IAPO pursues the upgrade route in an effort to generate business for the Su-30

Published: 7/28/1999

The NATO bombing campaign in Yugoslavia seems to have encouraged the Russian fighter producers to accelerate programs on modernisation of their basic fighter designs to keep them competitive for customers both local and foreign. Irkutsk Aircraft Production Association (IAPO) has developed plans for a low cost upgrade of its main products, the Su-27UB/Su-27UBK twin seat training fighters and the Su-30/Su-30K twin-seat interceptors. For a while IAPO upgrading efforts were not welcomed by the Sukhoi design bureau (OKB Sukhoi) probably due to poor personal relations between between IAPO chairman (and ex-general director of AVPK Sukhoi aviation military industrial complex)Aleksei Fiodorov and Sukhoi general designer Mikhail Simonov. However, with Mikhail Pogosyan becoming General Director of both AVPK Sukhoi and OKB Sukhoi, the design house seems to have changed its attitude. Also soon after Pogosyan become OKB Sukhoi head, Mikhail Korzhuyev left the post of Mikoyan design bureau (AVPK MiG) general designer and general director to emerge as Sukhoi deputy general designer for avionics. Korzhuyev, who is former head of Russian Avionics Company, is a keen supporter of IAPO's modernization plans. IAPO in contrast to the view of Simonov, always believed that there was business in the upgrade of older models and were not happy at the design bureau's primary focus on new aircraft at the expense of current production aircraft. The heavy emphasis on development of new technologies was also considered by the Ministry of Defence to be wasteful. Head of procurement for the MoD Anatoly Sitnov, and Yuri Klishin, First Deputy Air Force commander, publicly expressed that they did not approve of OKB Sukhoi's expensive experiments with thrust-vector control (TVC), regretting that the design house " does not spend the money in the right way". The Su-30MKIs, the model featuring canards, TVC, a new radar and a mixed avionics (with Russian, French and Indian components), although fairly advanced, was not seen by IAPO as having a really large market prospects because of the high acquisition cost. In comparison the ordinary Su-30K, priced at $26-30 m depending on avionics and armament package, the Su-30MKI's unit cost is some $15 m higher. In addition, the mixed avionics set on the MKI cannot be installed on aircraft not destined for India (which ordered 50 such aircraft) because of the respective interstate agreements between Russia and India. The recently announced Su-30MKK for China, will therefore have another avionics set and will be produced by KnAAPO factory in Komsomolsk-upon-Amur, not in Irkutsk. One factor that encouraged IAPO to initiate the upgrade of the Su-30 was the impression from talks with the Indian military during the process of preparing and signing the Su-30MKI contract. Initially, the Indians preferred the Su-30 to the MiG-29 and Mirage 2000 because it was a large aircraft capable of carrying up to eight tons of ordnance. Being a dedicated interceptor, it however, lacked weapons control systems for air-to-surface munitions, so the Indians demanded OKB Sukhoi to outfit with French navigation and sighting systems. Simonov managed however, to convince the Indians that he could give them a much better aircraft for almost the same money that they were prepared to pay for the work to incorporate the new avionics, resulting in the Su-30MKI program. IAPO however, has taken the initial Indian idea to heart. They have therefore bypassed Simonov and approached Russian Avionics. Using their experience of upgrade programs, such as the MiG-29SMT, IAPO and Russian Avionics agreed to upgrade the Su-30 with the same equipment available on the MiG-29SMT, allowing the two aircraft to have unified cockpits. The upgrade work on the Su-30 began last year with IAPO providing an Su-30K. In February 1999 Russian Avionics began outfitting the aircraft with additional systems and the aircraft began flight tests in March of 1999. In May 1999 the Russian Avionics team reported the successful completion of the first set of test flights. The testbed aircraft '302' has now undergone so-called "first-phase modernization". Its RLPK-27 radar modified to work in air-to-ground mode, including "terrain-mapping" and "selection of moving targets" regimes. The SUV-27 fire control system was also modified to enable the aircraft fire the X-31P anti-radar and X-31A anti-ship missiles (the latter can also be used against contrast ground targets). The key element of the upgrade work has been the modification of the existing radar. As in the case with the MiG-29SMT, Russian Avionics replaced older processor units of the Ts100 series with the Baget-55 processor unit (developed by Korund design bureau) and the MVK onboard digital computer (based on the Intel 80486 processor). In upgrading MiG-29 and Su-27 avionics suites Russian Avionics have been using the so-called "by- passing" method. The existing avionics remains in place, with the new functional capabilities achieved through the addition of new equipment blocks. These new blocks are connected to the system via the BK, a smart commutator unit developed by Russian Avionics. The MVK computer works in parallel with the processors in the SUV-27 fire-control system. Its responsibility is to provide computation functions for the guided weapons and to supply data to the MFI-55 displays. One such display is in pilot's cockpit and one in the weapons officer's. Developed by the Russian Avionics, they use liquid-crystal colour matrixes of Japanese design replacing the older cathode ray TV monitors. The main objective of the "first-phase" modernisation is to give the Su-30 additional strike functions, turning it from a dedicated interceptor into a multirole tactical fighter. IAPO has proposed that this modernisation package for users of the Su-27UB training fighters, at a cost of several million dollars per unit, can deliver a formidable strike aircraft. The main objective of the "second phase" modernization is to bring the Su-30 to the level of the F-15E Strike Eagle. The second phase therefore calls for installation of optical and heat sensors and the replacement of the Kossagrain antenna of the RLRK-27 radar with a phased-array one. Data from the additional sensors will be processed by the MVK computer (which supports the MIL-1553B multiplex data bus standard) allowing the aircraft to fire the X-29TE and X-59M air-to-surface missiles, as well as KAB-500 and KAB-1500 guided bombs. The RLPK-27 with the new antenna, working in conjunction with the Baget-55 and MVK, will provide the multiply target shooting capability with R-77 and R-73. Having passed initial flight tests, the Su-30 '302' was handed over for evaluation by the NII VVS (Scientific Research Institute of the Air Force) and then by Gromov's Flight Test and Research Institute in Zhukovsky (LII). Both of these establishments support the idea to unite the MiG-29SMT and Su-30 upgrade efforts into a one program. The Russian MoD has already made decision to upgrade its MiG-29 fighters (all airframes built after 1988) into the SMT standard. IAPO and Russian Avionics hope that the relatively low price of the Su-30/Su-27UB modernization and its similarity of that on the MiGs will be attractive to them. There are some indications that the MoD views the upgrade as an appropriate low cost solution given the need to balance capability against cost in a tight budgetary environment. It will also, given its unified cockpit allow lower operational costs while retaining a mixed fleet of fighters.

Article ID: 717