Su-34 Tactical Bomber: News

AFAIK the Su-32 is a modification of the Su-26 turboprop aircraft, with variants like Su-29 and Su-32 being used for high manouver show aircraft and two seat trainer variant.
Even numbers denote a strike aircraft like Su-24 or Tu-22M, and trainers like Yak-130 and Su-32 while uneven numbers are generally fighters or fighter bombers.
The Su-34 was supposed to be a fighter bomber, but in testing it is bomber/strike aircraft with good self defence capability.

I have not heard much about the Su-32FN, except that it is a navalised version with a MAD tail sensor and sonobouys optimised for maritime patrol.

This would be a very interesting replacement for the Su-24 because the Su-24 was mainly a naval strike aircraft whereas the Su-34 has much greater range and endurance potential.

I would think that the current focus on the navy and airforce might lead to further development but until production of the Su-34 can be ramped up it will take priority over the Su-32FN.

I would think a Su-32FN with newer lighter weapons and perhaps external fuel and inflight refuelling could take on some of the maritime strike missions of the naval Tu-22M3s.

Certainly the capacity to carry 3 Oniks missiles would make it a relatively dangerous aircraft.

Any hypersonic development would make it even more capable as long as the resulting weapon is not too big.

As far as I know the Platan system is a simple basic system that offers performance similar conceptually to the Kaira system on the Su-24 and I believe the Mig-27K.
It is day and night capable but not all weather so it has LLLTV and probably image intensification capability but it is not a thermal system, but it is built in and together with navigation elements offers the ability to use dumb rockets and bombs as well as TV and laser guided weapons.
I believe the Damocles will be licence produced in Russia and the first aircraft it will likely be fitted to is the Su-34 as an external pod to compliment and work with the internal Platan system.
When carrying the Damocles pod the Fullback will have all weather day night optics, while without it it will rely on radar for bad weather targeting.
I have heard of other targeting pod types like Sapsan and something called Solluks which I think might have been Russian competition with the Damocles.
I suspect Sapsan and/or Solluks would likely be cheaper if less effective than Damocles and might be used on aircraft to give them air to ground capabilities they otherwise wouldn't have, or to enhance the capabilities they do have.
For instance the Mig-29SMT can engage ground targets with laser guided weapons but as the laser marking equipment is in the upper nose with the IRST and is pretty much optimised for air to air an under wing mounted pod like Sapsan would improve the field of view and field of engagement if the aircraft was marking targets for itself and presumably with better optics allow greater standoff ranges.
I have already suggested using targeting pods on the Su-25 and a cheaper system with a range of 10km or so would suit it and be much cheaper than Shkval in the T and TM upgrades while offering the same capabilities. (Remember when Hermes gets into service the Frogfoot will need some optics system to target them and a targeting pod would be ideal as you could use 4-5 for every 20-30 planes and save a bit of money while still enjoying the improved capabilities.)

Have you ever been on a long distance bus ride?

It is tiring... even with stops every few hours to buy something at a cafe and stretch the legs.

The simple fact is that the ability to stand up and stretch or go to the toilet on an 8 hour mission is about as valuable as an ejection seat... you don't plan to need it but when it is available you thank the designers for it.

Imagine sitting on your a$$ for 4 hours in the same seat and then having to go into combat... needing to go to the toilet is bad enough on a bus but in a plane pulling gs it can cause damage.

Also experience has shown that side by side seating greatly improves communication in a crew.

It is quite funny that the Soviets adopted an F-111 like Su-24 and then instead of following the US pattern of the F-15E they went with an F-15_111.

No surprise really, now that the Russians are working on the Su-35 the US is working on its silent eagle equivalent.


The competition was between the Su-34 and Su-30 (which was just an Su-27UB), which the Su-34 won.
The Su-35(BM) is a much newer aircraft and in its standard form is a single seat aircraft not really suited to penetrating air defences on its own in a strike role.

There will be overlaps in performance and operational roles, but each has a different design focus and will be deployed to different units to perform different roles.

The shared components will reduce operational costs, but the difference is justified.

If only they could increase production numbers for the Su-34...

The Su-34 isn't a whole new plane, but it is a significant modification of a large and efficient design.

The much wider forward fuselage means the hump back and much more internal volume for equipment, while the nose has ample space for a much larger radar antenna array.

The difference with the Su-35 is significant, yet it retains many of the same attributes and is similar enough to share a lot of the same systems which benefits logistics and maintainence.

The Su-27 does have excellent flight range... for the vast majority of normal missions it flys with most of its internal fuel tanks empty because the extra fuel is not needed and becomes dead weight if you carry it around with you.

The Su-34 is based on the same aircraft as the Su-35 and therefore anything that is cleared for use with the Su-34 will also be cleared or could be cleared for use with the Su-35.

The point is that an Su-35 is a fighter and an air superiority aircraft... if you have it flying around with 1,500kg KAB-1500 bombs and Kh-59MK long range missiles that is going to effect its ability to use an air to air armament as a fighter.

The concept of using an aircraft with a range of weapons just in case a threat pops up is just silly. Aircraft weapons have a rail life... you can store an R-73 for 10-20 years in storage, but after 30 hours on a rail you need maintainence to make sure it still works properly. You don't fly around with live weapons just in case you might need them, you load up what you need for your mission, which means for an Su-34 air to ground weapons plus a few self defence AAMs and jamming pods, and for an Su-35 that means AAMs or perhaps in a SEAD role some ARMs and some jamming pods plus a few LGBs or satellite guided bombs.

Only way I can think of Su-34 being useful is make it export naval strike plane as it can carry three Yakhont missiles witch is two more than Su-30MKI (Super30) will be able to carry and that would pack quite a punch. As for Russi modernised Tu-22M3 (M5 or some other number) would be more suitable given its size and Tu-22M3 range.

Lets put it in terms of replacements.

The Su-34 replaces the Su-24, the Su-35 replaces the Su-27, and a Tu-22M5 replaces a Tu-22M3.

Multirole aircraft are nice on paper, but operationally the Russian AF has strike regiments, fighter regiments, and bomber regiments.

With a large tanker force you could probably replace the Su-34, and the Tu-22M3 with Su-35s, but you will still have strike and fighter and bomber regiments... an Su-35 will not be as good as an Su-34 in the strike role as the Su-34 has a lot of dedicated equipment internally for very long range strike missions. The Su-35 will be fine for fighter missions, but for Bomber missions it wont have the 2,000km attack radius with 24 tons of bombs that a Tu-22M3 already has. With a few minor upgrades that range could be increased and most importantly those 24 tons of dumb bombs can be upgraded to a range of guided munitions and missiles including GLONASS guided weapons.

The Su-30 has plenty of growth potential left, you could revise the shape and design to improve stealth performance and add electronic gadgets too, but I think the Russian military is happy with the choices it has made so far... though I am sure they would be much happier if the Su-34 was being produced at a higher rate and if the Su-35 was in production too.