#Greatest air combat jet maneuvers upgrade

Air National Guard F-16s and -15s flew to Ukraine for the multinational air force exercises Safe Skies and Clear Sky.Īlthough the Ukrainian Su-27 is inferior to the newest Russian Su-27SM2, Su-30 Flanker-C, and Su-35 Flanker-Е fighters, it remains a reliable weapons platform with plenty of airframe life remaining. At Myrhorod, where P-51 Mustangs of the 4th Fighter Group once took off to escort B-17s on raids against Germany, American units occasionally visit to fly exercises with and against (and sometimes, in) the Sukhois. Today, Ukraine works closely with NATO nations, including the United States. As such, the Su-27 is Ukraine’s main offensive and defensive pillar, while the short-range MiG handles point-defense. Although Ukraine also flies the MiG-29 Fulcrum, the Flanker has a much greater combat range, better armament, and longer-range radar compared with the MiG. The Su-27M1, as Ukraine designates the modified aircraft, has new navigation systems, a radar with greater range, and an increased ability to use unguided air-to-ground munitions.

#Greatest air combat jet maneuvers upgrade

In the decade before the Russian attack, the Ukrainian aircraft industry, which boasts the famed Antonov design bureau, began to upgrade its fighters. Among the Ukrainian Su-27s that sprang into action were those of Myrhorod’s 831st Fighter Regiment. In 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula and began heavily supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine, only 19 Su-27s were serviceable. Although total aircraft numbers have declined only slightly-five Su-27s have been lost to pilot error and nine more sold abroad-many airframes have become sources of spares for the active fleet. In 2009, amid declining relations with Russia, the Ukrainian air force began to have difficulty obtaining spare parts from Sukhoi, and maintenance became thorny. Many of the aircraft were from early, inferior production blocks. The 831st was considered among the best fighter units in the Soviet Union.Īfter the USSR collapsed, 72 Su-27 fighters based in Ukraine stayed in Ukraine. The first Soviet unit to receive the Flanker was the 831st Fighter Regiment (now Brigade) based at Myrhorod, in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine. The Su-27P was an interceptor, while the -S could use unguided air-to-ground weapons.)

The fighter did not reach operational regiments until 1985, and only in 1990, after it passed service trials, was it designated the Su-27. As Simonov said, “We kept just the tires and the pilot’s seat.” He halted development in 1977, and began again, virtually from scratch. The first attempts failed, and chief designer Mikhail Simonov took a radical step. The Soviet air force 1969 specification for its new fighter design boiled down to this: Outperform the F-15.

Test pilot Viktor Pugachev stunned the crowd with his signature “cobra” maneuver, pitching his sky-blue Sukhoi up to beyond vertical and skidding it forward on its tail, proving the fighter’s super-maneuverability.

The Flanker, as NATO named it, debuted in the West at the 1989 Paris Air Show, four years after it entered service. F-15 Eagle and today, as a Ukrainian air force interceptor protecting its airspace from Russian Su-27s and other fighters. The powerful Sukhoi Su-27 has patrolled Ukrainian skies for 35 years at first, as a Soviet fighter to counter the threat posed by the U.S. One of the Ukrainian pilots the magazine spoke with, Oleksandr Oksanchenko, was shot down and killed in action by a Russian surface-to-air missile. On February 28, he was posthumously awarded the title Hero of Ukraine, the nation’s highest award for valor in combat. Editors' note, March 11, 2022: As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, we are resurfacing this 2020 story from Air and Space magazine about the plane still used in the ongoing air battles by Ukrainian and Russian forces.