Название: Su-25 'Frogfoot' Units In Combat
Автор: Alexander Mladenov
Издательство: Osprey Publishing
Серия: Osprey Combat Aircraft 109
Год: 2015
Страниц: 97
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf (true)
Размер: 10.1 MB

Uncover the technical features and operational performance of the Soviet Su-25 'Frogfoot', which proved itself as a durable and versatile attack aircraft in a variety of theaters in the middle East. Had the Cold War developed into a more serious conflict, the Su-25 would have been the main Soviet combat type facing US aircraft.Today it is widely accepted as the true successor to the types of specialized ground--attack aircraft that emerged during World War II. The book details the service history of the 'Frogfoot' during more than 30 years of combat using first-hand accounts and revealing archive photographs. The Su-25 has often been underrated, but the faithful 'Frogfoot' is now slated to remain in service with most of its current operators across the globe until at least 2020.

The Sukhoi Su-25 was designed as an effective and survivable attack workhorse, expressly to fly short-range, low-level battlefield closeair-support (CAS) missions. In the 1980s and 1990s the type, also known by its NATO reporting name ‘Frogfoot’, proved a powerful and cost-effective weapon, being widely employed in counterinsurgency (COIN) operations worldwide and performing well in its dangerous role. The Su-25 originated in a concept produced by a group of forward-thinking engineers at the Sukhoi Design Bureau, led by chief designers Oleg Samoilovich and Yuri Ivashetchkin. In March 1968 they produced some conceptual preliminary designs, originally inspired by Ivan Savtchenko, a teacher at the Yuri Gagarin Soviet Air Force Academy who specialised in research into frontal aviation combat employment tactics. Savtchenko was the first Soviet military expert to formulate a set of specific requirements for a new-generation affordable and lethal CAS aircraft to be built in large numbers, just like its World War 2 predecessors, the legendary piston-engined Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik and its improved derivative, the Il-10. Savtchenko’s novel concept called for development of an all-new, eight-tonne, twin-engined light attack jet optimised for low-level operations. It was provisionally named the Light Army Attack Aircraft.

This study explores the successes of the Su-25 in full, demonstrating its' strengths as a formidably armed, armored and very agile attack aircraft.