Sukhoi Su-27 y la familia Flanker

Video from the channel Mundo de Aviación about Sukhoi Su-27, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 10:51. Language: Spanish. Video type: Documentary.

A piece from the Aeropedia series devoted to the Sukhoi Su-27 and the aircraft derived from it. It traces its origin as a heavy air-superiority fighter and how it evolved into a family of aircraft with very different missions.

After learning of the American programmes that produced the F-15 Eagle and the F-16, the Soviet Union launched the PFI frontline fighter programme. It demanded long range, agility, a speed above Mach 2 and the ability to operate from unprepared airstrips. Because of its cost, the requirement was split into a heavy fighter and a light one, which would become the MiG-29. The T-10 prototype flew on 20 May 1977. After several accidents and deep redesigns, the T-10S-3 emerged, which under the designation P-42 set world altitude records. NATO called it Flanker, and it entered service with the Soviet air force in 1985.

The video credits it with a maximum take-off weight of 30 tonnes, a range of 3,530 km on internal fuel, a top speed of 2,500 km/h, ten hardpoints for 8,000 kg of weaponry and a 30 mm cannon with 150 rounds. It was the first operational Soviet aircraft with fly-by-wire controls, which enabled manoeuvres such as Pugachev's Cobra. From it derive the two-seat Su-27UB, the naval Su-27K, the side-by-side-seat Su-34, the export versions Su-27SK and Su-27UBK, the J-11 built under licence in China, the Su-30 and the Russian upgrade Su-27SM. Ukraine inherited between 66 and 70 examples, and in 2014 had 19 in service.