Russia’s Radical Sukhoi S-37 Fighter Plane Goes Up Against Our F-22 Russia’s fabled Sukhoi Design Bureau builds the S-37, a 21st century fighter to go head-to-head with our F-22. A bold, new combat aircraft designed by the legendary Sukhoi Design Bureau and now undergoing tests in Russia has taken aim at America’s next-generation fighter, the F-22. First word of the S-37 leaked to the West in 1997, and took Western defense analysts by surprise. Now, after more than 120 test flights at the secret Zhukovsky Flight Test Center near Moscow, it is clear that there is nothing like this bird flying anywhere in russian single engine fighter jet world today.
Its creator, the Sukhoi group, is considered to be Russia’s premier combat aircraft producer. Named Berkut, which translates to mean Golden Eagle or Royal Eagle, the S-37 bears an “S” rather than an “Su” designation because it is an experimental rather than production aircraft. Design of the aircraft, originally known as the S-32, began around 1983, and drew on many years of FSW research that had commenced in the former Soviet Union during the 1940s—initially using captured Nazi technology. The S-37, however, is almost twice the size of the X-29, with a markedly different configuration. It has a length of 74 ft. D-30F6 turbofans, each developing 34,177 pounds of static thrust with afterburners—but without a thrust-vector ring.
Together the engines give the S-37 a respectable, if unspectacular, top speed of around Mach 1. Unconventional Design The real innovations in the S-37 lie within its unconventional design. The swept-forward wing is part of a so-called “tandem triplane” arrangement, blending all-moving forward canards with the swept-forward wing, a short-span broad-chord swept horizontal tail plus outward-canted vertical tailplanes. The S-37’s forward-swept, slightly tapered wing has leading-edge flaps and trailing-edge flaps and ailerons.
Compared to a normal swept-back wing, the FSW potentially has better lift, good antispin and stall resistance, and allows a shorter takeoff run. Although the S-37 does have some stealth design features, and may be covered with radar-absorbent coatings, low detectability is secondary to the maneuverability created by the FSW. Secret Flight Tests The S-37 first flew in September 1997 at the Russian experimental base at Zhukovsky near Moscow. Test flights have been successful so far, with Sukhoi claiming that the S-37 has made more than 120 flights.
Will it remain simply as a proof-of-concept aircraft, with no actual production S-37 ever made? Will its radical technology be used in forthcoming Russian fighter designs, perhaps to meet the Russian air force’s future heavy fighter requirements? Or will it form the basis of the already-rumored S-54 light fighter, a possible Russian rival to America’s Joint Strike Fighter? It can certainly be said that a production model of the S-37 would be a match for any Western fighter. The S-37’s big rival in Russia is the MiG 1. This experimental twin-engined fighter first flew, after many lengthy delays, in February 2000.
However, Sukhoi has a possible trump card. The new Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is particularly friendly toward Sukhoi, and his planned reforms of Russia’s aircraft industry could benefit Sukhoi. Much of the S-37 program remains veiled in secrecy, but its potentially world-beating design truly extends the boundaries of state-of-the-art fighter technology. This story originally appeared in the January 2001 issue of Popular Mechanics. Popular Mechanics participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. After the Cold War, Russia started to develop a multirole combat aircraft as replacement for MiG-29, in light of the US Joint Strike Fighter program.
Yakovlev proposed the Yak-43, an upgraded Yak-41 with a stealthier design and more powerful engines. Work on the project began around 1994, although the program was officially initiated in 1999. RD-33 engine, manufactured at the Klimov factory. Russia is Working on a New Stealth Fighter”. ПАК ФА Т-50 Archived 2016-03-08 at the Wayback Machine. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mikoyan LMFS.
Rattled by Russia, Sweden Reveals a New Fighter Jet Provocations in the air and at sea have alarmed Stockholm. Following a series of provocations by Russian forces in the air and at sea, Sweden is opening its wallet for defense spending. That includes a new fighter jet. The Gripen E, which was rolled out today, is a substantial update of the Gripen fighter introduced in the late 1980s.
Russia wasn’t only probing Sweden’s airborne defenses. In October 2014, Sweden reported a “foreign” mini submarine in its waters. Collectively, all these Russian incursions have served as a wakeup call for the Swedish government. The traditionally neutral country went so far as to consider joining NATO, a consideration that has been shelved—for now. A Gripen-C of the Czech Air Force.
