Blast from the Past: Sukhoi and its offer for MMRCA

[selvan33]

Blast from the Past: Sukhoi and its offer for MMRCA

When IAF issued Request for Information (RFI) in 2001 for MMRCA tender, IAF in MMRCA tender was looking for an aircraft in medium class category , IAF had initially had planned to purchase 126 Mirage 2000-5s to equip seven squadrons but later deal was opened to other players to avoid single vendor deal.

Sukhoi Bureau sensing opportunity to sell more fighters after successfully completing MKI project for India , had proposed to India development of S-55 fighter based on Su-27 aerodynamics powered by single example of the Saturn AL-31 TVC engine instead of two, S-55 could have been scaled down accordingly to a smaller layout.

Sukhoi Bureau had done research work on S-55 in 90’s but after collapse of Soviet Union no single prototype was developed and project was in cold storage, Proposed S-55 was supposed to borrow heavily from Sukhoi 30 MKI in avionics and design, Sukhoi had kept radar nose cone diameter similar to Su-30, which could have allowed it to carry same radar as MKI.

S-55 aerodynamic configuration resembled that of the Su-33 fighter the Su-30, But India refused to consider a further derivatives of Sukhoi Su-30 for MMRCA and also rejected initial proposal of a Joint venture on S-55, so No RFI or RFP was sent to Sukhoi Bureau. S-55 by many was considered paper plane and no serious thought about it was ever given to it, although RFI and RFP was sent to almost all companies barring Chinese companies, Sukhoi was also kept out of this process . India eventually allowed Gripen NG Demo and Mig-35 aircrafts which were not fully developed to participate in MMRCA trails; Sukhoi was interested in development of S-55 prototype if IAF had send out RFI and RFP for MMRCA requirements to them but that never happened. 10 years down the line MMRCA deal is yet to be signed .


S-55/56 17.5 meters long
spread 11.7 m
height 5.1 m
wing area 49.2 sq. m. (40 sq. m.)
weight maximum 15000 kgf
normal 11250 kgf
empty 8000 kgf
fuel 4500 kgf
load 3000 kgf
speed max 2100 km/h
speed cruise 1400 km/h
service ceiling 59,000ft
range 510 miles on internal fuel at low level, 1,810 miles at height
distance 4000 km
engine AL-31F 12500 kG. AL-41F1 15500 kG.
Blast from the Past: Sukhoi and its offer for MMRCA | idrw.org

 

[Abingdonboy]

What is on the IDRW's agenda other than to attack the GoI/MoD/IAF constantly? How very constructive! One minuet going for 126 LCA is the logical the next it should be the F-35 and now they've pulled out some pipe-dream fighter that has never flown and equated this to the GRIPEN-NG and MIG-35!!


I've yet to see a balanced and fair article on the MMRCA detailing the reasons behind the delays and what is going on. Also they seem to be content in perpetuating the myth that the MMRCA in its current form has been going for 10 years or more when, in reality, it is barely 5 years old. There are 3 different plans that have a lose link to one another but at the same time are seperate- an early 2000s bid to get M2K-5s, a mid 2000s bid to get MRCAs with 3-4 contenders and then in 2007/8 the final bid to get 126 MMRCAs with 6 contenders.

 

[a.kumar]

Article Headline "Blast from the Past" says it all that article was visiting RFI days and sukhoi's proposal and never hinted at anything , but some are quick to criticise then understand authors views , Mig-35 and Gripen NG are still technology demonstrators because no one has inducted them yet . even F-16 block 70 offered was a paper plane since IAF actually evaluated UAE's F-16 Block 60 and not Block 70 . Swedes came with NG Demo which was not even the real plane .

MMRCA cannot be 5 years old since requirements for this aircraft was felt right after kargil war and first RFI was issued in 2001 , IAF took ages to issue RFP which only came in 2007 , IAF was least interested in American jets but it had to be whole Circus which MOD wanted for a world show .

 

[IND151]

Genesis [edit]
The project traces its origins to a 1990 requirement to replace the aging Aero L-39 jet trainers, which were reaching the end of their service lives. The original Aero L-29 had originally been selected as a Warsaw Pact-wide trainer in 1961, after beating out the Yak-30 and PZL TS-11 Iskra. It started to be replaced in 1974 by the greatly updated L-39, powered by the new Ivchenko AI-25 engine. By 1990 the Soviet Air Force had about 1,000 L-39s on force, when the new Czech Republic stated they would no longer be supplying spares.

The Soviet Air Force's commander-in-chief, Air Marshal Yefimov, issued a statement on the issue on 20 April 1990. On 25 June 1990 the first official RFP document was issued for the Uchebno-Trenirovochnyi Samolyot (UTS) program. Four companies responded with designs, the Mikoyan MiG-AT, Yakovlev Yak-130 (then known as the Yak-UTS), the Myasischev M-200 and the S-54. Most of these designs were typical trainers; they were built to be docile in handling, low cost in operation, and were essentially all-new in design.

Sukhoi decided to take a different approach, and develop a true high-performance design closer to a fighter than a trainer. Advances in aerodynamics and flight controls allowed even the most advanced fighters have docile handling suitable for transition training, while at the same time the older generation aircraft had handling so different than modern aircraft to make them of limited utility. Given their extensive experience with upgraded versions of the original Su-27, Sukhoi chose to use much of this design in the new trainer. Versions with one AL-31 or two smaller engines were studied, with the single-engine version favoured throughout.

The design that emerged appeared to be a Su-33 with a fuselage plug removed behind the cockpit, giving it a cross-section similar to other advanced trainers of the era. The first design study, shown publicly not long afterwards, was upgraded and improved during 1992. A new version, with airframe enlarged by approximately 25 per cent, was revealed at 1996 Farnborough Air Show.

The Yak-130 eventually won the UTS contract, and Sukhoi started looking for other markets.

S-55 and S-56 [edit]
Sukhoi then modified the design to allow it to mount the same radar as the Su-27, the Phazotron Sokol. Shown in June 1997, the S-55 was a lighter, shorter-range fighter that complimented the Su-27 in the same way the F-16 compliments the F-15. Designed as a low-cost fighter, primarily for export, the S-55 was nevertheless a very advanced design compared to similar fighters that were "up-converted" from trainers.

Sukhoi also produced the S-56, essentially an S-55 adapted for carrier use. The design was deliberately tailored for the Admiral Kuznetsov, and was designed to fit into a 10 by 3 by 3 meter space, making it one of the most compact naval fighters ever designed. The small size, especially vertically, opened the possibility of adding another internal deck between the two existing aircraft decks in the Kuznetsov, increasing the total number of fighters that could be carried by two to three times. The S-56 was also offered to the Indian Navy in 1999, but was not purchased.

https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&r...pbgCcuq_KjsXwynyhpfY8cg&bvm=bv.46471029,d.bmk