Sukhoi Su-27

Video from the channel Pablogonzae about Sukhoi Su-27, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 10:27. Language: Spanish. Video type: Documentary.

An educational overview of the history and characteristics of the Sukhoi Su-27, a twin-engine heavy air superiority fighter designed in the Soviet Union by the Sukhoi design bureau in the 1970s. The author narrates it over footage of the aircraft.

The video traces its origin to the Soviet response to the 1969 American programmes that produced the F-15 Eagle and the F-16. The Soviet air force first wanted a single fighter for both roles, the PFI programme, for which Mikoyan, Sukhoi and Yakovlev submitted proposals. On finding that the agility and range requirements were incompatible, it split the programme into a heavy fighter (TPFI) and a light one (LPFI). The multirole two-seat Su-30, the naval Su-33, the Su-34 bomber and the Su-35 all derive from the original design.

Its manoeuvrability allows it to perform the Pugachev's Cobra, which involves raising the nose more than 100 degrees relative to the flight path for a few seconds. The pilot sits in a K-36DM ejection seat, and the early versions had essentially analogue instrumentation. It is powered by two AL-31F turbofans. Its initial armament combined short-range R-73 missiles and medium-range R-27s. Later versions, such as the Su-27SM, can use the R-77 and received avionics and self-protection upgrades.