Su-27: News

franco wrote:

d_taddei2 wrote:

Berkut wrote:

d_taddei2 wrote:does anyone know if all Russian Su-27 have now been upgraded to SM level as the upgrade program started back in 2010 and apart from Wiki havent found any real numbers. Or have they halted it in favour of Su-30 and Su-35.

45-48 under the original Su-27SM contract. 12 more ordered under 2009 contract, Su-27SM3 standard, new frames. 2 more SM3's in 2014, these were standard operational frames upgraded. 36 more SM3's ordered this year, these are also upgrades of existing vanilla S/P frames.

thanks and thanks to George1 as well, so it looks like they continue to upgrade, despite Su-30 and Su-35 coming into service, i suppose its cheaper to upgrade Su-27 to Sm level than it is to buy new Su-30 as their isnt much in it in differences to either aircraft, and it also makes sense to continue to sell Su-30 to other countries than sell Su-27Sm, i am surprised the Su-34 hasn't had any orders from outside of Russia yet.

The original order was for 26 Su-27SM which appear to be retiring and replaced by the Su-35S.
There are today 50 Su-27SM2 upgrades, 12 new built Su-27SM3 plus a few Su-27UB upgraded to Su-27UBM.
There are plans to upgrade another 36 Su-27P's to Su-27SM2 standard.

medo wrote:

franco wrote:

d_taddei2 wrote:

Berkut wrote:

d_taddei2 wrote:does anyone know if all Russian Su-27 have now been upgraded to SM level as the upgrade program started back in 2010 and apart from Wiki havent found any real numbers. Or have they halted it in favour of Su-30 and Su-35.

45-48 under the original Su-27SM contract. 12 more ordered under 2009 contract, Su-27SM3 standard, new frames. 2 more SM3's in 2014, these were standard operational frames upgraded. 36 more SM3's ordered this year, these are also upgrades of existing vanilla S/P frames.

thanks and thanks to George1 as well, so it looks like they continue to upgrade, despite Su-30 and Su-35 coming into service, i suppose its cheaper to upgrade Su-27 to Sm level than it is to buy new Su-30 as their isnt much in it in differences to either aircraft, and it also makes sense to continue to sell Su-30 to other countries than sell Su-27Sm, i am surprised the Su-34 hasn't had any orders from outside of Russia yet.

The original order was for 26 Su-27SM which appear to be retiring and replaced by the Su-35S.
There are today 50 Su-27SM2 upgrades, 12 new built Su-27SM3 plus a few Su-27UB upgraded to Su-27UBM.
There are plans to upgrade another 36 Su-27P's to Su-27SM2 standard.

I think Russia made only one Su-27UBM prototype, but not modernize any as UBs have too much flying hours and are worn out. It have not to be mixed with Belarus Su-27UBM and Kazakhstan's Su-27UBM1 modernized in Belarus.

Deliveries of the Su-27 fighters to the Soviet Air Force and Air Defence Forces started in 1985. Most of the series produced aircraft were T-10S design, hence the designation of Su-27S. Since 1989 all new manufactured aircraft had their air-to-ground weapons capability removed, carrying the factory designation T-10P, thus making the "semi-official" designation Su-27P.
The first batch of 20 Su-27s were handed over from 22 June 1985 to the ADF (PVO) fighter regiment based at Dzemgi AB in the Far East. From 1986 the re-equipment of fighter units was accelerated. By 1990, the European part of the Soviet Union had received 367 Su-27 fighters (138 for the Air Force and 229 for the ADF fighter regiments). 67 of the Soviet Air Force aircraft were stationed in Poland. It was then estimated by Western experts that the total number of Su-27s in existence was 500.

nastle77 wrote:SO I'm trying to find out how many Su-27 were operational with PVO and VVA back in 1990

I do have only one source yefim Gordon who states that 350 or so were operational in 1990

another one I found was

Deliveries of the Su-27 fighters to the Soviet Air Force and Air Defence Forces started in 1985. Most of the series produced aircraft were T-10S design, hence the designation of Su-27S. Since 1989 all new manufactured aircraft had their air-to-ground weapons capability removed, carrying the factory designation T-10P, thus making the "semi-official" designation Su-27P.
The first batch of 20 Su-27s were handed over from 22 June 1985 to the ADF (PVO) fighter regiment based at Dzemgi AB in the Far East. From 1986 the re-equipment of fighter units was accelerated. By 1990, the European part of the Soviet Union had received 367 Su-27 fighters (138 for the Air Force and 229 for the ADF fighter regiments). 67 of the Soviet Air Force aircraft were stationed in Poland. It was then estimated by Western experts that the total number of Su-27s in existence was 500.

•Fomin, Andrei (2000). Su-27 Flanker Story, RA Intervestnik, Moscow, Russia
http://www.milavia.net/aircraft/su-27/su-27_operators.htm#sources

How reliable is this ? Does anyone have more information on this ?
Thanks

George1 wrote:Su-33 Northern Fleet Navy Flankers Enter Into Kola Arctic Service

The fleet of aircraft entered into service in defense of the air borders of the Kola area of the Arctic region following a ceremony on August 1; the aircraft is a naval fighter jet based on the Su-27.

A fleet of Su-33 navy flankers have entered service in the Kola zone of the Russian Arctic, the Northern Fleet of the Russian navy announced on Monday.

"Pilots of the shipborne fighter aviation regiment of the Northern Fleet have begun service guarding the air borders of the Kola Arctic region using the deck-based Su-33 fighter jet – the naval equivalent of the multi-role Su-27 fighter jet," stated a spokesman for the Northern Fleet on Monday.

"The aircraft were introduced into service in a ceremony held on August 1."

According to the statement, the navy flankers had been employed in defense of Northern Fleet warship units on long campaigns. From now on, in between campaigns, the Su-33 aircraft will be employed in the air defense of the Kola area of the Russian Arctic.

The Su-33 is a single-seat ship-based fighter, designed to defend naval ships from aerial threats; the aircraft were brought into service on board the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov.

The aircraft are manufactured in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and first entered into official service in 1998.

A naval derivative of the land-based Su-27 fighter jet, it has a reinforced undercarriage and folding wings for landing on navy aircraft carriers, and is equipped with probe-and-drogue refueling capabilities.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/20150803/1025335094.html#ixzz3hkgLVGxw

max steel wrote:
Read the last line which flanker is he talking about Su-27 or F-22 ?

nastle77 wrote:Were any SU-27 also assigned to the strategic aviation by the end of the 1980s ? In addition to PVO and VVS ?

franco wrote:

nastle77 wrote:Were any SU-27 also assigned to the strategic aviation by the end of the 1980s ? In addition to PVO and VVS ?

I never heard of any nor see the purpose for such a thing.

mack8 wrote:There's a recent article on VKS in CA or AFM, can't remember, there are some numbers there, i have to check it again. A previous article from the last year was talking of i think 120 un-upgraded Su-27P/S still in service, but the number now must be significantly lower.

PS: Found it, the article claims that there are about 70 un-upgraded Su-27S/UB still in service, how accurate that figure is i don't know. But it seems that in about 2020 there will still be about 65 Su-27SM/SM3 upgraded or bought previously plus these 36 let's call them "Su-27SM4", and presumably still a number of legacy UBs, unless they will all be replaced by the 20 Su-30M2. To that we can add hopefully about 96 Su-35S and well over 100 Su-30SMs. Presumably then the T-50S will start replacing the oldest Su-27SMs.

On another note, any details of how much life/hours have been added to the initial 55 Su-27SMs upgraded in the 2000s, is it ten or 15 years?

Cyberspec wrote:AFAIK, officially there is no Su-27SM2. There's only SM and SM3

There is probably minor differences between various Su-27SM aircraft depending on the year they were upgraded which led to the unofficial SM2 designation

Cyberspec wrote:I think they are all upgraded (existing) Su-27's....but some are freshly assembled from previously produced kits/components (from the 1990's I believe)

franco wrote:

Cyberspec wrote:AFAIK, officially there is no Su-27SM2. There's only SM and SM3

There is probably minor differences between various Su-27SM aircraft depending on the year they were upgraded which led to the unofficial SM2 designation

My understanding is that the SM2 is the same standard as the SM3 but a rebuild not a new build as the SM3.

sepheronx wrote:Interesting.  So with upgrades like SM, would you think that such upgrades require minimal work?  And how much does an SM upgrade cost per Su-27?