P.O. Sukhoi was engaged in design long before Second
World War, and in 1932 was working with a team under
A. N.Tupolev on ANT-25 long-range record-breaker. Sukhoi
Design Bureau founded 1939, using previous Bureau Osovikh
Konstruktsii offices. In Second World War
Sukhoi's
Su-2
own name was especially associated with Su-2 light bomber and attack aircraft. He was responsible for
twin jet Su-7 of 1947. The later and unrelated Su-7 of his
second jet series became a swept-wing attack aircraft first
seen 1956. Su-9, operational from 1959, and Su-11 were
single-seat all-weather fighters with delta wings. The operational
and large-size Su-15 twin-jet delta-wing allweather
interceptor was
Su-9 (II)
also tested in prototype Flagon-B
STOL form in July 1967. Su-17 first flew August 1966 as
very much improved variable-geometry fighter developed
from Su-7, and was followed by Su-20 and Su-22 for
export. Su-24 is a currently used variable-geometry attack
type, seating two crew side-by-side and has been in service
since February 1975. A nuclear strike bomber, reconnaissance
and electronic warfare aircraft, Su-24
Su-15
was
designed to penetrate enemy defenses for five minutes at 1,400km/h and 200m altitude, as a
supersonic replacement for the II-28 and Yak-28. In total,
about 1,200 Su-24s were built during 1972-92, finally
giving way on the production line to the Su-27IB.
Sukhoi died in September 1975, but subsequent
Sukhoi designs continue to honor his name. These
include Su-25/Su-28 and Su-39 related subsonic
Su-24
close-air
support and tank-busting jets (first Su-25 flew February
1975 and became operational in 1981), the much
praised Su-27 Flanker long-range air-supriority fighter
(first flown May 1977 and in production since 1982 for
home use and export, latter including J-11s assembled
in China), the tandem two-seat Su-30 multirole fighter
and attack variant of Su-27 that carries further avionics
to allow it to command a
T-4 "Sotka"
group of Su-27s (first flown
December 1989 and users including India), the side-byside
two-seat Su-32FN maritime strike aircraft and Su-
27IB or Su-34 tactical interdictor developed from Su-27,
the Su-33, or Su-27K carrierborne fighter Su-27 derivative
(first flown August 1987 and first deployed on board
Admiral Kuznetsov'm 1995), Su-35 advanced air-superiority
fighter (first flown June 1988) and Su-37 variant
with thrust-vectoring nozzles, again Su-27
Su-25
developments.
A fifth-generation tactical fighter, approximately equivalent
to the U.S. F-22, is the S-37, first flown in September
1997 and featuring swept-forward wings and eventually
to have thrust-vectoring engine nozzles. S-54 and
S-55 are newly designed lightweight jets for multirole
combat and training uses, T-60S is a projected strike
bomber of very stealthy appearance and S-80 is a new
transport with patrol and surveillance
Su-27
variants. An interesting
program in 1999 is the development of the KR-
860, a super-large 860-seat airliner. General-aviation
programs include Su-26, Su-29 and Su-31 single- and
two-seat aerobatic competition aircraft (first flown 1984,
1991 and 1992 respectively) and Su-49 tandem two-seat
primary trainer, while projects are for S-16 twin turboprop
transport for 16 passengers or cargo, S-21 10-passenger
supersonic business jet (with projected 68-passenger
S-51), S-38 single-seat agricultural monoplane, and S-
96 twin-propfan 8-passenger executive transport.
