June 13, 2006 at 2:51 am
I’ve recently been going over older information on the Su-27M/Su-35 (not the Su-35BM) and the old Su-37 (b/n 711, crashed a few years ago) and was just wondering about the engines that these aircraft were, or were supposed to be, fitted with.
As I understand it, the original Su-27M/Su-35 was to be equipped with “AL-35F” or “AL-31FM” engines- with increased thrust, while the Su-37 was to have AL-37FP engines with 142.2kN of thrust (in other words, engines with a similar amount of thrust to the AL-41F1A (“Article 117S”) that will power the Su-35BM.
Whatever happened to these engines? Did they ever get made, or were the Su-35 and Su-37 prototypes merely equipped with AL-31Fs (and in the latter case, an AL-31F with TVC?) and these engines were merely on paper?
At the same time, Su-27SMs are to be fitted with 130kN AL-31FM-1 engines that are to enter production this year, as they go through the modernization procedure, with AL-31FM-2s and AL-31FM-3s also being in the pipeline. The AL-31FM-1 may also power the Su-34 (perhaps the AL-41F1A at a later date).