Sukhoi Su-27 'Flanker' – The White Flame
The Sukhoi Su-27 (NATO reporting name 'Flanker') is a jet fighter plane originally manufactured by the Soviet Union, and designed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau. The Su-27 had the Soviet Union's first operational fly-by-wire control system. Combined with relatively low wing loading and powerful basic flight controls, it makes for an exceptionally agile aircraft, controllable even at very low speeds and high angles of attack. The Su-27 has a high-contrast tuneable HUD and a helmet-mounted sight capability, which, paired with the R-73 missile and the plane's superb agility make it one of the world's best dogfighter aircraft. The Su-27 is armed with a single Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-30-1 30 mm cannon in the starboard wingroot, and has up to 10 hardpoints for missiles and other weapons. Its standard missile armament for air-to-air combat is a mixture of Vympel R-73 (AA-11 Archer), Vympel R-27 (AA-10 'Alamo') weapons, the latter including extended range and IR guided models. More advanced Flanker variants (such as Su-30, -35, -37) may also carry Vympel R-77 (AA-12 Adder) missiles. The Su-27 has seen limited action since it first entered service. Ethiopian Su-27s reportedly shot down five Eritrean MiG-29s, in February 1999 and another on May 16, 2000. Recently, in the 2008 South Ossetia War, Russia was using Su-27s to gain airspace control over Tskhinvali, the capital city of South Ossetia. Operators: Russia, Angola, Belarus, China, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine <b>…</b>
