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Scale 1:36   Length 17"   Wingspan 16.5"

Photography by Action Asia Photo
© 2002-8 Action Asia Photo - All Rights Reserved
www.actionasiaphoto.com

The Soviets were pioneers in the design of dedicated battlefield close-support aircraft, or "Shturmoviks" (Storm Birds) and experimented with designs before World War II which led to the heavily armed and armored Ilyushin Il-2 and its improved derivative, the Il-10, that became the backbone of the Red Army's tactical close air support through that great war. Western nations did not develop such specialized aircraft during WWII, preferring instead to adapt air-combat aircraft such as the Hurricane, Typhoon, Mustang and Thunderbolt into the battlefield fighter-bomber role. After WWII, the USSR adopted a similar policy and modified air-combat fighters like the MiG-15, MiG-17 and MiG-19 into the fighter-bomber or  "mud fighter" role. An off-shoot of all this development was the T8, which lead to the T8-1 and then the T8-2 until, finally, the production aircraft came out as the Su-25 in 1981.

The new single-seat ground attack aircraft - codenamed "Frogfoot" by NATO - was a very durable, heavily armored and easy to service aircraft with all the service gear storing in a container that could be transported by the airplane itself.

Today the Frogfoot is armed with one twin barrel 30mm gun in the bottom of the fuselage holding 250 rounds. There are 8 pylons under the wings which can carry 8,800 lbs of air-to-ground weapons, including rockets ranging from 57mm to 330mm. There are two small outboard pylons for Atoll and Aphid air-to-air missiles.

Versions include:
Su-25A - original production aircraft with R-95 engines
Su-25K - export version of Su-25A
Su-25UB- two-seat combat trainer
Su-25UBK - export version of Su-25UB
Su-25UBP - navy trainer based on Su-25UB
Su-25UT - unarmed primary trainer (also called Su-28)
Su-25UTG - navy trainer based on Su-25UT
Su-25BM - current production model with R-195 engines

Variants of the Su-25 are operational with the Russian Air Force, the Russian Naval Aviation forces, Afghanistan, Angola, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, North Korea, Peru, Slovakia, Turkmenistan and the Ukraine.

The Su-25T (also known as Su-25TM) is a proposed enhanced Frogfoot anti-tank variant incorporating  lessons learned in Afghanistan. It will have more amour, improved sensors, a new gun and stronger engines. The aircraft, of which a few dozen currently exist, will be designated as the Su-39 upon production. It is expected that the new "mudslinger" will be considerably superior to its comparable NATO equivalent - the A-10A Thunderbolt II Warthog.

Crew:         Pilot only
Length:      47 ft 6 in
Wingspan: 50 ft 10 in
Range:       780 miles with drop tanks
Speed:        Mach 0.8 mph
Engines:    2 Tumanski R-195 turbojets, each 9,921 lbs thrust

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