SU-37 offers following over SU-35:
1. Thrust Vectoring Control.
The Su-37 represents a new capability utilizing TVC which permits post-stall maneuvering and pointing which are impossible in conventional aircraft.
This gives rise to a rearward facing radar and rear facing missiles that can be fired in the aft-quadrant all join to make an unbeatable integrated weapons system.
2. Rear Facing Radar.
The defensive suite utilizes the Phazotran rear-hemisphere active threat warning radar, called the N-014, that claims to have a 3 to 5 km (1.2 to 2.0 nm) capability against missile sized targets. The first Su-35 prototype was fitted with a development version of the rear-facing N-014 (JDW, 29Feb93, pg6) in place of its drag chute.
Major General Vasili Alexandrov, Chief of the Central Scientific and Research Institute of the Russian Federation Air Forces, said that the purpose of this radar was to provide an "over-the-shoulder" radar missile firing capability. The question of "how" they would arrange the missiles to fly to the rear quadrant so quickly has become an important discussion point.
3. Rear Facing Pylon.
One approach, noted in Jane's, was that the AA-10b shortburn IR ("Alamo B") missile would be mounted on the Su-35's wing on a backward-facing pylon. That would have left the rocket motor nozzle and large control fins facing the air stream. This was then reported to be unsatisfactory because the missile, which requires large aero-surfaces to fly, would have problems firing off backwards through the zero-velocity region as it went on its way. Also, there was damage reported in flight test to the missile due to it having the rocket motor nozzle directed into the relative wind. So the rotated pylon approach with the AA-10b appears to have disqualified itself.
The answer was to use the very capable R-73 (AA-11 "Archer") in a simply reverse mount with a booster motor booster-pac attached to the back of the R-73's rocket motor but facing forward. This would allow the booster to rapidly stop the missile in flight from a negative (forward) velocity to zero in a very quick (less than one second). The missile motor then fires and the missile is on its way.
The N-014 radar in conjunction with the optical warning receiver can then just pick up the threat, que the missile, and launch the missile.
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