Su-25 FROGFOOT Grach (Rook)
Su-39 FROGFOOT
The Su-25, which is no longer in serial production, made its first
flight in 1979. This single seat ground attack aircraft is a very
durable airplane - it is fairly heavily armored -- and easy to
service - all service equipment can be stored in a container and
transported by the airplane itself. It is armed with one twin
barrel 30mm gun in the bottom of the fuselage with 250 rounds.
There are 8 pylons under the wings which can carry about 4,000 kg
of air-to-ground weapons, including 57mm to 330mm rockets. There
are two small outboard pylons for AA-2D/ATOLL or AA-8/APHID
AAMs.
The wings are high-mounted and back-tapered with straight trailing
edges. There are pods mounted at the square tips. There are two
turbojets mounted alongside the body under the wings. There are
semicircular air intakes forward of the wingsEleading edges. There
are exhausts to the rear of the wingsEtrailing edges. The fuselage
is long, and slender and has a rounded nose. The body tapers to the
rear section that overhangs the exhausts. There is a stepped
canopy. The tail is swept-back and fin is tapered with a square
tip. The flats mid-mounted on the fuselage, unequally tapered with
blunt tips.
The Su-39 (also known as the Su-25T or Su-25TM) is a Frogfoot
variant incorporating post-Afghanistan lessons-learned. It is based
on the Su-25UB two-seat trainder, with the rear seat and cockpit
replaced with a fuel cell and extra avionics. The Su-39 carries the
Kopyo-25 multi mode radar in a pod under the fuselage. Armament
includes ground attack missiles such as the AT-16 Vikhr , anti-ship
missiles, and AAMs such as the R-27, R-27ER, R-60, R-73 and R-77. A
four-fold reduction in thermal signature has been achieved through
cooling intakes on the upper surface of aircraft, and a new center
body which masks hot turbine blades. Only a few dozen of these
aircraft have been built. Reports in the mid-1990s that the Su-39
designation had been assigned to a primary trainer derived from the
Su-26 and Su-29 aerobatic competition aircraft, designed to replace
the Yak-52, are apparently incorrect.
VARIANTS
Su-25 (Frogfoot A) -- Original production ground attack aircraft
with R-95 engines
Su-25K -- Export version of Su-25
Su-25UB (Frogfoot B) (UB - Uchebno-Boevoi, Combat Trainer) --
Two-seat combat trainer
Su-25UBK -- Export version of Su-25UB
Su-25UBP -- Naval trainer based on Su-25UB
Su-25UT (Frogfoot B) (UT - Uchebno-Trenirovochnyi, Trainer) --
Unarmed primary trainer (sometimes referred to as Su-2
Su-25UTG (Frogfoot B) (UTG - Uchebno-Trenirovochnyi Gakovyi,
Trainer Naval) -- Naval trainer based on Su-25UT
Su-25BM -- Enhanced ground attack aircraft with R-195 engines, this
is the current production version, and the most numerous in Russian
service
Su-25T (Su-25TM Tankovyi Modifitsirovannyi, Antitank) -- Proposed
enhanced version with more armour, improved sensors, and possibly a
new gun and engines [Su-25T's production designation is
Su-39]
Su-25TK -- Proposed export version of Su-25T
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/row/su-25.htm
