Russia's unique twin-seat carrier-based fighter

Besides the Su-34, the Russian Navy also has in service another type of fighter aircraft that also uses a cockpit structure with two parallel seats.

The "strange" design above belongs to the Su-27KUB trainer-fighter aircraft, also known as the Su-33UB Sea Flanker.

The Su-33UB was designed to take on the role of training fighter pilots to fly the Su-33 (Su-27K) operating on the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, its airframe developed from the T-10K4 prototype.

Although born in 1989, due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union leading to many difficulties, it was not until April 24, 1999 that the Su-33UB made its first evaluation flight from land.

On September 6, it took off from the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov and one month later, on October 6, the Su-33 landed on this warship.

Su-33UB (Su-27KUB) trainer-combat fighter of the Russian Navy.

Compared to the Su-33, the Su-33UB has many changes in the fuselage, its cockpit is 1.6 m wider to accommodate instructors and student pilots, providing a very good field of view. This is especially important because take-off and landing on aircraft carriers are more complicated and potentially risky than operating on land.

In addition, the tail and canard wings of the Su-33UB are also significantly larger. However, the maneuverability of the aircraft is not affected, this carrier-based fighter can still perform many very complex maneuvers.

The unique parallel cockpit of the Su-33UB.

The Su-33UB's main sensor is the Phazotron Zhuk passive phased array radar (instead of the traditional NIIP N-001), accompanied by an OEPS/OLS-27 optical positioning system located in the center of the nose.

The aircraft is equipped with Saturn Al-31FU 2D thrust vector control (2D TVC) engines to support ski-jump take-offs, as the Su-33UB's forward fuselage is significantly heavier than the Su-33.

Su-33UB test take-off and landing on the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov.

Although it was planned to be mass produced at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association (KnAAPO), unfortunately due to the economic difficulties of post-Soviet Russia, the plan did not come true.

In addition, the Russian Navy is gradually replacing the Su-33 carrier-based fighter with the MiG-29K, making the production of additional Su-33UBs redundant.

If Russia wants to take full advantage of its potential, it can only sell the design to China because its navy still uses a lot of J-15s - a copy of the Su-33.

According to Baodatviet