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War Thunder. Official channel.
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| 5s | The Su-25, a Soviet jet-powered CAS aircraft, |
|---|---|
| 10s | was developed for roughly the same reasons as the American A-10 Thunderbolt II. |
| 15s | After WW2, both superpowers came to the conclusion |
| 19s | that there was no need for a dedicated ground attack aircraft anymore. |
| 23s | After the harsh lessons of the Vietnam War, though, |
| 25s | the US immediately revised their policy |
| 28s | and started working on a new jet-powered attack aircraft. |
| 35s | The Soviet top brass weren’t as quick on the uptake, |
| 38s | and that’s why the aircraft that we now know as the Su-25 |
| 42s | was initially developed basically as an unofficial passion project. |
| 46s | There were no technical specifications, no contract, and no money. |
| 50s | Even more than that, at the very beginning, |
| 53s | engineers Ivanov and Samoilovich |
| 55s | looked into the possibility of making such an aircraft |
| 58s | without even notifying the chief designer of their bureau, Pavel Sukhoi. |
| 63s | When he learned about the project, though, he immediately offered his support... |
| 67s | but the military decision makers proved to be much harder to impress. |
| 71s | Some of them didn’t really know what they wanted; |
| 74s | others wanted something completely different from what engineers had to offer. |
| 78s | Some officials were dreaming about a new fighter-bomber like the Su-17 |
| 83s | or a new ground-attack aircraft like the MiG-27. |
| 87s | Others envisioned a multi-seater design with defensive turrets, like the Il-28. |
| 96s | Naturally, the development process was fraught with difficulties. |
| 100s | Even at the early stage of developing the first operational prototype, |
| 104s | the project was hampered by heated debates and fierce competition. |
| 108s | In the end, engineers at the Sukhoi OKB decided |
| 112s | not to follow in the footsteps of their American counterparts: |
| 116s | as far as similarities go, the A-10 and the Su-25 |
| 120s | were both designed to play a similar role and were both subsonic, |
| 124s | but that was about it. |
| 125s | Unlike the A-10, the Soviet attacker wasn’t designed around a specific gun. |
| 130s | Instead, engineers built it around the idea |
| 133s | of being able to carry as many bombs and missiles as possible. |
| 138s | Other key features included excellent maneuverability |
| 141s | at a range of different speeds and superior survivability. |
| 145s | Thankfully, Soviet engineers had a lot of experience in all of those aspects. |
| 153s | The team at Sukhoi were already working on their first operational prototype |
| 157s | when the project was finally recognised on the official level. |
| 161s | On the 22nd of February 1975, Vladimir Ilyushin, |
| 165s | the chief test pilot for the Sukhoi OKB, |
| 168s | took the prototype to the skies for the very first time, |
| 172s | and it didn’t take long after that for the first production attackers |
| 175s | to be used in the skies of Afghanistan. |
| 178s | The Soviet Air Forces were pretty happy with the Su-25 |
| 182s | as it quickly proved to be superior to the Su-17, the MiG-27, and the Yak-38. |
| 189s | First, the new ground attack aircraft |
| 191s | could be used from improvised or barely prepared airfields. |
| 195s | Second, it had excellent subsonic maneuverability |
| 198s | allowing it to hit small or hard to reach targets with precision. |
| 202s | Third, it could take a lot of punishment: |
| 205s | the plane could shrug off machine gun fire with relative ease, |
| 208s | and even Stingers were not always successful in striking it down. |
| 220s | Engineers kept improving and upgrading the Su-25, but that wasn’t enough: |
| 225s | to keep up with the times, it had to be modified to carry smart munitions |
| 229s | like guided bombs and laser-guided anti-tank missiles. |
| 233s | Another big thing was to give it all-weather capability, |
| 236s | allowing it to operate both day and night |
| 239s | and equip it with more advanced navigation tools. |
| 242s | To achieve that, the Soviets had to install a lot of new avionics systems, |
| 246s | most notably a new multi-function radar. |
| 253s | Some of those goals were achieved in the mid-1980s, |
| 256s | when the USSR introduced a new variant of the Su-25, |
| 260s | the Su-25T. |
| 262s | Engineers converted a two-seater variant back into a one-seater, |
| 266s | filling the extra space with equipment required for smart bombs and missiles. |
| 270s | The aircraft had the same recognisable profile but became an almost perfect |
| 275s | high-precision weapon against armored targets on the ground. |
| 279s | The USSR, though, didn’t get to use it, |
| 281s | as its first combat operations happened after the collapse of the Soviet Union. |
| 289s | But the world didn’t end with the dissolution of the Soviet empire, |
| 292s | and the way the few Su-25T aircraft built in the last years of the USSR were used, |
| 299s | suggested several possible directions for the future of the series. |
| 303s | First of all, the aircraft of the Su-25 family were highly sought after abroad: |
| 309s | the sturdy and effective Grach, also known as “Frogfoot” |
| 312s | and named “Raschoska”, or “Comb”, by its pilots, |
| 316s | caught the interest of the military all around the world, |
| 319s | from the Middle East to South America. |
| 322s | Even though ultimately there weren’t that many buyers for a very niche aircraft, |
| 326s | there was enough interest to warrant the development of the new Su-25TM variant |
| 332s | that took to the skies in 1995. |
| 335s | It was modified to support an even wider range of air-to-ground weaponry, |
| 339s | including new tools to use against fast-moving and small targets. |
| 344s | But the biggest new change was that the Su-25TM |
| 347s | could carry the Kopyo-25 radar in an under fuselage container, |
| 352s | facilitating the use of long-range air-to-surface missiles. |
| 356s | The export version of the Su-25TM was designated “Su-39”. |
| 362s | Right now, it’s the most advanced and fearsome model in the whole series. |
| 368s | The aircraft of the Su-25 series remain in active service in the real world, |
| 373s | but you can also test their capabilities in War Thunder: |
| 377s | there are both researchable and premium variants of this attacker waiting for you |
| 381s | at the very top of the Soviet tech tree. |
| 384s | And yes, that even includes the Su-39. |
| 387s | What do you think about these flying tank destroyers? |
| 391s | Tell us in the comments below... |