Alexander Velovich/MOSCOW
The Sukhoi design bureau is developing a new two-seat side-by-side multirole naval fighter based on the Su-27IB prototype, claims the bureau's general director, Mikhail Simonov.
The new model will have a conical, rather than a flattened "platypus" nose, housing a multimode radar. The Su-27IB (also designated Su-32FN, or Su-34)has an elliptical antenna optimised for ground mapping.
The prototype Su-27IB (T-10V), which was built using an Su-27 rear fuselage and wing, was previously referred to by Sukhoi as the Su-27KU (korabl uchebnie: ship-based trainer) and was seen on television in the early 1990s making an approach to the carrier Tbilisi (later renamed Admiral Kuznetsov). Subsequent references to side-by-side Su-27 strike variants have all described the land-based aircraft, even though the Su-32FN was designed for the roles of naval strike and even anti-submarine warfare.
The existence of the project was disclosed by Simonov at the Zhukovski flight test centre on 21 October, during a presentation to mark the official operational status of the Sukhoi Su-33 single-seat naval fighter. One squadron of Su-33s is based on the Admiral Kuznetsov, and home based at Severomorsk in northern Russia.
The announcement may have been timed to coincide with the visit of an Indian delegation to Moscow in November. Russia is believed to be negotiating with India over the possible sale of the Kiev-class carrier Admiral Gorshkov.
Rusvooruzhenie, the state arms export agency, has proposed equipping the vessel with a modernised flightdeck and a navalised MAPO MiG-29K fighter variant. Press reports have accused Rusvooruzhenie of favouring MAPO against Sukhoi recently. The journal Kommersant Daily says that Rusvooruzhenie failed to supply documentation and security money in sufficient time to allow Sukhoi to offer the Su-27 for the Greek fighter contest.
Greece officially invited Sukhoi to tender and even extended the deadline for the firm to bid. Kommersant quotes an anonymous Rusvooruzhenie official as saying that Russia will offer MiG-29s to Greece regardless of Sukhoi's participation or absence.
Source: Flight International
