As an air defense fighter platform, the Su-33 is cleared to carry various Soviet/Russian ordnance for the air-to-air attack role across its twelve external hardpoints. The Su-33 can be outfitted with 8 x Vympel R-27R1/R-27T1 (NATO: AA-10 "Alamo") medium-range missiles, 8 x R-77 (NATO: AA-12 "Adder") medium-range active-radar homing missiles or 4 x R-73E (NATO: AA-11 "Archer") short-range missiles or a mixture of the three to suite most any ranged aerial threat. Not lost on the Russian Navy is close-ranged combat to which the Su-33 is given an internal 30mm GSh-30-1 cannon to which 150 projectiles are stored aboard. The Su-33 can also be given the secondary role of tactical ground attack and is cleared to carry guided/unguided munitions (S-8KOM, S-8OM, S-8BM, S-13T, S-13OT, S-25-OFM-PU), conventional drop bombs (50kg, 100kg, 250kg and 500kg types), the RBK-500 cluster bomb and rocket pods. Additionally, Russian-developed Electronic CounterMeasure (ECM) pods are available to help counter threats from tracking radars. Interestingly, the Su-33 is not designed to accept external fuel tanks instead relying on its probe-and-drogue in-flight refueling capability.
Su-33 avionics consists of a modern fire control system (FCS) centered on a search-and-tracking radar housed in the nose cone assembly. The aircraft is outfitted with an IRST and laser rangefinder as standard and this includes an optical search and tracking station as well as a helmet-mounted target designator system. IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) system interrogator and transponder are also standard while the pilot enjoys a widescreen HUD displaying pertinent information without the need to look down. A Doppler and GPS-based navigation system make up one of the aircraft's vital suites. The countermeasures kit includes an integrated Radar Warning Receiver (RWR), chaff and flare dispenser and an ECM radio jamming transmitter in a pod.
The Su-33 is powered by 2 x NPO Saturn AL-31afterburning turbofan engines developing 16,750lbs of dry thrust each. On afterburn (raw fuel pumped into the engine for short bursts of power and, therefore, speed), the engines output up to 28,200lbs of thrust allowing the airframe to reach speeds of Mach 2.17. Operational range on internal fuel stores is 1,860 miles with a service ceiling of 55,800 feet and rate-of-climb listed at 48,500 feet per minute.
The Su-33 has been developed into two major production variants. The first is the base single-seat Su-33 air defense model. The second is the twin-seat Su-33KUB advanced carrier training mount with combat capabilities as secondary. In the latter variant, the forward fuselage is appropriately redesigned to accept the second cockpit (side-by-side seating) while internal volume is limited. First flight of the Su-33KUB was recorded in April of 1999 and was based on the 10KUB prototype appearing in the mid-1990s. According to Sukhoi material, the Su-33KUB is still in testing and these have been further evolved with thrust-vectoring engine exhaust nozzles and AL-31FP series turbofan engines. A modernized Su-33 - the Su-33K - was planned by incorporating the more advanced technology of the Su-35 "Super Flanker" (NATO: "Flanker-E") program to the existing Su-33 aircraft. However, it does not appear that this program succeeded.
The Su-33 has never been purchased by foreign operators and is therefore only utilized by Russian Naval Aviation. Sukhoi attempted to sell its Su-27 navy derivative to China and India but these initiatives fell to naught - China electing to reverse-engineer the Su-33 as the Shenyang J-11B and India settling on the more advanced MiG-29K. While in operational service with the Russian Navy, the days of the Su-33 are numbered.
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