SU-30MK...

[petermcleland]

This video is well worth watching in Full Screen Mode and with the sound turned up:-

http://www.petermcleland.com/video/SU-30MK.zip

It came to me this morning from NZ and here is the text that accompanied it (not my text):-

The red smoke coming from the wingtips is only there to demonstrate to spectators on the ground the direction the plane is actually moving through the air. Normally the smoke wouldn't be there. When the smoke is streaming behind, the airplane is moving fast forward etc. When the airplane is engulfed in smoke, it means the airplane is almost stopped in mid-air. Themanoeuvrability of this plane is incredible. This plane would be nearly impossible to defeat in a dogfight. Russia may now have the #1 fighter plane in the world...SU-30- Vectored Thrust with canards. As you watch this airplane, look at the canards moving along side of, and just below the canopy rail. The "canards" are the small wings forward of the main wings. The smoke and contrails provide a sense of the actual flight path, sometimes in reverse direction. This video is of an in-flight demonstration flown by the Russian's-30MK fighter aircraft. The fighter can stall from high speed, stopping forward motion in seconds (full stall). Then it demonstrates an ability to descend tail first without causing a compressor stall. It can also recover from a flat spin in less than a minute. These manoeuvre capabilities don't exist in any other aircraft in the world today. Take a look at the video with the sound up..This aircraft is of concern to U.S and NATO planners. We don't know which nations will soon be flying the SU-30MK, hopefully China isn't one of them. Friends worked with advanced aircraft flight control systems and concepts for many years as an extension of stability control and means of control. Canards and vectored thrust were among many concepts examined to extend our fighter aircraft performance. Neither our current or next generation aircraft now poised for funding & production can in any way match the performance of this Russian aircraft. Somehow the bankrupt Russian aircraft industry has out produced our complex politically tainted aerospace industry with this technology marvel. Scratch any ideas of close in air-to-air combat with this aircraft in the future.

[ajb]

WOW To say that the aircraft is amazing is a major understatement. Can't imagine what it feels like to the pilot or how the hell he knows where he's going!! One other thing. How do the Russians make such an incredible aircraft so damn pretty? I can't see that particular aircraft appearing with those flight dynamics in FS9 or FSX any time soon - or ever.

[petermcleland]

WOW To say that the aircraft is amazing is a major understatement. Can't imagine what it feels like to the pilot or how the hell he knows where he's going!! One other thing. How do the Russians make such an incredible aircraft so damn pretty? I can't see that particular aircraft appearing with those flight dynamics in FS9 or FSX any time soon - or ever.

Yes, I agree! It would be extremely difficult to build an FDE file for anything like that...A lot of that display is not really what we know as flying...It is a sort of FALLING under control with vectored thrust doing some amazing things with assistance of strong aerodynamics aided by canards. BTW Looking carefully at those canards, I have a strong feeling that they have a "Swing Wing" capability and might well even fold back into slots and disappear for some stages of flight

[gold speedbird]

Gold Speedbird. The member formerly known as speedbird591! I couldn't log in and couldn't find an email address it recognised so I guess I'll have to start again at the bottom

Anyway, Peter, that's a remarkable aircraft and, as you say, changes everything in the field of air combat. However, if you read The Times on Monday you might agree with me that any sort of combat has become outdated overnight. The report on how the American Secret Service and Mossad set the Iranian nuclear project back by five years with no military intervention whatsoever is a real game changer. Cyber warfare is now real and would appear to make all military hardware superfluous overnight!

A well-aimed cyber attack could bring any country to its knees with no use of military hardware and with no warning. That is really scary. Russia already showed how to do it with Estonia in 2007, but the specific targeting of Iran's nuclear facility is nothing short of perfection.

Ian

[Prop Jockey]

Hey Peter,

Yes I thought they looked like they might fold flush too - they reminded me of the TU-144 canards. Looks like another good airshow performer

Cheers

Rich

[petermcleland]

Anyway, Peter, that's a remarkable aircraft and, as you say, changes everything in the field of air combat.

Hi Ian...No I didn't say...I was careful to indicate that it was NOT my text

[jonesey2k]

All well and good until somebody fires an all aspect missile at you from 10 miles away

[petermcleland]

All well and good until somebody fires an all aspect missile at you from 10 miles away

Exactly!...It is only an old fashioned "GUNS! GUNS!" shot that might be difficult to sight while he is using vectored thrust, but any missile wouldn't have too much of a problem.

[Chris Trott]

Actually, those kinds of maneuvers do give most missiles fits. Remember, they can only maneuver at a certain "G" load and are often flying multiple times the speed of sound and (by the time they get close to the target) are coasting, not under powered thrust. By making abrupt changes in speed or direction, you force the computer in the seeker to make very rapid changes to the lead computing, causing the missile to either bleed too much energy trying to change its direction (and thus not making it to you), or it can't corner at high enough G to follow and misses.

Now, does this work 100%? Certainly not, but it does increase your chances of evading the current generation of missiles more than without it.

[austerdriver]

Just imagine being able to do that sort flying in FS2004/X.