Su-25 “Frogfoot”
Sukhoi’s Su-25 is a versatile, ugly, tough attack jet similar in purpose to the American A-10 Thunderbolt.
The Russians called the Su-25 “Grach” (Russian for “Rook”) and NATO calls it “Frogfoot.” It is, in many ways, the opposite of the Su-24 “Fencer,” which is also designed for ground attack. The Su-24 is sleek and supersonic, with variable-sweep wings and a $30 million pricetag. The Frogfoot is slow, fat, fixed winged, and costs only $11 million. One thing they share: both are still in wide use throughout the former Soviet bloc.
But don’t let looks fool you. The Su-25 is not a standoff, long-range missile truck. It is designed for low-altitude suppression of enemy armor and anti-aircraft weapons, and it has been an effective and dependable workhorse of many air forces for more than 30 years. More than 1,000 have been built, and few have ever been confirmed to have crashed. (Many have been lost in combat, of course, and a Russian Air Force Su-25 was accidentally shot down by its wingman near Vladivostok in 2008.)
The Su-25 is meant to travel slowly through a battlefield to engage ground targets with guns, rockets, bombs and missiles at close range from 11 external hardpoints. It has heavily armored and can withstand direct hits while remaining operational.
In 1969, responding to American interest in close air support, the Soviets held a design competition for its new close-support aircraft. The Sukhoi T-8 project beat out Yakovlev, Ilyushin and Mikoyan. The T-8 would eventually become the Su-25.
A variant of the Su-25, the Su-25K has been widely exported.
The Soviet Air Force Su-25s saw their first combat during the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The Su-25 was used to conduct air strikes against Mujahideen positions in the mountains. At peak, Su-25’s were averaging one sortie per day. In eight years in Afghanistan, 21 Su-25s were lost to hostile fire.
Iraq purchased a reported 73 Su-25s during the Iran-Iraq War. Ironically, several Su-25 pilots fled to Iran at the start of the Persian Gulf War, and Iran seized the planes as “gifts” from Iraq. The Su-25 did not have any combat success during the Persian Gulf War, with the plane’s only combat action coming when two were shot down quickly by American F-15Cs. By 1998 Iraq was still reported to have 12 Su-25s. Three Su-25K export craft were seen in a demonstration over Baghdad in 2002, but the Su-25 has not been used by Iraq since the 2003 invasion by the American-led coalition.
Today, the Frogfoot remains in active service in no fewer than 20 air forces including the Peruvian Air Force, which has conducted successful drug interdictions with the Su-25, and the Ukrainian Air Force, which operates dozens of Su-25s. The Frogfoot was widely exported to African nations also. Congo has had the worst luck with the airplane. In 1999, the Air Force of the Democratic Republic of the Congo purchased 10 Su-25s. Two crashed in non-combat circumstances, and one mysteriously vanished in 2007 and was never found.
While they were developed around the same time and are meant for similar missions, the American A-10 is vastly different than the Su-25. The A-10 is much larger, and the Su-25 does not have the size, armament, or survivabiltiy (through design or redundant systems) that the A-10 has.
On June 12, 2012, a Belarusian Air Force Su-25 crashed, killing the pilot. Local news reports indicated the pilot was ordered to eject but stayed to direct the plane away from a populated village, sacrificing his life.
Russia plans to keep the Su-25 in service until at least 2020, when a similar-but-advanced replacement is due.
In popular culture, the Dos computer game Su-25 Stormovik is based on the Frogfoot. The game featured amazing graphics for its time but was marred by clunky keyboard-only controls.
Specifications
General
Crew: One
Length: 50 ft 11 in.
Wingspan: 47 ft 1 in.
Height: 15 ft 9 in.
Empty weight: 23,677 lb.
Max. takeoff weight: 45,194 lb.
Engine: 2x Tumansky R-195 non-afterburning turbojets, 9,480 lbf. each
Performance
Maximum speed: 590 mph, Mach 0.77
Range: 1,553 mi.
Ceiling: 23,000 ft.
Thrust/weight Ratio: 0.51
Armament
- 1 GSh-30-2 30mm cannon with 250 rounds
- 11 hardpoints for up to 9,700 lb. of ordnance, including:
- air-to-air missiles for self-defence
- bombs
- cluster bombs
- gun pods
- rockets
- air-to-surface missiles
Essential Reading
There are several good, hardcover books for enthusiasts. Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot: Close Air Support Aircraft by Yefim Gordon is a fairly recent (2004) example.
Check out “The Soviet Union’s Tank-buster” also by Yefim Gordon as well.
Online resources:
- Wikipedia — Good article. Well-sourced. Great for reading about Su-25 variants and countries of service.
- Aviation.ru — Some great battle stories of the Su-25.
- Fas.org
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X-29 Forward-Swept Wing
The Grumman X-29 was a technology demonstrator, showing the extraordinary promise of forward-swept wings and canard control surfaces. It’s a geometry and physics lesson.
The potential benefits of the forward-swept (backwards) wing have been known for years. Nazi Germany tried to capitalize with the Junkers JU-287 during World War II. It was conceived as a fast bomber that could out-run Allied interceptors with its early jet engines. The forward-swept wings (FSW) offered better lift at takeoff and landing, which was vital because early jet engines were notoriously under-responsive. Two prototypes were built, but they were never put into production.
A major problem with FSW was aeroelastic divergence — the tendency of wings to literally twist at high speeds. By the 1980s, composite materials and precise fly-by-wire controls let engineers catch up to theorists.
In 1981, Grumman Aerospace Corporation (Now Northrop Grumman) won a contract to build two FSW research planes. Just as the Germans did in 1944, Grumman saved money by piecing their airplanes together with parts of other planes. The main fuselage was from an F-5, and the company used parts from F-18s and F-16s to form the X-29.
New carbon-fiber composites meant that the wings would not twist off the airplane mid-flight. The plane was also outfitted with control-canards for stability. Just as important were the computer controls that kept the airplane stable. The 6x redundant controls featured three digital and three analog computers making about 40 corrections per second. The result was a resounding success and made for a very exciting aircraft for the test pilots to fly. NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center flew the two X-29s a total of 436 times, without incident, from 1986 until the program’s sunset in 1991.
The first X-29 was used as a flight demonstrator. These “Phase 1” flights demonstrated that the aeroelastic composite wing maintained structural integrity in flight. The flights also showed that the computerized controls could keep the aircraft stable. The pilots, according to NASA, reported “good handling qualities.”
During Phase 1, the X-29 became the first FSW plane to break the sound barrier.
The second X-29 was outfitted with a spin-recovery parachute and began to stretch the flight envelope a bit, with proof of concept well established in 242 Phase 1 flights. In Phase 2, the X-29 showed it could flow with up to a staggering 67-degree angle of attack.
Pilots from NASA, the United States Air Force, and in-house at Grumman said that the X-29 maintained “excellent control response” at a 45-degree angle of attack, which is an impressive angle even today. They said there was still some control at 67-degrees, which was attributed to the wing and canard design of the X-29.
The X-29 demonstrated an extremely impressive angle of attack without using thrust vectoring — technology seen in later aircraft like the X-31 in which the engine nozzles are moved to push the aircraft in a different direction than it is facing.
The forward-swept wing concept has not been directly incorporated into any production American military aircraft.
“Flight test data from the high-angle-of-attack/military-utility phase of the X-29 program satisfied the primary objective of the X-29 program — to evaluate the ability of X-29 technologies to improve future fighter aircraft mission performance,” NASA said in its official fact sheet of the X-29 program.
An X-29 is on display near the parking lot at Dryden. The aircraft is clearly visible in Google Earth.
Russia has been developing its Su-47 Berkut since 1997. The Su-47 incorporates both FSW and thrust vectoring. Four prototypes have been built.
In popular culture, the video game Fighters Anthology featured the X-29 and X-31 (still with the X names) as playable 21st century USAF fighters/interceptors with limited air-to-ground capability.
The Transformers Autobot named Dogfight transforms into an X-29.
Specifications
General
Crew: One
Length: 48 ft 1 in
Wingspan: 27 ft 2 in
Height: 14 ft 9 in
Empty weight: 13,800 lb
Max. takeoff weight: 17,800 lb
Engine: One General Electric F404 turbofan, 16,000 lbf
Performance
Maximum speed: Mach 1.8 (1,100 mph, at 33,000 ft)
Range: 350 mi
Ceiling: 55,000 ft
Armament
Never armed. Theoretically capable of carrying 4,000 lbs. of ordinance and equipment.
Essential Reading
There aren’t many good books that feature the X-29. The best is “X-Planes at Edwards” by Steve Pace. Avoid a promising sounding book called “X-Planes: Pushing the Envelope of Flight” — weirdly enough written by the same author. The photos in the second book are not very good.
Here are some great online resources:
- Wikipedia — Excellent article, very visual, well-cited
- Dryden Flight Research Center fact sheet — An obvious starting point.
- An old Tripod fansite — Example of 90s websites
- Federation of American Scientists — Great technical reference
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F-20 “Tigershark”
The best plane that never was.
So much time, energy, money, and a little bit of scandal. But in the end, nothing.
When Chuck Yeager, the man who broke the sound barrier, got behind the stick of an F-20 Tigershark, he called it “fabulous.”
“I’ve flown just about every fighter there are, including the F-15, F-16, F-18. It’s one of the sweetest planes to fly I’ve ever seen,” he said. “An easy airplane to fly. It’s a lot fun to fly.”
Northrop began development of the F-20 in 1975 as an evolution past its highly successful export fighter, the F-5A/B Freedom Fighter and F-5E Tiger II. But in terms of evolution, the F-20 was a human if the F-5 was an ape. There bears a resemblance at times, but the F-20 was so far advanced. The F-20 featured a new engine, powerful radar, and advanced avionics. It could engage air targets beyond visual range. It could drop bombs and fire air-to-ground missiles.
The F-20 was most comparable to the F-16, which it competed with and ultimately lost out to on the export market. It was about as fast as the F-16, had a better rate of climb and would have cost less per unit than the F-16’s $15 million pricetag. The F-20 was also 53 percent more fuel efficient and required less than half the maintenance of the F-16.
Politics likely spelled the end-with-no-beginning for the F-20. Northrop built the F-20 itself, with its own money, intending to make it an export fighter. General Dynamics developed the F-16 in close partnership with the United States Air Force. When the Air Force chose the F-16, the countries that were looking at the F-20 suddenly had a big reason to buy the F-16 instead — those countries could get their hands on a front-line American warplane. In turn, the Air Force had a stake in the F-16’s export success. The more F-16’s were built, the cheaper the Air Force’s ones would cost. To date, three prototype F-20s were built. More than 4,500 F-16s have been built, with foreign orders still being fulfilled in 2012.
Specifications
General
Crew: One
Length: 47 ft 4 in
Wingspan: 27 ft 11.9 in with wingtip missiles (26 ft 8 in; without)
Height: 13 ft 10 in (4.20 m)
Empty weight: 13,150 lb (5,090 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 27,500 lb (11,920 kg)
Engine: Oee General Electric F404-GE-100 turbofan, 17,000 lbf
Performance
Maximum speed: Mach 2+
Range: 1,490 nmi with 3 × 330 gal drop tanks
Ceiling: 55,000 ft (16,800 m)
Thrust/weight: 1.1
Armament
- 2x 20mm M39A2 cannons in nose
- Five external hardpoints with 9,000 lb total capacity including:
- Rocket pods
- AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missiles
- Bombs, including Mark 80
- 2x AIM-9 Sidewinders on wingtip rails
Essential Reading
There are some engaging books that deal with the F-20 Tigershark and the politics around it. If you can get your hands on it, buy “Arms Deal: The Selling of the F-16,” but good luck finding it. There are some period-produced reference guides like “Northrop F-5/F-20” by Jerry Scutts and “Warbird Tech Vol. 44” by Fred Johnsen.
Online Resources:
- Wikipedia — Just an excellent article with a long, rich bibliography and lots of cited facts
- National Museum of the US Air Force — Photos, facts, an an explanation of why the F-20 was doomed after the Air Force ordered the F-16
- F20A.com — Great reference, tells the story well
- California Science Center — Home to the last surviving prototype of the F-20
- John A. Weeks III — Great reference for “surviving” aircraft prototypes
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F-14 “Tomcat”
The plane, the myth, the legend.
We are working on a proper “article” about this legendary airplane, but in the mean time enjoy this info and these great photos.
Specifications
General
Crew: 2 (Pilot and Radar Intercept Officer)
Length: 62 ft 9 in
Wingspan:64 ft. spread, 38 ft. swept
Height: 16 ft
Empty weight: 43,735 lb
Max. takeoff weight: 74,350 lb
Engine: Two General Electric F110-GE-400 afterburning turbofans
Performance
Maximum speed: Mach 2.34 (1,544 mph) at altitude
Combat radius: 500 nmi
Range: 1,600 nmi (1,840 mi)
Ceiling: 50,000 ft
Thrust/weight: 0.92
Armament
Guns: One 20 mm M61 Vulcan 6-barreled gatling cannon, with 675 rounds
Hardpoints: 10 total: Six under-fuselage, Two under nacelles and Two on wing gloves
Capacity: 14,500 lb of ordnance and fuel tanks
Loadout:
- Missiles:
- AIM-54 Phoenix
- AIM-7 Sparrow
- AIM-9 Sidewinder
- JDAM Precision-guided munitions
- Paveway series of Laser guided bombs
- Mk 80 series of unguided iron bombs
- Mk 20 Rockeye II
- Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pod System (TARPS)
- LANTIRN targeting pod
- Two 267 gal drop tanks for extended range/loitering time
Essential Reading
“Bye Bye Baby” is the definitive book about the F-14 Tomcat. It is chock full of data, insights, stories, graphics, and amazing photos. Do yourself a favor and buy the hardcover. It’s worth having in your library.
“Tomcat!: The Grumman F-14 Story” is wonderfully written by retired navy Rear Admiral Paul T. Gillcrist.
Visually, make sure you’ve seen “Top Gun” a few dozen times. History Channel’s “Modern Marvels” also has a good depiction of the sunset of the F-14 program.
Online Resources:
- Wikipedia — Great article, really chronicles the evolution of the F-14 well and depicts Iran’s use
- The Flying Kiwi — Great photos from the 2005 NAS Oceana Airshow. Really liked this site
- Dryden Flight Research Center — NASA’s research into the F-14 and spin recovery
- F-14 Tomcat Association
- Dave’s Tomcat Alley — Great Web 1.0 site with lots of photos and specific info
- M.A.T.S. — One of the best F-14 sites
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