Su-33
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Single-seat carrier-based fighter.
Su-33 is a multipurpose carrier-based CTOL fighter.
The fighter is designed to fulfill the following missions while individual and group operations:
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to gain air superiority and to perform carrier antiaircraft defense;
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to destroy hostile aerial targets (aircraft, helicopters, anti-ship missiles);
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to render fire support while troops landing
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to destroy ground and sea targets, including highly protected ones, with missiles and bombs;
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to perform aerial reconnaissance;
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to locate sea mines.
Main specific features of Su-33:
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reinforced landing gear struts, arresting hook to land on a carrier;
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wing with more lift devices to provide better takeoff and landing characteristics;
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due to wing folding capacity the fighter dimensions are deflated while deck or hangar parking;
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unified suspended refueling aggregate allows to use Su-33 as a refueller for fighters of similar type;
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canards;
- more powerful power plant.
Airborne equipment and weaponry allow automatic detection, recognition, tracking and spotting of up to 10 aerial targets against ground and sea background simultaneously determining the most dangerous one.
Long-range navigation system is used to determine automatically the fighter’s location according to ground stations signals. Approach and landing on airfields and carriers is performed in a semi-automatic mode using airborne electronic system that controls motion, short-range navigation, approach and landing.
The fighter’s power plant consists of two AL-31F3 turbo-jet engines.
The engine was designed at Lulka Design Bureau and is considered to be the best one in its class. Great thermodynamic and gas-dynamic performances and other specific features allow flights in wide speed and altitudes range. It’s much easier to maintain and repair the engine due to its module structure.
The Su-33 weapons comprise 30-mm airborne gun with 1800 shoots per minute capacity and hanged unguided rockets and bombs mounted on 12 external hard points.
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