Novosti

(NSI News Source Info) ASTANA, Kazakhstan - October 13, 2009: An Su-24 Fencer fighter-bomber has accidentally dropped a bomb on a house in southern Kazakhstan, which did not explode, Kazakh military prosecutors said. Designed from the outset as an all-weather, low-level attack aircraft, the Sukhoi Su-24 'Fencer' bears a resemblance to the American F-111, altough the Soviet jet is somewhat smaller. Entering service after the F-111, but before the Tornado, the 'Fencer is comparable in performance with the two premier Western interdictors, being somewhat faster and with better rough field capability, but having less advanced avionics and attack systems. The Su-24 Fencer has a combat radius only 300 km less than that of the F 111E/F and equal to the Mirage IV A, At least 500 attack 'Fencers' were built. The type is also used for maritime strike/reconnaissance and for electronic jamming/Sigint/reconnaissance. The eight weapons pylons beneath the Su-24's fuselage, wing gloves and outer wing panels can carry a wide variety of weaponry, ranging from tactical and defence-suppression bombs and missiles through to nuclear weapons. The wings are high-mounted, variable, swept-back, and tapered. There are twin turbofan engines. The air intakes are tapered away from the body, rectangular-shaped, and mounted on the body forward of the wings’ leading edges. There are twin exhausts. The fuselage is long, slender, with pointed, solid nose, and rectangular-shaped body from the air intakes to the exhausts. There are two belly fins and four pylons. There is a bubble canopy. The dorsal spine extends from the cockpit to the tail. The tail fin is swept-back and tapered with square tip. The flats are high-mounted on the fuselage, swept-back, and tapered with angular tips.The chief designer of the plane between 1965 and 1985 was Ye.S. Felsner, and then, from 1985, work was headed by L.A. Logvinov. The total production of the Su-24 type was about 1,400 planes. The Su-24/Su-24M was the only type of modern domestically-produced frontline bomber and forms the backbone of the strike capability of the frontal aviation of the Air Forces of the RF and Ukraine. The Design Bureau has been implementing a joint program with the Air Forces to upgrade combat aircraft since 1999.* The 120-mm high-explosive bomb fell off the plane during a training flight in the Almaty region at about 07.00 GMT on Monday. "The bomb fell on a house but did not explode. There were no casualties in the accident," Kazakhstan's main military prosecutor's office said in a statement. According to the prosecutors, who launched a probe in the accident, the sappers have already disarmed the bomb. Kazakhstan's Air and Air Defense Forces have at least 30 Su-24 attack aircraft in active service.

Russia Related News....for full stories click on the links below

~ Russia may revise use of nuclear weapons in new military doctrine ~ Chavez says Obama does not deserve Nobel Peace Prize ~ Russia, China to boost energy cooperation ~ Opposition claims violations as Russia holds regional elections ~ Russian Navy to buy 24 MiG-29K carrier-based fighters

~ Russian military denies existence of new 'super-tank'

DTN News: Russian Bombers Test High-Precision Weaponry During Drills

DTN News: Russian Bombers Test High-Precision Weaponry During Drills *Source: DTN News / RIA Novosti (NSI News Source Info) BARANOVICHI, Belarus - September 29, 2009: Russian strategic and tactical bombers equipped with new high-precision weapons systems have successfully conducted live-firing drills at a practice range in Belarus, a Ground Forces spokesman said on Sunday. The drills at the Obuz-Lesnovski range were part of the Zapad (West) 2009 large-scale Russian-Belarusian military exercises currently underway in Belarus. 'Today, Tu-22M3 Backfire strategic bombers and Su-24M Fencer tactical bombers, which are equipped a specialized computing subsystem SVP-24, conducted a series of live-firing drills aimed at destroying ground targets designated by a commander of a motorized infantry brigade,' Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky said. SVP-24 allows target data to be automatically transmitted by on-ground spotters and received by ground attack aircraft during combat. Drobyshevsky said the drill involved quick retargeting of the aircraft in response to a decision made by a unit commander on the ground, who shifted priority to a new set of targets during an intense battle. 'Air strikes on these new targets were delivered with high precision in poor weather conditions from outside the effective range of the enemy's air defenses,' he said. The September 8-29 Zapad 2009 exercises involve around 13,000 service personnel, 63 airplanes, 40 helicopters, 470 infantry fighting vehicles, 228 tanks and 234 artillery pieces on both sides. S-300 air defense missile systems are also participating in the drills, designed to test the effectiveness of the unified regional anti-aircraft defense systems of Russia and Belarus.

DTN News: Friendly Fire Downed Russia Jets In Georgia ~ Report

DTN News: Friendly Fire Downed Russia Jets In Georgia ~ Report

* Russia lost six planes in war, not four, report says

* "Friendly fire" accounts for three of downed planes

* Russia was unsure of its air superiority until war ended

*Source: DTN News / Reuters By Dmitry Solovyov (NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW, Russia - July 9, 2009: Russia lost six planes in its war with Georgia last August, not four as was officially announced, and at least three were downed by "friendly fire", a Russian military journal reported.

In August 2008, an unknown number of Su-25s of the Georgian Air Force participated in bombing raids on targets in South Ossetia during the War in South Ossetia, and Russian military Su-25 undertook air raids on targets in Georgia. The Russian military officially confirmed the loss of three Su-25 aircraft to the Georgian air defense, while it estimates that it destroyed 3 Georgian Su-25 in the war. In early August 2008, Russian Su-25s attacked the Tbilisi aircraft plant, where Su-25 is produced, dropping bombs on the factory's airfield.

Russia defeated neighbouring Georgia and briefly seized large chunks of its land in a five-day war after the U.S. ally tried to retake the pro-Moscow rebel region of South Ossetia.

But the war uncovered serious deficiencies in the Russian armed forces, prompting doubts among some analysts as to whether Moscow would be able to defeat a bigger enemy and spurring the Kremlin to accelerate long-delayed military reforms.

The authoritative Moscow Defense Brief said Russia lost six planes, not four as the government announced at the time, in a report citing military sources and media reports that is to be published on Thursday in its quarterly edition.

"The absence of cooperation between the Russian Army and Air Force led them to conduct completely separate campaigns," said the journal, published by the independent Moscow-based think tank, the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.

"Pilots were not fully apprised of the situation on the ground, received inexact and late intelligence, and at the start of hostilities ... they did not even have exact information on the structure and strength of the Georgian Air Defense Forces." Official data provided by deputy chief of the General Staff Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn showed Russia lost three Su-25 ground attack aircraft and one Tu-22M3 long-range bomber.

But providing crew names, exact times, locations and types of aircraft, the Moscow Defense Brief argued that Russia in fact had lost six aircraft in combat during the five-day war.

The two aircraft that were lost but not mentioned in official reports were Su-24M front-line bombers, the report said.

FRIENDLY FIRE

"Of these (six), two aircraft were certainly downed by enemy fire, three were probably hit by 'friendly fire' and it remains difficult to determine who shot down the last one," it said. Five aircraft fell in South Ossetia and one in Georgia, it said. Contacted by Reuters, Russia's Defence Ministry declined immediate comment. A Georgian Defence Ministry official told Reuters that Georgia had shot down 15 Russian aircraft.

Aside from the downed aircraft, several other Su-25 ground attack aircraft were seriously damaged, though they managed to return to base, the journal said. All of these jets had been hit by shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles, it said. The worst day of the campaign for Russian aviation was the war's second day, Aug. 9, with a total loss of four planes. A transport helicopter was destroyed in South Ossetia a few days after the end of combat when it collided with and badly damaged a helicopter gunship on landing.

"Russian Ground Forces ... were not sure until the end of combat whether Russia's aviation had achieved air superiority," the Moscow Defense Brief said.

"Russian aircraft were frequently taken by Russian and Ossetian forces for Georgian aircraft, and they were fired upon without identification and in the absence of any aggressive action on their part."

(Additional reporting by Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi)

(Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

DTN News: Russian Air Force Resumes Su-24 Flights After A Short Suspension

DTN News: Russian Air Force Resumes Su-24 Flights After A Short Suspension *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW, Russia - July 7, 2009: Russia's Air Force has resumed Su-24 Fencer attack aircraft flights after a 10-day suspension following two crashes in mid-June, a Defense Ministry official said on Monday. The Sukhoi Su-24 (NATO reporting name Fencer) was the Soviet Union's most advanced all-weather interdiction and attack aircraft in the 1970s and 1980s. The two-seat, twin-engined aircraft carried the USSR's first integrated digital nav/attack system. In many aspects, the Su-24's configuration is similar to that of the F-111. It remains in service with former Soviet air forces and various export nations. About 1,400 Su-24s were produced. Substantial numbers of ex-Soviet Su-24s remain in service with Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. Roughly 577 are currently operational with Russian forces, split 447 with the Russian Air Force and 130 with the Russian Navy. The Su-24 is a two-seat, twin-engine fighter-bomber similar to NATO's Tornado and Mirage 2000 planes. "The Air Force commander issued an order on Monday to resume Su-24 flights, which had been halted after two consecutive crashes of these aircraft," the official said. A Su-24 plane crashed on June 19 in the Rostov region of southern Russia, with both pilots ejecting safely. Another Su-24 aircraft crashed on June 17 on a runway as it landed at an airfield in the Murmansk region in the far northwest, but both pilots also ejected safely. Pilot error has been identified as the cause of the June 17 crash, while the June 19 accident probably resulted from a failure in the Su-24 wing positioning system, a flight safety official said on Monday. "The cause of the Su-24's crash has been established. It was a pilot error made during the landing," Lt. Gen. Sergei Bainetov said adding that the investigation into the Su-24 crash in the Rostov region continued. Ten pilots have died in the last decade in 13 Su-24 aircraft crashes in Russia. The plane has been in service with the Russian Air Force since the mid-1970s. However, in recent years Russia has gradually been phasing out the planes, which have a patchy safety record. According to the Defense Ministry, the Su-24 will be gradually replaced with new Su-34 Fullback strike aircraft, which has the potential to become the top plane in its class for years to come.

Russia: Su-34 (Fullback) - Two-Seat Fighter-Bomber/Strike Aircraft

Russia: Su-34 (Fullback) - Two-Seat Fighter-Bomber/Strike Aircraft

(NSI News Source Info) February 2, 2009: The Su-34 (NATO reporting name of "Fullback") is a dedicated two-seat fighter-bomber/strike fighter version of the successful Su-27 "Flanker" fighter series. The aircraft is a product of the Sukhoi Design Bureau that has already spawned into a handful of capable roles including the Su-33 navy multi-role fighter and the Su-35 long-range, air superiority/strike fighter.

The Su-34 features some components of previous Flanker aircraft but incorporates a slew of new systems that make the system essentially an independent aircraft design consistent with its intended strike role.The Su-34 began life under the Sukhoi T-10V project designation and evolved into the Su-27IB, making its maiden flight on April 13th, 1990. This project sought to fit the air superiority Su-27 Flanker into more of a dedicated fighter-bomber role.

The Sukhoi Su-34 (export designation Su-32, NATO reporting name Fullback) is an advanced Russian 2-seat fighter-bomber and strike aircraft. It is intended to eventually replace the Sukhoi Su-24.

The aircraft differed from its predecessor in that it featured a larger cabin to accommodate a two-seat cockpit with each pilot seated side-by-side. Essentially, the entire forward fuselage is all-new when compared to the base Su-27 and its counterpart, the Su-30. Conversely, the aircraft maintains the engine nacelles (with fixed intakes), wings and tail section of the Su-27 and features forward-fitted canards for added stability. The canards are fitted between the distance of the cockpit and main wing system. The extended fuselage aft (otherwise referred to as a "stinger") houses a rearward-looking radar system to contend with any enemy aircraft in pursuit.

The large two-seat, pressurized cockpit adds many long-range bonuses for the crew made up of the pilot and weapons operator. It is reportedly spacious enough for the crew to stand upright and an in-flight lavatory makes for sustainable long flights. Unlike previous Soviet/Russian aircraft designs, ergonomics have been given a priority in the Su-34 and thus the onboard spaciousness is a byproduct of this initiative. The cockpit is made largely of glass with a split forward piece and a curved single main piece. The cockpit design and sharp down-angled nose no doubt adds to taxing and landing visibility substantially. Independent ejection seats are afforded to both crew members. The undercarriage is a conventional tricycle arrangement with each main gear utilizing two wheels.

Power is derived from twin Lyulka brand AL-35F turbofans with afterburning capability producing 30,845lbf of thrust each unit. Fuel is supplied via large onboard areas and, coupled with external fuel tanks and in-flight refueling, the Fullback can obtain impressive ranges. A top Mach speed of 1.8 is reported along with a range of 2,490 miles (ferry range). Service ceiling will top out at roughly 49,000 feet. Onboard systems propel the Su-34 into the modern age and feature real-time digital battlefield management systems, advanced targeting and tracking operations and an improved navigational suite. Cockpit system automation in the cockpit extends the usefulness of the aircraft to the point of allowing the pilots to concentrate on other facets of the mission at hand.

For standard armament, the Su-34 will feature a 1 x 30mm GSh-30-1 series cannon (as found on the Su-27 and Su-30 Flankers) sporting 150 rounds of ammunition - largely for close-range self-defense. The bread and butter of the system lies in its ability to mount up to 17,600lbs of external ordnance on 10 to 12 underside hardpoints slung about the wings and fuselage. Munition types run the gamut of air-to-air and air-to-surface weaponry including guided air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles (including long-range cruise missiles), guided bombs and conventional bombs and rocket pods of varying types. Wingtip launch rails are reserved for the AA-11 "Archer" series of air-to-air missiles, presumably for self-defense - though the Su-27 air superiority roots of the Su-34 may prove it a capable fighter none-the-less.

Along with its inherent in-flight refueling capabilities, the Su-34 can also carry external fuel tanks for exponentially increased operational ranges.

The Su-27IB was unveiled several times over the decade under different guises and designations, no doubt slowly evolving as the available project funds allowed. As the money came and went, so too did the Su-34 progression and regression. Eventually, the system was officially announced with the Su-34 designation by Russian authorities and its uncertain future was now set in motion at a cost of approximately $36 million USD (1997) to produce.

The Su-34 "Fullback" is intended to replace the 500 or so Cold War-era Sukhoi Su-24 "Fencer" aircraft still in service with Russian forces, though modernization programs have been underway to extend the operational life of the Fencers until the Su-34 is fully ready. This most likely means that it will be of some duration before the Su-34 sees full operational numbers. Some 10 pre-production examples have already been delivered with an expected 200 example total by the end of this first production run. All in all, the Su-34 "Fullback" should be an impressive addition to the Russian aerial arsenal.