SUKHOI SU-25 FROGFOOT

The SU-25 combat aircraft is a single-seat, heavily armored and armed strike aircraft designed to destroy ground targets as part of active support for land forces. The flight of the prototype took place on February 22, 1975, and the machine has been in service since 1981. Two R-95Sz engines without afterburning are used as the drive. The first military conflict in which the new attack aircraft was allowed to take part was the aforementioned Soviet intervention in Afghanistan (1979-1989). Both Afghanistan and later theaters of warfare were battlefields where the SU-25S and its later versions belonging to the forces of Frontovoy Aviation and the USSR (later the Russian Federation) proved their worth in practice. In the course of combat operations, the SU-25 quickly proved its high combat effectiveness. They also usually suffered much lower losses than other types of machines involved in the conflict, largely due to their resistance to enemy fire (for comparison, according to theoretical calculations, it took about 80-100 hits with 20mm bullets to knock down the SU-25, while to shoot down, for example, SU-17M4 it was enough for 15 shots). The permanent armament of the SU-25 is the WPU-174 shooting position with the 30mm GSz-2-30 double-barreled cannon. This weapon is built in the compartment under the pilot's cabin on the left side; its rate of fire is approximately 3,000 rounds per minute, and the ammunition supply is 250 rounds. The remaining, very diverse weapons are suspended on 10 under-wing booms. The total maximum weight of the carried weapons is 4,340 kg. The most advanced type of SU-25 armament are CH-25ML and CH-29L laser-guided air-to-ground missiles. The unguided armament is 57mm to 370mm rockets (S-5 in 32-barrel UB-32 launchers, S-8 in 20-barrel B-8 launchers, S-13 in five-barrel B-13 launchers, as well as single-fired S- 24 and S-25 in O-25 containers). The SU-25 carries all classic Russian aerial bombs weighing up to 500 kg (with a maximum load it takes eight FAB-500M-62 demolition bombs). Among them, apart from standard demolition bombs, there are also anti-concrete BETAB-500 and BETAB-500ShP, ODAB-500BL, cassette RBK-500, fragmentation OFAB-250 and OFAB-100, slow fall PB-250, illuminating FOTAB-250T and SAB- 250-100 and some other types. Technical data (SU-25K version): length: 15.53 m, wingspan: 14.36 m, height: 4.8 m, maximum speed: 975 km / h, practical ceiling: 7000 m, operating range: 750 km.