Fri, Oct 08, 2010
Flight And Ground Tests Underway For Naval Aircraft
Ground and flight testing of the modernized fourth generation
Sukhoi Su-33 naval fighter has begun at the KnAAPO aircraft plant
in Komsomolsk-on-Amur under a 2010 Russian state defense order.
Sukhoi SU-33 Russian Defense Photo
Su-33 (Su-27K) is a multi-role carrier-based fighter with
conventional takeoff and landing, and aerial refuelling capability.
The fighter features folding wings and horizontal tail for hanger
storage. It was designed to defend naval ships from airborne
attacks. Production of the first two prototypes of the warplane was
completed in 1986-87.
The first flight of the Su-27K prototype by the design bureau's
test pilot V.G. Pugachov on August 17, 1987. In the course of the
plane's flight development tests, on November 1, 1989, he performed
the USSR's first conventional (non-V/STOL) landing on the deck of
the USSR Admiral of the Fleet Kuznetsov aircraft carrier. In 1989,
the Komsomolsk-on-Amur plant started production of a Su-27K
development batch, the first production plane being flight-tested
at the plant in February 1990. Official testing of the Su-27K took
place in 1991-1994.
Sukhoi SU-33 Russian Defense Photo
In April 1993, the KnAAPO plant delivered the first ship-based
fighters to the pilots of the aviation wing of the Russian Northern
Fleet to be put into service at the 279th ship-based fighter
aircraft regiment (SFAR). By August 1994, the regiment had received
as many as 24 production aircraft. In 1993-95, combat pilots of the
279th SFAR gained experience on the aircraft; following that,
between December 1995 and March 1996, the USSR Admiral of the Fleet
Kuznetsov aircraft carrier put to sea for its maiden long-distance
training voyage. The 31st August 1998 decree of the President of
the Russian Federation put the Su-27K into service under the name
of the Su-33.
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