GarryB on Wed 19 Dec 2012, 05:08
So far the R-77 has only be used on conventional wing pylons on aircraft like the Su-30MKI and Mig-29C and Mig-29SMT and Su-30SM and Su-27SM etc etc.
With development of the PAK FA, they will likely have further changed the rear grid fins to fold forward for internal stowage, which they were originally designed for. With their rear grid fins folded forward they are much more compact weapons and twin rails between the standard Flanker body should be fairly straight forward to impliment.
Note that the launch rail for the R-77 has a pneumatic arm that throws the missile down and away from the aircraft during launch before the missiles rocket motor is started. It was originally designed to allow the weapon to be launched from an internal weapon bay, but would be just as useful throwing the missiles down from the centreline of a Flanker away from the aircraft so the fins could deploy and the motor start up clear of the aircraft.
Note the R-33 and R-37M use a similar system to throw them down and clear of the belly of the Mig-31 for a clean separation at launch too, so the RVV-BD will likely have a similar launch capacity... including from the centreline of Mig-29s and Flankers too.
Last edited by GarryB on Thu 23 Jan 2014, 02:57; edited 1 time in total
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