The Sukhoi Su-33 (NATO reporting name 'Flanker-D') is a naval military aircraft produced by Russian firm Sukhoi in 1982 for aircraft carriers.
It is a derivative of the Sukhoi Su-27 and was initially known as the Su-27K. The main difference from the Su-27 is that Su-33s can operate from aircraft carriers.
Moreover, unlike the Su-27, the Su-33 can be refueled during flight.The Su-33 first flew in May 1985, and entered service in the Russian Navy in 1994. An air regiment comprising 24 fighters of the type was formed up on the Russian Navy's only operating aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov.Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov (Russian: Адмирал флота Советского Союза Кузнецов, originally named Tbilisi and then Leonid Brezhnev) is an aircraft carrier (heavy aircraft carrying cruiser (TAVKR) in Russian classification) serving as the flagship of the Russian Navy.
She was originally commissioned in the Soviet Navy, and was intended to be the lead ship of her class, but the only other ship of her class, Varyag, has never been commissioned and was sold to the People's Republic of China by Ukraine under the condition she would never be refitted for combat.Kuznetsov was named after the Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov.While designated an aircraft carrier by the West, the design of the Admiral Kuznetsov' class implies a mission different from that of either the United States Navy's carriers or those of the Royal Navy.
The term used by her builders to describe the Russian ships is tyazholiy avianesushchiy kreyser (TAKR or TAVKR) - "heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser" - intended to support and defend strategic missile-carrying submarines, surface ships, and maritime missile-carrying aircraft of the Russian fleet. This designation allows the Soviet/Russian navy to circumvent the refusal by Turkey to let aircraft carriers pass the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
Fixed-wing aircraft on Admiral Kuznetsov are essentially constrained to air superiority operations. The carrier also carries aircraft for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations, as well as anti-ship missiles.
The limiting of aircraft to only air-to-air operations is a result of the carrier's lack of catapults. With the relatively short length of a carrier versus an airstrip, an aircraft weighted down by bombs which are much heavier than missiles; cannot gain enough velocity to get off the deck without aid. Large aircraft armed for strike mission launched from a catapult, like the F/A-18E will often make a short momentary descent.
The catapults however impart enough velocity that when combined with the aircaft's engines allow it to accelerate above its stall speed before crashing into the sea. (Unarmed or very lightly armed aircraft however are generally light enough to immediately ascend)
The ship will undergo another modernization refit, in an attempt to correct some of its many technical issues. Admiral Vladimir Masorin, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, also stated that several Su-33 fighters assigned to the aircraft carrier would return to the ship after undergoing maintenance and refits of their own.
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