Su-34 Tactical Bomber: News

Laser-television system for the Su-34 in the mode of automatic aerial tracking. As an air target Su-35. The work of the laser-television guidance system of the Su-34 in the automatic tracking of an aerial target. As an air target, today we have a blue-breasted Su-35. In general, this sight on this

Being on the bottom tracking is lost when it comes above the horizon line.

Being a strike aircraft that is not a huge issue

The Platan can look backwards.

Four more Su-34 bomber aircraft received from the Russian Aerospace Forces

The Russian defense ministry is adapting four Sukhoi Su-34 aircraft with reconnaissance pods, but has kept its electronic version of the aircraft largely under wraps.

The ministry this month announced it plans to sign, next month, a $3.9 million contract to enable the Su-34s to use unified reconnaissance pods, including installing pylons, a contract that will be implemented this year and into 2019.

The contract is in addition to Russia’s overall fighter inventory upgrade of the last decade and the ongoing purchase and upgrade of the Su-34 fleet.

Initially, the military had planned to replace its only tactical reconnaissance aircraft, the Su-24MR Fencer-E, with the Su-27R, which would have featured reconnaissance equipment built into the airframe, but that program was never completed. The new approach under the latest contract allows the Su-34 to be fitted with the Bazovyi Kompleks Razvedki (BKR-3); the M400A, a reconnaissance suite developed by Moscow-based NII Kulon within the Antrakt research and development program will be carried in externally mounted Universalnyi Konteyner Razvedki (UKR) unified reconnaissance pods.


Russia is modifying four of its Su-34 aircraft to carry the UKR series intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) pods. Credit: Piotr Butowski

The adaptation of the Su-34 for carrying UKR series pods and performing reconnaissance tasks is fairly straightforward, costs about $1 million and is a modification that can be applied to many different aircraft.

The main radar reconnaissance sensor is the M402 Pika-M side-looking radar from NII Kulon, mounted in the UKR-RL (radio-location) pod. The export version of the radar weighs 300 kg (661 lb.), works in X-band, and has a linear resolving power of 1-2 m (3-6 ft.). Another reconnaissance pod, the UKR-RT (radio-technical) houses the M410 signals-intelligence system produced by the TsNIRTI Institute of Moscow. A third pod in this series, the electro-optical UKR-OE, houses the Antrakt-TV camera (which features a resolving power of 50 cm/20 in. from 500-m altitude) and the M433 Raduga-VM linear infrared scanner. As well as the sensors, each pod houses a data storage and wideband data link for real-time transmission to a ground station.

Flight testing of the UKR pods on the Su-34 began in July 2013. In December 2014, the UKR-RT signals intelligence pod was the first to complete trials. In July 2015, the UKR-RL radar pod wrapped up flight trials and in 2016, the UKR-OE electro-optical pod followed. NII Kulon then began series production of the pods; company documents indicate this is being done on a piece-production basis.

Along with the reconnaissance version, but much more covertly, Russia is developing an electronic-warfare version of the Su-34.

For many years the Soviet Union (whose equivalent is now the Commonwealth of Independent States) had a strong fleet of specialized tactical and theater-level escort jammers on Yak-28 Brewer, Su-24 Fencer, Tu-16 Badger and Tu-22 Blinder platforms. All these aircraft were scrapped in the early 1990s and had no successors. The Su-27PP (Postanovshchik Pomech, jammer) with the Kavkaz (Caucasus) jamming suite was to be the successor, but as with the reconnaissance variant, this too did not progress.

Instead, Russia is enhancing the base Khibiny-10-volt electronic countermeasures suite (available on any Su-34) for escort jamming tasks by adding an underfuselage jamming pod with systems that have much more power and a broader frequency range than the basic suite.

The Su-34’s standard L175V Khibiny-10-volt self-defense suite manufactured by Knirti of Kaluga consists of a receiver that detects, classifies and determines the position of the target radar using a cigar-shaped pod at the port wingtip and a transmitter that emits the appropriate countermeasures in a pod at the starboard wingtip. The computer and control system are built into the fuselage. The system generates countermeasures in C-, X- and Ku-band (centimeter wavelength), on which the fighter aircraft radars and surface-to-air missile-guidance channels operate.

Three variants of additional pods for escort jamming are produced. Two of them, the L175VU-1 and -2, work in the same frequency ranges as the basic L175V and do not require a receiver; they are simply powerful transmitters. The third pod, L175VSh-1 works in S and L bands (decameter wavelength), used by airborne-early-warning-and-control aircraft and ground air-defense radars, and has both a receiver and transmitter. Deliveries of these pods to operational units started in late 2015.

These special updates to the Su-34 come amid the larger effort to produce and upgrade the platform. This month, Sukhoi’s production plant in Novosibirsk delivered another two Su-34s to the bomber aviation regiment in Chelyabinsk—the 120th and 121st aircraft of this type made since 1990, including test aircraft.

Su-34 production continues at a steady pace of 16-18 aircraft a year. Sixteen aircraft remain to be delivered. When the full order is completed in 2019, the Russian Air Force will have had nine operational squadrons of Su-34s.

Along with the implementation of the current contract, the military may order another batch of Fullbacks in an upgraded Su-34M variant. The Su-34M was developed under an R&D program code-named Sych (Russian for “little owl”) and was recently cleared for series production.

Most mission systems and avionics have been upgraded. The modernized K-102M targeting and navigation complex was equipped with an entirely new central computer, employing Russian-made processors of the Elbrus series in lieu of the previous four BTsVM-386 (Baget-53-31M) computers. In the upgraded Sh141M radar system, with V004M radar and K-030BM computer, automatic low-level flight, digital map and map-matching navigation have been introduced. In the upgrade process, the Russians are trying to replace foreign components, to which they have had limited access after 2014, with indigenous ones. However, many small electronic components are still foreign.

For the time being, replacement of the current AL-31F engines is not planned. Installation of more-powerful AL-41F1 or Izdeliye 30 engines, made for the Su-57 fighter, on the Su-34 is possible.

In addition, the Russians have been negotiating with Algeria to purchase the Su-32, an export variant of the Su-34, for 10 years, to no avail. Reports suggest that a large batch of about 40 Su-32 aircraft is being discussed.

Three new Su-34 fighter jets assume combat duty at mixed aviation regiment in Russia

Rodion_Romanovic wrote:

Afterall, I remember having read somewhere that Russia was planning to have around 200 su-34, at the moment they have around 130.