Su-32 based EW platform

Here’s an article I found at the AirCombat site (hope you don’t mind me posting it here, Tom). It’s about a new Russian jammer to replace the Su-24MP, based on the Su-32.

Anybody got any artist’s impressions of it? Or additional info?

Best regards,

Ference.

From JED, September 2001 issue
(JEDonline.com)

Su-32 on the Prowl

One of the most promising aircraft for the Russian Air Force is the Su-32 attack aircraft, dubbed frontovoy bombardirovtchik in Russian. This tactical bomber is badly needed by the Russian Air Force, which wants to replace Su-24. Thirty years ago, the venerable swept-wing Su-24 was used as a bomber, a reconnaissance aircraft, and as an escort-jamming platform. The Su-32 is expected to fill these roles as well, including standoff-jamming missions. The Leninetz Institue, which designed the SH-41 weapons system for the Su-32, and the Kaluzhskiy Scientific and Research Institute (KNIRTI) cooperated on a special variant of the aircraft for escort jamming. This so-called Russian “Prowler” (a not-so-subtle allusion to the US Navy/Marine Corps EA-6B) would be fitted with two Sorbtsya L005S electronic-countermeasures (ECM) pods on the wingtips and two high-power (more than 1KW of power) L175V jammers would hang from hardpoints on the wings themselves.

In this configuration, the Su-32 would lead an offensive raid, trying to get all the threats in the combat zone to “pop up.” The sensors integrated with the ECM pods would then be used to locate and identify the threats in order to choose the best jamming technique – either high-power jamming or the creation of false echoes. One of the techniques the “Prowler” variant of the Su-32 will employ is terrain-bounce jamming, in which the aicraft, flying at very low altitude towards an surface-to-air-missile (SAM) system, would direct a strong simulated radar return to the ground or the surface of the sea between it and the threat. As a result the SAM radar would get a misleading echo return and, thus, false indications on the real altitude and position of the attacking aircraft. Ideally, this would cause the missile to be guided below the protected aircraft. Another technique for use against SAMs, to be employed by an Su-32 flying at medium altitude, involves launching chaff and flares to create an artificial cloud aft of the aircraft. The L175V jammer then directs a beam towards the metallic decoys launched milliseconds before to enhance the seductive qualities of the chaff cloud.

According to KNIRTI specialists, this version of the Su-32 could also cooperate with other aircraft to create a sort of protective “bubble” around an incoming strike package. When needed, the EW system can also provide all the azimuth and distance data necessary to launch two KH-31 anti-radar missiles, located under each wing pylon. In a further version the ECM pods will be coupled to electro-optical sensors in order to achieve better protection against infrared-guided missiles.

The Su-32 is a formidable aircraft. In August, US Air Force Chief of Staff General John Jumper told the US Congress that fighters like the Su-32 outpace current US counterparts in several areas. In flights using “some foreign aircraft we’ve been able to test, our best pilots flying their airplanes beat our pilots flying our airplanes every time,” Jumper testified.