Russia's Gromov Flight Test and Research Institute (LII) has modified a Sukhoi Su-30 twin-seat fighter for the assessment of next generation cockpit systems.
The rear seat is largely unchanged while the front cockpit is equipped with three large colour liquid crystal multifunction displays and other changes, says Aleksandr Garnayev, commander of the LII test pilots detachment and deputy chief of the institute.
LII chief test pilot Anatoly Kvochur says the work is funded by "progressively-thinking manufacturing factories", probably referring to IAPO Irkutsk, where the Su-30 is manufactured. The company's badge appears on the side of the fighter. No state funding has been made available.
Garnayev says the glass cockpit and the upgraded avionics - which include a modified RLPK-27 radar system - are more advanced than those in the Su-30MKK and Su-30MKI fighters exported to China and India respectively. "It allows the use of a longer list of guided weapons," he says.
Garnayev declines to name the avionics integrator, saying only that "equipment came from various suppliers". The MFDs are built by Korzhuyev Russian Avionics. IAPO technical director Aleksandr Veprev says the aircraft will undergo LII assessment for two to three months, followed by full-scale tests if the assessment is positive.
Source: Flight International
