Friday, April 13, 2012

Sukhoi Su-27 'Flanker' series aircraft - Timeline & Family Tree [Infograhpic] - UPDATED: 2012.04.13

Su-27 fighter was the first production variant of the Sukhoi Design Bureau's 'Flanker' series of aircraft. Since then the aircraft has spawned numerous other variants, around a common airframe, that were developed to meet differing requirements. Some programmes were also undertaken near simultaneously, making tracking their development a tad tricky.
The infographic below lists out, in chronology, the sequence of & simultaneous development of the aircraft, including its design concept & prototype variant, in addition to the actual final mass produced version.
 
Listed in Blue are the design concept, in Red is the final production aircraft, while White denotes prototype.
Click on the image to view a larger-sized picture
Sukhoi Su-27 'Flanker' series aircraft - Timeline & Family Tree [Infograhpic]
The 'Flanker' series of aircrafts, overall, include:
  • Su-27
  • Su-30
  • Su-33
  • Su-34
  • Su-35
  • Su-37 [Experimental]
While the illustration is in Cyrillic, it should not be too hard to identify the aircrafts. The Russian 'S' looks like the English 'C', while 'u' resembles English 'y', & the Russian 'I' resembles English 'N'.
As evident, Indian Air Forces [IAF] Su-30 MKI fighter aircrafts too are an evolution of the twin-seat version of the original Su-27 aircraft.
Update [2012.04.13]:
A similar illustration showing the lineage of the Flanker series, this time in English.
Suhkoi-27-Flanker-Family-Tree
Do check out the website from where this image has been sourced. It contains an extensive amount of information about the multiple variants of Flankers in service with the different Air Forces of the world & also the subsequent programmes it has spawned. A similar compilation has also been created there for the MiG-29 [Fulcrum] fighter aircrafts, also in service with the Indian Air Force [IAF].
Godspeed