On October 21, the Sukhoi design bureau held a press event at the airport of LII, Gromov's Flight Test and Research Institute, devoted to the official acceptance of the Su-33 deck fighter in service with the Russian Navy. The respective presidential order was signed by Boris Yeltsin at the end of August, but made public only last week.

It is worth noting that the Su-33, also referred to as the Su-27K, entered series production and became operational several years ago. However, in accordance with an old Russian practice, the official acceptance into service for a new type is issued only after the aircraft has successfully undergone operational trials with a line military unit, proving itself capable of solving all the tasks set in the specification.

Opening the briefing in Zhukovsky, Sukhoi general designer Mikhail Simonov said, "Ship formations, however powerful, can not survive in the open sea without fighter coverage. The Su-33 was conceived fourteen years ago, in reply to the Russian Navy requirement for a fighter for conventional aircraft carriers. We worked on this aircraft for seven years, and then, for seven years, it underwent various tests and operational trials."

According to Simonov, the idea of such an airplane belonged to admiral Sergei Gorshkov, then commander-in-chief of the Soviet Navy, who came to the conclusion that the fleet needed an "umbrella" composed of ship-borne interceptors of conventional type. Unlike the US, the Soviet Union began construction of aircraft carriers only in the 1970s, starting with the Kiev, classified as a heavy cruiser. By the beginning of Nineties, the Soviet Navy had taken delivery of four such ships, armed with Yak-38 vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) fighters. Having found their combat value insufficient, the Navy commanders decided to discontinue construction of Kiev-class vessels in favor of a heavier ship for conventional take-off and landing aircraft, the Admiral Kuznetsov (former Tbilissi).

Two design houses, Sukhoi and Mikoyan, submitted their proposals for a deck fighter of conventional type, offering "navalized" variants of the Su-27 and MiG-29 tactical fighters, the Su-27K and MiG-29K respectively (K for "Korabelny" or "Ship-borne"). The MiG-29K was a serious competitor: smaller in size, it fitted better into the limited space of the carrier's hangars. In addition, the MiG carried the brand-new multi-mode Zhuk radar, working well in air-to-air and air-to-ground modes, whereas its opponent inherited the Su-27's radar, featuring limited air-to-ground capabilities.

Somehow or other, Mikoyan failed to impress the Navy commanders, who were fascinated by the performance of the Sukhoi team and its charismatic leader Mikhail Simonov, who himself participated in tests aboard the Admiral Kuznetsov. An immense contribution into the victory was brought by Sukhoi chief test pilot Victor Pugachev. During the fly-off between the MiG-29K and Su-27K in 1989, he managed to get ahead of his Mikoyan colleagues in executing the first "touch-and-go", the first deck landing and the first take-off from the carrier. These things together produced a great psychological effect on the Navy commanders, who had previously had doubts whether the heavy-weight Su-27, with a gross weight of nearly 40 tons, could ever prove suitable for operations from the carrier.

These doubts were largely about the Su-27K's ability to perform non-assisted take-off from the deck. Unlike their US counterparts, Russian engineers decided not to use steam catapults on aircraft carriers, thus saving some 3000 tons of weight. Instead, a ski ramp was installed in the nose section of the ship, featuring an inclination of 11 degrees. Despite its weight and size, the Su-27K appeared to be very "flyable". A pair of 12,800-kgf Lulka-Saturn AL-31F engines gave the aircraft excessive power for rapid acceleration, whereas the combination of three-slot flaps, a large wing and canards resulted in a low evaluation speed. Throughout its operational trials in all weather conditions, the Su-27K has had no difficulty in getting airborne after a 90...100 non-assisted take-off roll, even when fully-laden with fuel and weapons.

The fly-off between the MiG-29K and Su-27K came to a definite finish in 1990, when the Navy gave its "go-ahead" to series production of the later aircraft. So far, about fifty Su-33 airframes have been assembled at the KnAAPO factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Some of these aircraft have been delivered to the Navy, entering service with an independent air regiment of the Northern Fleet. According to Sukhoi, 24 Su-33 fighters form the "aviation set" of the Admiral Kuznetsov, which remains the only operational aircraft carrier in the Russian inventory. In the August-September timeframe test-pilots of the Sukhoi design bureau visited the Northern Fleet to help restore flying skills of its air crews, prior to a cruise in the open sea later this year.

Despite a very stretched Navy budget, the Admiral Kuznetsov has had a few cruises in the open sea. The most impressive was to the Mediterranean a little more than two years ago, when the ship acted as a flag-demonstrator during the conflict in Bosnia. The carrier had on board a dozen of series-built Su-27K fighters and several Su-25UTG twin-seat trainers, operated by line Navy air crews with help of Sukhoi test pilots.

In an interview on 21 October, Mikhail Simonov claimed that series production of the Su-27K continues. He said, "We continue to manufacture these aircraft despite large challenges caused by the hard economic conditions in Russia. A first batch has been delivered to the Navy, and talks are in progress on a second batch." According to Simonov, the Ministry continues to fund the Su-27K program. He revealed that Sukhoi and the Defence Ministry are in negotiations on follow-on deliveries of the Sukhoi aircraft to the Navy, including new versions of the Su-33.

Simonov said, "We are working on an improved version of the aircraft. It will have two crew members, because during a flight over the ocean it is difficult for a single pilot to handle the aircraft, navigate it, search for targets and attack them. Two crew members are a team that can solve these tasks better."

Apparently, Sukhoi is working on two variants of a twin-seat fighter for carrier use. The first is an aircraft for training purposes, including type conversion to the single-seat Su-33 and restoration of flying skills of the Admiral Kuznetsov air crews. The second variant is believed to be a strike fighter with the nose section from the Su-32FN interdiction aircraft, housing the Sea Snake radar system.

The reason for development of a dedicated ship-borne strike fighter is questionable. The Russian Navy has only one operable carrier, with no hopes to acquire more such ships in the foreseeable future. Earlier this year, it was decided to cut for metal scrap the Admiral Kuznetsov's sister-ship, the Varyag, which stayed unfinished for several years at the shipyards in Nikolayev. Construction of the third ship, the Ulianovsk, was terminated three years ago on economic grounds.

There are some speculations, however, about possible foreign orders for the Su-33 and its improved versions. There are two potential customers, China and India. In a TV interview on 23 October, Russian defence Minister Igor Sergeyev said that during his recent visit to Beijing he held negotiations on sale of the Su-33 fighters to China. In a separate move, Russia made a proposal to India, offering the Admiral Gorshkov, the last in the series of Kiev cruisers, for sale. Before the delivery, it would undergo a thorough modernization into a conventional aircraft carrier.