Russian Su-27 fighter jet is an “aerial scalpel” and has learned NATO manners

By Boyko Nikolov On Jan 31, 2020

BEIJING, (BM) – After the Second World War, the aviation industry began to develop rapidly. In the postwar years, various countries of the world began to actively modernize their military aircraft, which over time already began to use aircraft with jet engines.

The Chinese edition of Sohu noted the Russian Su-27, which was created in response to the American F-4 and F-15. Journalists also recalled the incident with the Norwegian reconnaissance aircraft P-3 Orion and Su-27 in the Barents Sea, after which the fighter was nicknamed the “scalpel”. The translation of this article is exclusively provided by PolitRussia.

Aerial scalpel

In the early 60s in the United States entered service with the multi-purpose supersonic fighter F-4. Russia, in turn, was armed with MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-25 aircraft. In the early 70s, American designers developed the YF-15 heavy fighter, which later became known as the F-15.

In response to the appearance of a new aircraft in the United States, Moscow launched a program to develop a fighter capable of withstanding the F-15. The designers were set an ambitious task not only to reach the level of the American combat vehicle, but also to surpass it. The plane had to have excellent performance in flight range in order to be able to invade enemy airspace, and the developers had high demands on the combat equipment of the future machine.

Faced with the requirements to ensure a large flight radius, the designers of the Su-27 tried to make the most efficient use of the internal space of the fuselage in order to accommodate the most capacious fuel tanks. As a result, its practical range reached almost 4 thousand kilometers, and the maximum height can be 18 kilometers.

The Su-27 was first introduced to the general public at the Paris Air Show in 1989. He reached the French capital directly without refueling in the air. There he demonstrated the aerobatics of the Cobra, thereby showing the highest level of development of Russian aircraft.

Incident over the Barents Sea

This aircraft due to its basic characteristics, as well as modernization, is still used in the Russian Aerospace Forces. Su-27 is often used to intercept air targets near the borders of Russia. Separately, the Chinese publication noted the case of the Norwegian reconnaissance aircraft P-3 Orion in the Barents Sea region, which occurred on September 13, 1987.

Having received a signal about the enemy’s aircraft, the Su-27 of the 941st fighter regiment took to the air to conduct a standard interception of an aircraft. The aircraft was flown by senior lieutenant Vasily Tsimbal, who was distinguished by a non-standard approach to solving the tasks. After the arrival of the fighter in the duty area of the Norwegian aircraft, it became clear that the uninvited guest was not going to leave this zone for nothing.

It should be noted that the NATO scout did not just fly around the territory, the crew dropped sonar buoys over the fairway to track the movements of Soviet submarines. After a demonstration of weapons, Cymbal made an attempt to intimidate Norwegian pilots: he “attacked” several times, thereby knocking Orion off course.

To stop the discharge of espionage equipment into the sea, the Su-27 decided to attach itself under the belly of a NATO aircraft. Performing this maneuver, Cymbal did not calculate the speed and hit the Orion screw with his left keel. The wreckage scattered in different directions, breaking through the fuselage of the Norwegian plane, after which he went towards his base.

Of course, Norway tried to develop from this an international scandal, which nonetheless was instantly resolved. However, this incident taught NATO “impudent pilots” the correct behavior in the areas of contact. Not only that, after September 13, foreign reconnaissance aircraft did not appear in the area where Soviet submarines were concentrated for almost a week, any further rapprochement with domestic fighters is accompanied by hysterical radio exchanges and subsequent panic statements by NATO representatives.

Sohu, by the way, noted the fearlessness of the Russian pilot, as well as his ability to fly an aircraft with a damaged hull. Since then, the Western military have regarded Russian pilots as highly qualified specialists who are ready to professionally carry out any difficult task. This event also became part of the glorious history of the Su-27.

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BulgarianMilitary.com
Editorial team
Source: Artem Shishkov / PolitRos

The point of view expressed in this article is authorial and do not necessarily reflect BM`s editorial stance.