Su-34 Tactical Bomber: News #2

Su-34 of the Russian Aerospace Forces a few seconds before the impact of the corrected KAB-500Kr bombs with television homing on the bridge over the Euphrates in the Syrian Raqqa. 2016

Anything good on TV?

Why are the pilots using a Garmin gps , doesn't glosnas work?

bandit6 wrote:Why are the pilots using a Garmin gps , doesn't glosnas work?

Belt and braces?

It would have to be a GPS that tracked GLONASS satellites because the US will have turned off the civilian GPS to Syria and it would be useless.

They would likely put that there the way you would have it in a car to show you constantly where you were without needing to use a whole MFD screen to show you where you were.

GarryB wrote:It would have to be a GPS that tracked GLONASS satellites because the US will have turned off the civilian GPS to Syria and it would be useless.

They would likely put that there the way you would have it in a car to show you constantly where you were without needing to use a whole MFD screen to show you where you were.

He have the same picture on two MFDs. He could use one MFD for map or radar picture. Maybe they use it to control how well GPS signal is jammed.

Garry, that's a Garmin gps, I don't think they use glosnas

Hole wrote:The GPS is for ferry flights trough international airspace.

From what I've heard it's to check that all nav systems including glonass and inertial aligned correctly on the ground, since in Syria they don't have the same radio beacons to quickly verify for any positional errors.

Most modern civilian GPS systems use both signals to improve accuracy... in absence of a civilian Navstar signal the civilian GLONASS system would be sufficiently accurate.

From the Garmin website:

Other GPS Systems

There are other similar systems to GPS in the world, which are all classified as the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). GLONASS is a satellite constellation system built by Russia. The European Space Agency is creating Galileo, while China is creating BeiDou. Most Garmin receivers track both GLONASS and GPS, and some even track BeiDou. You can expect a more reliable solution when you track more satellites. You could be tracking nearly 20 with newer Garmin products.

https://www.garmin.com/ru-RU/aboutGPS/

The Americans apparently use off the shelf GPS navigators as well....C-17 below

Cyberspec wrote:The Americans apparently use off the shelf GPS navigators as well....C-17 below

Is that a gps or sectional chart on a tablet?

It might sound strange but custom designed products can often be better than multifunction products.

Many people have calculators on their desks despite computers having calculator programmes.

Sometimes as the primary calculation device and sometimes as a backup.

How does the platan targeting camera on the Su-34 compare to the nato targeting pods in terms of FOV and range of acquisition?

US won't turn off GPS over their own "territory" where most of su-34's target would be.

So su-34 using GPS is quite a safe methode...

GPS guided missile should work very fine against NATO.

Isos wrote:US won't turn off GPS over their own "territory" where most of su-34's target would be.

So su-34 using GPS is quite a safe methode...

GPS guided missile should work very fine against NATO.

They won't turn it off but they'll shift the civilian signals off by a couple dozen metres like they did I think in the Gulf War

And Russia doesn't have access to the military signals

Why not just use Glonass and spare yourself the trouble?

US won't turn off GPS over their own "territory" where most of su-34's target would be.

They can pick sectors and areas to turn of the civilian GPS and can even degrade its accuracy.

The civilian GPS was turned off in South Ossetia during the conflict there in 2008, with Russian soldiers using cellphone towers to locate their position most of the time.

So su-34 using GPS is quite a safe methode...

Using Glonass signals it will be just fine.

GPS guided missile should work very fine against NATO.

No, it wont because if they know you use civilian GPS they can turn it off in that region or degrade the signal so it becomes worthless.

Russia spent the money and the time building GLONASS so there is little reason to not use it.

In this case the aircraft will be using GLONASS... and military GLONASS signals too, but this pilot or crew want a backup display showing their location and position... so they bought a cheap off the shelf GPS device that includes the GLONASS signal.

Tests of Su-34 with Kh-35U anti-ship missiles completed. 

The test program of the Su-34 frontline bomber with Kh-35U anti-ship missiles has been completed during launches performed in the Far East in the summer of 2021, the Izvestia newspaper reports. These anti-ship missiles were equipped with the aircraft of the 277th bomber Regiment. Su-34s of this formation are based at the Khurba airfield near Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

The use of new Su-34 missiles has been tested in different climatic conditions. The high efficiency of the use of ammunition from this aircraft has been confirmed. The total salvo of only one Su-34 regiment is about a hundred X-35U anti-ship missiles.

The range of Kh-35U missiles exceeds 250 km, which allows the carrier aircraft not to enter the enemy's air defense zone. With a mass of 550 kg, a warhead weighing 145 kg was used, which guarantees the destruction of medium-sized targets. The product has a combined guidance system: the missile uses an inertial navigation system and a radio altimeter in the main flight section, and when entering a given area, it uses an active radar homing head.

Intercepting such ammunition is extremely difficult. The missile approaches the target at an altitude of no more than 10-15 m, and at the final stage it decreases to four. Due to this, the enemy's radar equipment cannot detect it in a timely manner, and air defense systems do not have enough time to react.

Source: 

Russian_Patriot_ wrote:Tests of Su-34 with Kh-35U anti-ship missiles completed. 

The test program of the Su-34 frontline bomber with Kh-35U anti-ship missiles has been completed during launches performed in the Far East in the summer of 2021, the Izvestia newspaper reports. These anti-ship missiles were equipped with the aircraft of the 277th bomber Regiment. Su-34s of this formation are based at the Khurba airfield near Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

The use of new Su-34 missiles has been tested in different climatic conditions. The high efficiency of the use of ammunition from this aircraft has been confirmed. The total salvo of only one Su-34 regiment is about a hundred X-35U anti-ship missiles.

The range of Kh-35U missiles exceeds 250 km, which allows the carrier aircraft not to enter the enemy's air defense zone. With a mass of 550 kg, a warhead weighing 145 kg was used, which guarantees the destruction of medium-sized targets. The product has a combined guidance system: the missile uses an inertial navigation system and a radio altimeter in the main flight section, and when entering a given area, it uses an active radar homing head.

Intercepting such ammunition is extremely difficult. The missile approaches the target at an altitude of no more than 10-15 m, and at the final stage it decreases to four. Due to this, the enemy's radar equipment cannot detect it in a timely manner, and air defense systems do not have enough time to react.

Source: 

https://aviation21.ru/zaversheny-ispytaniya-su-34-s-protivokorabelnymi-raketami-x-35u/?_utl_t=tm

Havent they been using Kh-35s and Kh-35Us since the late 90s?

The Kh-35 since the mid 80s... the first one I think was an East German ship that was too small to carry any of their other anti ship missiles which are enormous.

The Kh-35U has had its range doubled and the model they tested above has probably had new software to allow land based targets to be engaged.

Needless to say it was not really till the last five to ten years that aircraft able to take advantage of this missiles capabilities have entered service in Russia.

It is a ship surface launched missile as well as land based truck mounted system in the form of the BAL truck based coastal anti ship system.

The ship and truck and helicopter based models have a solid rocket booster to get them up to flight speed, but the fighter launched missiles don't need that.

GarryB wrote:The Kh-35 since the mid 80s... the first one I think was an East German ship that was too small to carry any of their other anti ship missiles which are enormous.

The Kh-35U has had its range doubled and the model they tested above has probably had new software to allow land based targets to be engaged.

Needless to say it was not really till the last five to ten years that aircraft able to take advantage of this missiles capabilities have entered service in Russia.

It is a ship surface launched missile as well as land based truck mounted system in the form of the BAL truck based coastal anti ship system.

The ship and truck and helicopter based models have a solid rocket booster to get them up to flight speed, but the fighter launched missiles don't need that.

No use on an aircraft? Thats BS. Its a light antiship/land attack cruise missile like the kh-59. Its main use is to be on an aircraft. Also most russian aircraft theoretically can carry it. Su-24, Mig-29SMT, Su-30/35, Su-27SM3, Su-34. Its just unnacceptable that before 2021 the premiere frontline strike bomber couldnt launch this staple weapon.

How many Russian aircraft would routinely expect to be launching missiles at enemy ships?

I would say most of the time that would primarily be Tu-22M3s, which normally carry Kh-22M and Kh-32 missiles in anti ship and land attack nuclear anti radiation roles to defeat major air defence sites in a theatre strike role... not something they would find much use with a Kh-35 for... the Kh-31 would be more use most of the time.

The Russian Navy has not used many Su-35s or Su-30s and certain no Su-34s AFAIK... maybe some Su-24s but they would be more likely to use Kh-59s than Kh-35s, and MiG-29SMTs and Su-27SMs...

Like I said... the Kh-35 would not be heavily used by aircraft in the past.

In comparison having surface ships using it and it being the core missile of the coastal BAL system, it is more a surface launched missile than an air launched one.

With the new helicopter carriers then its use in the air will increase in Russian military too.

It was spotted on su-34 in Syria back in 2018 during the NATO missile attack.